Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Bash

The van is a mess. I can't believe my car did that. What just happened? I stare down at the key fob in my palm, trying to make sense of the fact that my SUV just plowed into the side of a stranger's vehicle with nobody behind the wheel. Then it backed up and hit the van again. And again.

And when I think about the baby inside the mangled wreckage, a lump forms in my throat that I can't swallow down, no matter how many times I try.

"...ghosts?" I whisper. It sounds ludicrous, but at the moment, I'm having trouble finding another explanation.

"Annie!" Sage circles the crash site. "Can you hear me?"

A hideous wail emerges from inside the vehicle. Whoever's making that sound must be actively dying—there's no other explanation. I am going to jail. Then to hell. And not even Dante will be able to save me from my plight.

"Oh my God!" I rush to her side. "Is that your baby? She sounds hurt! Maybe you'd better stay out of the way—"

"I've got this," Sage says.

"Neither of us have got this!" I exclaim. "Unless you're an EMT."

Another blood-curdling howl sounds from inside the car. This must be a dream. A ghost drove my car into the side of a stranger's van and now her infant is fighting for her life in there. A loud rattle makes it clear that Annie is still trying to move around. She must have been thrown from her child safety device. No. No. No. I have enough experience with sports injuries to know that she'll only hurt herself if she keeps that up.

I take a step toward the van. "Don't move, petit bout !" I call. Deep breaths. Stay calm. Panicking is one of the worst things you can do in a crisis.

Sage tries to cut me off. "I wouldn't do that. If you stick your face in there, odds are, she'll bite it off."

"What? Is she walking already?"

She yanks open one of the back doors of the van—the only ones that still work for the moment. Apparently, the back door is a portal to Hell, because the thing that emerges is clearly a demon of some kind. It explodes out the door in a whirlwind of teeth and fur and claws, spitting and yowling as it puts as much distance between itself and the van as possible.

"Poor girl, are you hurt?" Sage crouches down, putting her face much too close to something that, according to her own words, eats faces. "Come here, Annie."

The creature circles her a few times before head-butting her in the shoulder.

The only thing I know is that is definitely not a baby.

"What is that thing?" I ask. It's cat-shaped but about three times the size of a housecat.

"This here's Annie Oakpaw." Sage runs her hands over the creature, checking for injuries. "She's a serval."

"Is she… okay?" Maybe I should go to her side and see for myself, but she seems to have the situation under control, and I really, really like my face as is.

"I think so. Poor baby."

Annie the serval turns toward me, flicks her ears back, and growls. Like she knows I'm the owner of the wayward vehicle that ruined her day.

I take a step back. "Whoa, kitty. I'm not coming any closer. You don't have to worry about me." Now that I know everyone involved is safe, I can fully process just how much of a bummer this situation is. Sage is beautiful, and she's clearly interesting. We were having a little moment earlier. Now, there's no chance I'm getting her number on account of how my haunted SUV has killed her van… and nearly her exotic pet.

Annie sinks lower, her belly to the tarmac, her eyes fixed on me.

"It's okay, baby. It's not his fault." Sage pets the serval a few times. When Annie stops growling, Sage looks up at me. "Any idea what happened?"

I shake my head even as my phone rings. One quick glance at the caller ID tells me that I can't afford to miss this. I answer, turning my back on Sage in the process before it occurs to me that turning my back on that cat might not be the best idea I've ever had.

"Hey, Julie," I say.

"Bash. Just checking in on everyone." Julie is Dante Giovanetti's right-hand woman. She's the full-time team publicist but a part-time miracle worker. "Dante's company was just hacked. We'll be in touch when we know more, but I wanted to let you know that we'll have to do some damage control over the next few days. Some of your personal information may be compromised."

"Hacked?" I echo. "Is that why my Escalade went rogue?"

Julie sucks in a breath. "Bash, were you driving? "

"No. My vehicle drove itself. Into another vehicle." This makes slightly more sense than ghosts, I suppose.

