Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

GIANNI

"Are you sure this is the place?" I peered through the front windscreen at the small cottage.

"This is the address my contact gave us," Damon replied. "He's always been reliable before. No reason to think any different now." He didn't look as convinced as he sounded.

"No offence, but we have every reason to think other people might not be reliable right now," I said. "Including your contacts."

I thought about adding, 'especially your contacts,' but didn't. Judging by the expression on his face, he knew what I was thinking. That was enough to get a rise out of him. Or at least a scowl.

I grinned at him. He was adorable when he scowled.

"This is the place," Damon said with more certainty. There was nothing like having his professionalism questioned, to make him double down. "Do you really think I'd bring Mina here if I hadn't sent people ahead to check it out?"

"Of course not," I said. I glanced over to where she sat in the front passenger seat, beside him. She was even more adorable. In a deadly, kick ass kind of way.

The moment I saw her in that cage, I was head over heels for her. Seeing her change from a frightened, malnourished bird, into the confident woman she was becoming, was a delight. She was a bud then. Now she was a flower. The kind that thrived in the face of chaos and death. Not unlike me.

"What do you know about her?" Mina directed the question to Damon.

"Not a lot," Damon admitted. "I guess we're going to find out." He placed his hand on the door handle. "You can stay here if you want to." He knew he had as much chance of her staying behind as night becoming day, but he wouldn't be him if he didn't say the words.

His love language was reminding people they didn't need to throw themselves into the fire. He'd wade in for them.

She rolled her eyes at him, then got out of the car.

I followed right behind her. I wasn't going to let her out of my sight if I could help it. If this went south, I'd put myself between her and any shit that arose.

Yes, I'm fully aware she didn't need me to do that, but it's who I am. I protect the people I love, as much as Damon and Reuben do.

"We could have sent the twins to do this," I remarked. "It is basically their job to be lackeys."

If they were here, they'd give me shit for saying something like that. Lucky for me, they weren't. Although, it was nothing I couldn't handle if they were. The pair were like younger brothers to me. In fact, they were better younger brothers than my actual brothers. Which I'd never tell them, because they'd get huge heads. Given their already healthy egos, they didn't need the boost.

"I want to talk to her in person," Mina said. "If she knows anything, I want to hear it."

"Fair enough, sweetheart." I took her hand and tucked her in to my side, where she fit like we were made to go together. Two pieces in a complicated and sometimes crazy puzzle. "Damon and I understand that, right Damon?"

He pressed his kissable lips together in a line and gave half a shrug, but didn't disagree. He didn't agree either, because he was Damon. He never could, or would make things that easy.

Including our relationship.

I would happily have kissed him again by now, but I was giving him time to process how wonderful the last time was. The electricity that sparked between us was unexpected, in spite of the attraction we'd had bubbling between us for a long time. He'd deny it, but we both knew it was there.

Just like our attraction to Mina was there. And Damon's attraction to Reuben. I can't deny I admired the man, but Reuben was like a brother to me. He was the one person who saw what I could be, when my family turned their backs on me, and no one else gave a shit. I owed him for that, but Mina and Damon held my heart.

Also, watching Damon fuck Mina, and the idea of him and Reuben together was the stuff of fantasies.

I touched my neck, where she'd drawn blood while riding me, my cock deep inside her. Seeing her surrender to the woman she always wanted to be was indescribable. Incredible.

Mina and I followed Damon up to the front door of the cottage and waited while he tapped.

"I can't help remembering the last time we approached a house like this," I remarked.

Mina gave me a look. "If this one explodes, I'm going to be really pissed off."

"Be pissed off at Damon, he's the one who sent people ahead of us. If we die, it?—"

"Won't be my fault," Damon interrupted. "They checked the place out thoroughly. There are no bombs here."

"There are guns though," I said as the cottage door opened and a hand emerged, finger on the trigger, barrel pointed at Damon's temple.

"What do you want?" a female voice came from behind the door.

"Just some information," Damon said as though not even slightly concerned she might be about to blow his brains out. "We're willing to pay for it."

"Information about what?" The gun didn't move.

"Just the whereabouts of a couple of people," Mina said.

"We have cash," I said.

The gun dropped and the door opened to reveal a woman in her mid thirties, with bright pink hair. "Why didn't you say so? Come in." She stepped back to let us enter the cottage.

Like her, the cottage was brightly coloured, with an array of mismatched furniture, rainbow coloured rugs and cushions everywhere. On one wall hung a huge painting of what looked like a cow skull on a bright blue background. On another wall was a similar one with a purple background.

"She must really have a thing for dead cows," I said in Mina's ear.

