Page 95 of Crooked Crows (Boys of Briar Hall 1)

Corvus’ shout shattered my resolve, but I held there, blade at the edge of my fingers, ready to throw as I heard their footsteps running toward us. In a second, I’d be surrounded.

In a second, it would be too late to do anything.

I’d lost my chance.

Diesel’s blisteringly cold stare bored into me like a spike of ice as he trained his gun on my face, but I showed him no fear. I always knew I’d meet my end by the bite of a bullet or the slice of a blade. I’d just hoped it would come later. Much later.

“You know this girl?”

AJ wouldn’t allowus to disarm her, and Diesel didn’t push for it, so we didn’t either. She stood between Rook and Corvus, with me at her back, letting us corral her back the way we’d come. She limped slightly, but she was doing a good job of hiding it.

What the fuck was she doing here?

Did she have a death wish?

My pulse thrummed uncomfortably behind my ribcage, making my stomach twist. This wasn’t good. Already, my mind raced with possibilities, options that might end with her somehow still alive. We had a shadow once. A guy who thought he’d strike it rich blackmailing the Saints. Diesel found him, too.

He never saw daylight again.

Our father might be called Saint, but he was merciless when it came to protecting his found family. His brothers and his sons.

That guy was a threat, and now AJ was, too.

“In the warehouse,” Diesel snarled from up ahead as the yard came back into view through the trees. The spotlight dying with the battery so there was only a diffused glow over the tires and the dead guy lying among them.

“You’re a fucking idiot,” Corvus muttered, and I realized he was talking to AJ. I’d picked up on it earlier, how neither of my brothers seemed at all surprised to see her here. I had to wonder if they were in on it. Or had seen her somehow before I had.

“Yup,” AJ replied, popping her lips on the ‘p,’ like she didn’t care at all that she might be chum for the sharks before sunrise. “Saved your ass though. You’re welcome, asshole.”

Corvus visibly stiffened, but said nothing as Diesel slammed a palm against the door to the warehouse, shoving it open, the rusted hinges screeching in protest.

We escorted AJ through, and her shoulders tensed, immediately on edge, the blades in her hands twitching.

I left the door open, squinting into the dark to find Diesel hunting through the place, throwing random bits of scrap into a barrel. He dumped gasoline over the mess and flicked on his lighter, igniting a bit of stray paper before tossing it into the metal drum.

Fire roared as the pile of scrap wood ignited, illuminating enough of the space to see that the warehouse was devoid of anything more than some withering old wooden pallets and a sagging desk in the corner.

“Who are you?” he demanded, coming at AJ with a look in his eyes that made my guts twist.

When she didn’t answer or so much as flinch when he stopped just short of her, he turned his fury on Corvus. “Well?” he pressed. “Who the fuck is she?”

“Ava Jade Mason,” Corvus replied, and only then did AJ betray any discomfort. I wouldn’t like Diesel St. Crow to know my name either if he wasn’t my family. Especially not if he was looking at me the way he was looking at AJ right now.

“Who do you work for?” Diesel asked her, his nostrils flaring. “Who sent you?”

She locked her lips tight.

“I asked you a question.”

“She isn’t with a gang,” Rook replied with ease, leaning back on a stack of pallets like we were at a casual bonfire.

Diesel’s steely gaze moved to Rook, studying his second eldest son before bringing his sights back to AJ. “Check her,” he ordered.

I moved in to do it before Corvus could, unsure of why. “Lift your arms for me, AJ,” I murmured, low enough that Diesel would have a hard time catching it over the roar, pop, and hiss of the flames in the metal drum.

My back warmed from the fire as AJ grudgingly lifted her arms, her knuckles white from her grip on her blades. I patted her down.

“Be thorough,” Diesel commanded, and I re-doubled my efforts, careful to caress every inch of her body. The curve of her breasts. Between her legs.

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