"Oh, no." Keys tap in the background. "When you first came to Vegas and Dante got you hooked up with a vehicle from his friend down at the luxury dealership… it accidentally got inventoried into his company fleet of vehicles. Since your Escalade is equipped with SuperCruise, apparently, there was some loophole the hackers could use to drive it using a computer. Bash, I'm afraid you've been hacked, too. I hope there's not too much damage?"

"Enough. And I almost killed a non-cat." I turn a few more degrees and realize there is one other casualty, aside from Sage's van. In the confusion, I dropped my bag of TicTacs. I could really use some right now, but unfortunately, all the boxes have been crushed. "Ah, hell."

There's a scuffle in the background. At first I think Julie dropped the phone, but then I hear Dante's voice. He says something in Italian; she responds by telling him to get his paws off my phone, I'm busy. Nobody else gets to talk to Dante like that. If I tried it, I'd be fired on the spot. Maybe even worse.

Dante must win their wrestling match, because I hear his voice through the speaker. "Jesus. Are you okay? I can't have my player injured. Where are you?"

"At Walmart."

His hiss rivals that of Annie's. "You're kidding me. What the hell are you doing at a redneck Walmart?"

"Getting TicTacs. You know how fast I go through them." This is a hill I will die on. Dante doesn't allow backtalk, but if he tries to get between me and my orange obsession, he'll find out just how much they matter to me.

"Fine, fine. I'm on my way. Share your location with Julie, and I'll be there as soon as I can."

By the time I hang up, the police have already arrived. I didn't even think to call them, but I'm glad someone else did. After all, a car careening across the lot without a driver seems like a pretty good reason to alert the authorities.

I head back to Sage and help her explain what happened to the officers. Now that the original burst of adrenaline has worn off, she's starting to tremble.

"It's my h-home," she says. "Annie and I were going sightseeing. It was supposed to be—" She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. "This was supposed to be my vacation."

As Sage fumbles for her words, a raw surge of protectiveness swells within me. She's standing there, so brave yet so broken, and it stirs something fierce in my heart. The sight of her vulnerability, the tremble in her voice—it shreds me. I want to wrap her in my arms, shield her from this chaos, from any pain. My hands itch to comfort her, to smooth away the tension that knots her shoulders. She's more than just a woman in distress; she's the first woman I've ever been this attracted to.

Every tear that clings to her lashes beckons me closer and draws me deeper than I've ever been willing to go for anyone else. There's an ache in my chest, a yearning so intense it borders on agony. I'm drawn to her by this raw, unguarded moment. Life is happening. To us. All around us. In the cacophony of flashing police lights and murmuring onlookers, my focus narrows to her alone—her every breath, her every expression.

I want this woman, but I'm afraid I've ruined my chances.

"You have insurance?" the cop asks, not unkindly.

Sage nods. "In the van."

"I don't recommend going in there now," the cop says. She's older than we are, and she's taken on a motherly tone in an attempt to calm Sage down. "If that Escalade is hacked, getting in there could be dangerous. Hackers cause as much chaos as possible and usually follow that up with a financial demand. Let's let the pros handle it, honey."

"You know the car was hacked?" I ask, before my brain catches up with my mouth and I realize who exactly called the police. Bless Julie. She's a miracle worker.

The cop adjusts her hat. "This isn't my first rodeo with Mr. Giovanetti. His casino's been hacked a few times, and we get called out. Can't imagine how that man makes so many enemies." I can't always pick up on American sarcasm, but hers is so obvious I can't miss it.

"He is… challenging," I agree.

"It's totaled." Sage scrubs her hands over her eyes. "It has to be. There's no way it can get fixed up, is there?"

From where I'm standing, I agree that the van's life has come to an untimely end. The Escalade hit it at an angle from the front, and one side is destroyed, but the worst of the damage is in the front. The passenger seat is pretty much in the driver's seat by now, and all the things that make a vehicle go have been reduced to smoke and shrapnel.

"I can get you a new one," I promise her. "Even if insurance will not cover it all, I will make sure you get a better one. I'm so sorry…"

"It's not your fault." Sage rubs her eyes. "But I don't want a new one. This was my dad's van. I f-fixed it up myself. He's gone now. It's irreplaceable."