She choked back a laugh and gave me a pointed look that suggested she prefer I didn't make fun of our hostess's decor. And that I shouldn't say anything that might end with one of us shot.

Damon gave me a similar look before turning back and saying, "You're Martina?"

"That's what they call me," she agreed. "You're Damon Rivello and Gianni Covino. And…" She looked at Mina.

"Yes we are," Damon said before Mina could introduce herself. "We're looking for people named Jase and Hammer. They both used to work for a man named Kurt Lasalle."

The moment Damon said his name, Martina looked disgusted. If we were outside, she probably would have spat on the ground.

"If you're friends of Kurt…"

"We're not," I said quickly. Ewww. We had better taste than that.

"Far from it. If you happen to know where he is, we'd appreciate that too. Obviously we'd pay for it."

"Obviously," she agreed. "I have no idea where that son of a motherfucking prick is. If I did, he'd be running for the hills. Backstabbing, two-faced piece of crap he is."

"I see you've met him," I said. "That's a very accurate description."

"I heard some disturbing as fuck rumours about him." She sat down on the middle of a bright orange couch, which happened to be the only place in the room to sit. "Something about keeping a woman chained in a basement?"

I squeezed Mina's hand, but glanced at Damon, deliberately not looking at her. I could tell what he was thinking. Caleb and the twins’ gossip had started to spread already. Quicker than I thought it would.

"We heard something to that effect," Damon said. "It seems as though Jase and Hammer had a hand in that too. Which is another reason why we'd like to get our hands on them."

"What's the main reason?" She squinted and looked at us with suspicious, hazel eyes.

"The usual," I said. "Double-crossing the men they're supposed to be working for. And, believe it or not, Jase might have knocked up my sister and run."

Martina again looked like she was going to spit. "Cowardly piece of shit. I hate men like that. Did you know one hundred percent of babies are caused by cum? That only comes from one place. Men need to take responsibility for where they nut." She shook a finger at me and Damon.

I held up my hands to either side. "I would never get a girl pregnant and run." The first bit, yes, not the second. Like she said, every baby was caused by a man ejaculating. I'd always take responsibility for it, if it happened.

"She looks like she knows how to hunt you down." Martina looked over to Mina and nodded approvingly.

Mina smiled. "That I do," she agreed. "But like he said, he wouldn't run." She glanced over to Damon meaningfully.

He sighed. "Neither would I. Can we get back to the reason we're here? I realise it's not much to go on, but if you know anyone by those names, and where they might be, we'd be grateful."

"How grateful?" She held out her hand, palm up.

I pulled out my wallet and peeled out a pile of hundred dollar notes. I handed half of them to her and kept the other half. "Very grateful."

"I'll see what I can find out," she said. "Anyone named Jase is going to be difficult, obviously. But most men don't have the level of insecurity you need to refer to themselves as Hammer."

I grinned at her assumption, which was probably correct. Why would you use a nickname like that unless you were trying to compensate?

"I doubt too many people with that nickname worked with Kurt," Damon said.

"Probably not," Martina agreed. "It sounds like a match made in heaven to me. A pair of gutless men."

"They are also associated with Leon Graves," Mina said.

"Sounds like the Triad of Tiny Dicks to me," Martina said. "Leon is as gutless as a jellyfish. Not as smart though. He does like to throw his cash around, I'll give him that."

“Can I ask what Kurt did to you?" Mina asked. "You seem to hate him as much as we do."

"Before or after I found out about the woman in the basement?" Martina asked. She exhaled loudly. "He's the kind of man who uses people until he doesn't find them useful anymore, then he'll give out our identity to people who shouldn't have it."

She pointed a finger at us again. "I know what you're thinking. A woman with bright pink hair isn't trying to hide. I don't mean that he told people about what I do for a living. I have people in my past I don't want in my present. Or my future. He thought it was wise to swap my whereabouts for money. Or favours, or… Whatever. They came after me and I had to deal with them. Because of him. He thinks he's above the rest of us. The truth is, he has his own agenda and he doesn't give a fuck who he steps on to get there."

"What agenda is that?" I asked.

"Fucked if I know." She shrugged. "He'll do anything to get ahead. Fuck over anyone. Apparently he was fixated on some woman who rejected him. He seemed to lose it after that. If he ever had it."

I looked sideways to Mina, whose gaze seemed to be locked on a spot on the floor.

This couldn't have been easy for her, listening to us talk about him. I wished I could erase every memory of him that resided in her head, to take away all the pain he'd inflicted on her. And, preferably, give it all to him.

"That sounds like Kurt," Damon agreed. "So, you'll get back to us on finding Jase and Hammer?"

"Oh, I already know where, or rather, who Hammer is," she said. She cocked her head at Damon. "And so do you."