Page 17 of No Small Sin

Tonight he insisted.

He’d claimed that this one was too dangerous for one person to take on alone. I’d been insulted that he thought I couldn’t handle pretty much anything thrown my way at this point.

I’d been taught by the best, after all.

Maybe if he’d sent Alec or Law they’d have needed to go together.Big dumb fucks. But I was perfectly capable and I’d said as much when given the details.

This particular mark owed Mattia money. Lots of it, apparently. Nothing new there.

Upon entering the man’s crusty living area, I wondered what he’d done with all that he’d borrowed because he certainly hadn’t thought to spend a single dime of it on cleaning supplies.

Seeing him sprawled on the couch borderline unconscious from whatever he’d just snorted off the end table, it didn’t take much to figure it out.

I glared at Ijah. “So dangerous.”

He shrugged. “How else was I supposed to convince you to let me come along? Not like you’re into family bonding time.”

I lumbered across the space and yanked the man up by his head, quickly snapping it to just the right angle.

The muffled grinding of bones sliding past one another into places they ought not to be sent a shiver down my spine.

“Family bonding?” I released his head, causing it to thunk against the arm of the couch.

“We’re all we’ve got, Beck. Mattia keeps me cooped up in that stupid fucking office 24/7. Sometimes I just need to get out. See people. Do something that feels like actual work.”

“I guess. Well, you’re out, so make yourself useful and lug this piece of shit out to your trunk.” He chuckled a bit at that but did as I asked.

The drive to Sam’s was a quick one, but not so quick that Ijah didn’t have time to pepper me with questions on the way there.

“So,” he said from the passenger seat. “The girl.”

“Girl?” I questioned.

He sat quietly for a beat before responding, “TK.”

Fuck. So this was what he consideredbonding. Needed to get out of the office, my ass.

Just the sound of her name made my mouth go dry. “The one you interviewed last week?” I feigned ignorance.

He glowered at me, seeing right through my bullshit. “You know Andrea talks a lot.'“

“Too fucking much,” I grumbled. “I’d love to shut her up. Permanently.”

Ijah huffed a laugh. “I’m aware. Regardless, anything you wanna tell me?”

I glanced at him from the corner of my eye. “Yeah. Andrea is a bitch.”

“Beck.”

Gravel crunched beneath the tires as I pulled into the back parking lot of Messor Crematoria that, aside from Sam, only we had access to. The solid sliding security gate glided shut behind us.

Samael Messor was one paranoid motherfucker, and for that, I was grateful. He had every reason to be, given his chosen line of side work, and his paranoia kept us all safe. Not to mention, it allowed me the freedom to meet my own personal needs without very much consideration as to whether or not I would ever face any kind of repercussions.

Though the rest of us lacked the paranoia, we were all pretty anal about making sure all our bases were covered. Not to mention, it’s a little easier to get away with murder when you only kill the people no one will miss.

I backed up to the door and put the car in park. There was no concern that anyone would see, even at the times we’d had to do this in broad daylight. Sam’s massive hedges surrounding the rear entrance took care of that.

I popped the trunk. Just as Ijah and I rounded the car, the door swung open and Sam stepped out. His eyes skittered nervously over every inch of the surrounding area. “No one saw you pull in, did they?”

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