Annie the Demon Cat butts her head against Sage's leg. I consider moving closer to comfort her, too, but when I do, Annie growls, and I back off.

The tow truck pulls in from one end of the lot just as Dante arrives from the other. I know it's him because nobody else takes a limousine to a Walmart. We are already a spectacle, but people's phones are soon pointed our way, filming every aspect of this exchange. The limo doesn't even stop before he launches himself out, cursing in Italian. The cop rolls her eyes.

"What a mess," Dante snarls, although at least he's not angry at me . Dante is usually yelling at someone, and it is a rare treat to be somewhere other than on the receiving end of his wrath. "I'm so sorry that you got caught up in this, miss. When I find out who did this, I will…" His pale eyes flick toward the officer. "...make sure they face the full force of the law."

The cop snorts. "Whatever you say, Mr. Giovanetti."

It is rather disconcerting to think of the law and Dante as being friends.

"In the meantime, pick a van. Pick an RV. It's yours. I hear Airstreams are very nice—"

I shake my head. Dante frowns at me, but Sage is already talking.

"I need this one fixed. Not perfect, just… drivable." She wiped the back of her hand below her eyes.

Dante pauses to study the van. "Are you sure it was drivable before? I'm unconvinced."

Sage turns her head to glare at him. "How do you think I made it here from Montana?"

Sensing her mistress's distress, Annie starts hissing. She rises on her long, lean limbs and whips her tail back and forth as she sizes Dante up.

Dante snaps his fingers once. "Shut up, feline, the people are talking."

Sage's eyes bulge as her cat sinks back down toward the ground, ears turned back, and tail flicking from side to side. She begins to groom herself. It's a pose that screams, Who, me? I wasn't doing anything…

"Dante has that effect on everyone," I tell Sage. To Dante, I add, "The van has sentimental value. I have already offered to buy her a new one."

"Sentimental value." Dante sounds disgusted, but my friend Coop has told me enough about our boss for me to know that sentimental value isn't an entirely foreign concept to him. "Fine, so we fix the van. Luckily, I know a guy." He leaves us there and hustles over to talk to the guy driving the tow truck, pointing with one hand while he punches a number into his phone with the other.

"Dante always knows a guy," I explain.

Sage's eyes flick toward the cop. "I got that impression, yeah. One problem, though. I live in the van."

"That will be no trouble," I assure her. "Dante owns a hotel. He says the Mona Lisa is the best on the Strip."

"Because it is," Dante snaps as he returns to us. "Miss… what was your name again?"

"Sage," she and I respond in chorus.

"Sage, it would be my pleasure to make sure that you have somewhere safe to stay while you enjoy our beautiful city."

"You'd like me to take Annie to your swanky hotel?" Sage's incredulity is palpable.

Dante looks around in search of who she's talking about until I tilt my chin toward the cat. My boss's brow furrows, and he sucks his teeth for a few seconds. I don't know what hotel policy is when it comes to pets, but I doubt that he'll risk putting this giant creature in one of his rooms. Even if it didn't get him in trouble with the gaming board or city ordinance, Annie looks like she could tear a room apart in ten minutes if she put her mind to it.

"And I can't kennel her," Sage adds, thinking aloud. "She's not a housecat. As an exotic animal, she requires special care from people she trusts, and…"

"You must keep Annie with you, of course." Dante slaps my back. "At Bash's place. He has plenty of room."

"I do?" Of course, I do, and if it were just a matter of housing Sage, that would be one thing. But that cat is another matter. She's still growling, even as she licks her groin. She probably wants to put her monstrous murder mittens on my groin.

And just like my face, I kind of like my groin the way it is.

"You do," Dante confirms.

"I do. So long as I sleep with one eye open."

Dante slaps my back again, so hard that I hear something pop in my spine. He is smaller than me but terrifying. Maybe he was a serval in a past life. "Sleep with two eyes open for all I care. Just make sure Sage and Annie are safe while we fix the sentimental crapheap over here."

Sage looks between Dante and me, biting her lip as if contemplating her next move. Then, with a mock-serious tone, she asks Dante, "But how do I know he's not some criminal mastermind or, I don't know, a serial killer or something?"

Dante throws his head back and laughs, the sound booming around us. "If the Canuck here is hiding a dark side, then he's the most disappointing villain we've ever had. Couldn't scare a fly, let alone mastermind any real mischief. Sage, if there's someone standing here you should be afraid of, it's me."

I raise my eyebrows at her, trying to look menacing, but it only makes her giggle. "Well, I guess if he tries anything, I could take him. I did win that second-grade judo trophy," she teases, a sparkle of humor in her eyes that makes my heart unexpectedly skip a beat.

Dante nods. "See? She can handle you. Plus, I've got all his secrets," he adds, winking at me. "And let me tell you, the most illegal thing he's ever done is jaywalk—with extreme caution. And if it makes you feel any better, Julie here runs extensive background checks on all our employees. When you work in the gaming industry, things are tighter than the FBI. He's been fingerprinted. And he also gets random drug tests. You're safe."

Sage thinks about this for a long time. Then she laughs, and it hits me square in the stomach. "Okay," she says at last. "We'll try that for now."

"If Bash does not behave himself, you can call me, and I will sort him out. " Dante bares all his teeth. I'm not sure if that comforts Sage at all, or if she simply doesn't know what else to do, because she nods.

Julie, ever the orchestrator behind the scenes, steps closer with a clipboard, her expression amused but professional. "Don't worry, Sage. Dante's bark is worse than his bite. And if he ever forgets, I know all the ways to keep him in line," she says with a wink, giving Dante a look that says she's got his number.

With that settled, there are other things to address. The tow guy pulls away with the crushed Escalade and promises to return for the van, since Sage needs time to grab her stuff before it's taken to its new destination for Dante's "friend" to repair it.

"You're welcome, by the way," Dante says while Sage rummages around in the van.

"For sorting all this out? Yes, thank you." I rub my temples. Many of Sage's new groceries will need to be thrown out, so we'll likely need to make another trip. I want to get her settled into the house first. Today is not going the way I thought it would, and while I imagine Sage is much more distressed than I am, this new arrangement will take some getting used to. Luckily, I'm not a slob. My maman raised me right. My house is clean, and my guest room is standing at the ready.

"No, dumbass. For the girl." Dante lifts an eyebrow. "If you haven't noticed, she's gorgeous. You've been having trouble on your own. So… You're welcome."

"For insisting she live with me?" I ask.

"What, you want me to ask her back to my place?" Dante rolls his eyes.

"No, no, but…" It's not as if I can make a move on her when she's living in my house. That would be totally inappropriate. I have always prided myself on remaining a perfect gentleman. Until the moment comes that I'm clear I don't need to remain so.

Although, when I saw her in the store earlier, I thought she was flirting with me. Just a little. Did I imagine that?

Julie interjects with a teasing tone, "Keep it classy, boys. We're here to make sure she's safe, not to orchestrate your love life, Dante." Her comment lightens the mood, reminding everyone of her knack for keeping things grounded, even when Dante's plans might border on the grandiose.

While we wait, I take a moment to appreciate Sage from afar. Her long hair looked brown in artificial lighting, but out here in the sun, I can see that it's actually a deep auburn. Her large green eyes dominate her otherwise delicate features, and her arms and thighs are thick with corded muscle. She doesn't strike me as an athlete, but she must do something physical for work to be sculpted like a goddess.

As I watch, she emerges from the van and hands some paperwork to the cop, then settles a pink cowboy hat on her head. A second, smaller hat ends up on Annie's head. The cat sits perfectly still while Sage tightens the strings under her chin to keep the hat in place.

"They match," I say.

"So, she's quirky." Dante shrugs. "But she's real. And around here, that's hard to come by. You could do worse, kid."

Salt of the earth.

The tow truck returns, the last of the paperwork is filed, and Enterprise delivers a convertible for my temporary use. It's smaller than what I'm used to, cherry-red with a black top that's already folded down.

"I'll get your car situation handled," Dante assures me. "Although I won't keep you on the fleet this time. And no running around shooting your mouth off about this little mishap, got it?"

I'm not sure who I would tell, but I give him a thumbs-up anyway. "Got it."

Sage's stuff takes up most of the back seat, so she and Annie end up in the passenger seat together. I have learned that many things that would be strange in other cities pass without comment in Las Vegas, but even here, a wildcat and a woman in matching pink hats are objects of speculation. At every light, people stop and stare. Annie hisses, while Sage waves.

"So, what brings you to Vegas?" Sage asks me, in a polite attempt to make small talk in the aftermath of everything that's happened. "And what do you do for Mr. Giovanetti?"

"Hockey, eh? I play for the Vegas Venom."

"Right." Sage nods. It is immediately obvious that she is not a hockey fan and is groping blindly for a follow-up question. "We don't have that where I come from."

"And what brings you here?" I ask.

"Oh, I decided to run away from my life and find myself."

"Cool." Since I don't know what to ask about that, we drive the rest of the way in silence.

Fortunately, we are not far from the gated community where I and most of my teammates live. By the time we pull up to the house, several of the guys are already gathered on the sidewalk talking to one another. When they see us coming, they hurry over.

"Julie called," Anders blurts as I kill the engine. He does a double take when he sees Sage. Or, more accurately, when he sees Annie. "Whoa! Are you the woman whose van got crushed?"

Sage nods. She opens the door and lets a disgruntled Annie out on her leash, then climbs free. "Sage McAllister. And you are?" She holds a hand out to Anders.

"Anders Beck. Bash's team captain." Anders is wary of Annie, but his wife does all kinds of stuff with wild animals, so he's better prepared to deal with her than I am. "The rest of us are on the team. You need a hand getting anything inside?"

Annie hisses once, then proceeds to walk as far as her leash will let her go so she can mark her territory on my front lawn. After she's done, she tries to bury it. I wish her owner would mark her territory on me, but I doubt I'm going to get that lucky.

The guys help carry Sage's belongings into the house. At her request, I point her toward the bathroom before stepping back outside for a minute with the guys.

As soon as she's out of earshot, the guys huddle around me.

"You good, man?" Anders asks.

I nod. "I wasn't in the vehicle when it crashed."

The alternate captain, Latham, leans closer so that he won't be overheard. "I think what he means, Joe Exotic, is what's up with the hot chick and her crabby sidekick?"

"She's staying here," I say.

Noah rubs his forehead. "We can see that, Bash. The question is, why? "

"Dante." I shrug. "Apparently, the exotic animal was a problem at his hotel. Or any hotel, for that matter. If it doesn't work out, I'm sure Julie can find a rental house or something. With enough money, any rental agreement can be put aside."

As one, the guys nod. We all know how it goes with Dante.

Oliver, our most bookish teammate who generally has a somewhat dreamy look about him, gives me a shrewd nod. "I hope you thanked him for the forced proximity."

"The what?" I ask. "Nobody was forced. "

Briggs lays a hand on my shoulder. "Dante hooked you up, bud. Same thing happened with Ollie and Mona when her apartment flooded. Don't blow it. We have more cervixes to storm."

I have no idea what he's talking about. "More like Dante set me up. Annie is not a fan."

"Annie?" Noah asks.

"The non-cat."

Anders wraps an arm around my shoulder. "Pro tip: cats don't eat poutine. Try some raw meat."

Latham snickers. "Oh, he'll give someone inside that house something raw, alright. And with what he's packing, she could take his meat for a test drive."

"Annie can have the meat," I say. "Do you think Sage would like poutine? Maybe I can make her some."

My friends groan as if I am being the difficult and confusing one.

"This is why you're single," Noah says.

Briggs flicks his wrist. "Totally. Dude is such a prude he couldn't even bring himself to say tits inside a bar."

From inside the house, Sage calls my name. "I should get her settled," I say. I love my teammates, but they are very strange sometimes. All too often, I have no idea what they're talking about.

What was the word Dante used? Ah, that's right. Quirky.