Chapter 19

MINA

"Asshole is in there." Hunter leaned closer to a streetlight and jerked his head towards the house at the end of the street.

A light was on, but I couldn't make out anyone inside.

From the outside, the house looked no different to any other in the area. Small, single story, driveway big enough for one car. The bushes at the front were neatly trimmed, as was a short section of grass between the house and the road.

"We didn't get close enough to confirm whether or not it's him," Parker said.

"That's right," Hunter said. "When the notification popped up, we picked him up from near the airport. He matches the description of the asshole on the security camera."

"So he could be anyone?" Damon asked.

"He could be, but my spidey senses tell me otherwise," Hunter said. "And the fact he tried to throw us off his tail three times on the way here. If that doesn't say guilty as shit, nothing else would."

"Sounds guilty as shit to me," Gianni agreed. "I see he didn't manage to lose you."

Parker grinned. "You have to be smarter than this guy to outsmart us."

"Kurt is smart enough to have eluded us up until now," Reuben said. He leaned against the side of his car, his gaze intent on the small house as though he could look right inside.

"Until now, being the key words here," Hunter said. "He wasn't going to be able to do it forever."

"What are you thinking?" Gianni asked me softly.

I blinked a couple of times. "The same thing you're thinking."

He nodded. "This is much too easy."

"Tracking that dickhead here wasn't easy," Parker said. He didn't exactly bristle, but his tone was this side of offended.

"For someone who got away with what he did for so long, it was," Gianni reasoned. "Something about this is off."

"You think this is a trap," Damon stated.

Gianni glanced at him. "You don't? This isn't what you'd do if you were Kurt?"

I shuddered. Damon was prickly, but he was nothing like Kurt.

"If I was that shithead, I'd stay as far away from us as I could get," Damon said. "I'd be well aware my days were numbered. I wouldn't bother trying to lure us into anything."

"Unless he believes he has something up on us," I said. "Some way to convince us to stop hunting him." I wouldn't be surprised what depths he'd sink to in order to get what he wanted.

"Nothing exists that would stop me," Reuben said. "There's nothing he could say, do or threaten."

"What if he was holding Parker and me hostage?" Hunter asked.

Reuben arched an eyebrow at him.

Hunter winced. "Ouch. Thanks a lot, big brother. We love you too."

"Since it's clear he isn't holding you ransom, you're being offended for no reason," Reuben said. He seemed particularly unimpressed.

"It was hypothetical," Hunter grumbled.

Parker put an arm around his twin's shoulders. "You know Reuben would do whatever he had to do to get us free. He just likes to play with us and piss us off. It's his favourite pastime. Maybe it's our fault for telling him to get a hobby. He made this his."

Reuben grunted, but didn't take the bait any further. "Get closer and see if it is Kurt." He nodded to the twins and Gianni, before gesturing for Damon and me to stay with him.

"I can go too," I argued. "If it is him, I need to see." I wouldn't be surprised if Gianni or the twins killed him on sight. I wanted to see him before they could. I wanted to be the one to kill him.

"Mina," Reuben said, his voice even lower than usual.

"Nothing is going to happen to me," I said. "Not with Gianni, Hunter and Parker there too."

"We'll be fine too," Parker said. "Thanks so much for caring."

Reuben glanced at him and smirked.

Parker just grinned and shrugged in response.

Reuben closed his eyes and exhaled, his breath reluctant at best. "If anything happens to you?—"

"The twins better be dead first," Gianni finished for him.

"Hey," Hunter protested. "Not you too, Gianni. I thought we were friends."

Gianni grinned. "I'm just saying, that's all. The only way anyone gets to her is through us. For what it's worth, I'd be dead too."

I caught Damon glowering in my direction. Clearly he hadn't changed his stance that I was a distraction. This whole conversation was a perfect example.

I reached into the back of the car, opened the box and pulled out two knives. Without another word, I headed through the darkness, toward the house.

"Shit." Gianni hurried to catch up. The twins weren't far behind.

"Just remember it might not be him," Gianni said as we stepped past the other houses and slowed. As tempting as it was to break down the front door, it wasn't subtle and he was right.

I didn't want another innocent person to get hurt or killed because of me.

"At this point, I don't give a shit if it is him or not," Hunter said. "I'm enjoying myself. The expression on Reuben's face was fucking priceless." He offered his twin a fist bump.

"Enjoy it quieter," Gianni said. "Both of you go around the back. See if you can find a window to look through." He took my hand and pulled me down into the shadows near some bushes.

I forced myself not to flinch, or squeeze his hand for reassurance. I needed to be cool, calm and rational right now. Anything else would be dangerous for all of us.

The twins nodded before slipping away into the darkness.

"Call me crazy, but this shit is the most fun part of the job to me," Gianni whispered. "The anticipation of what might come next is next level."

"I like knowing exactly what's coming next," I whispered back.

I preferred careful planning and a flawless execution, to running into a situation and hoping for the best. Sometimes the latter was all you could do, but the former was easier to control.

Admittedly, it was almost impossible to control every aspect of anything. With that in mind, I was always flexible and watching for unexpected variables.

"I like coming," Gianni said lightly. "Especially when you're involved."

I snorted softly. Everything had to come back to sex, didn't it?

"It's not my fault if situations like this turn me on," he added. "With you next to me, it's even hotter." He adjusted the front of his pants and looked pained. Judging by the tenting, he was ready to go again.

"You're not planning to sneak off and fuck are you?" Parker asked. He slipped back through the shadows and crouched beside us. "He's still in there, but I can't make out anything more than a shape moving around. There's blinds on the back of the house that don't have convenient peepholes in them. So inconsiderate."

"I knew this guy was an asshole." Hunter crouched beside Parker. "He could have left one of the blinds open."

"How thoughtless of him to want privacy," I said sarcastically. Kurt didn't deserve any, but if it wasn't him, then we shouldn't be peeking in. There might be an innocent woman or child on the other side of that blind. The twins hadn't mentioned seeing anyone else, but that didn't necessarily mean they weren't here.

"She gets it." Hunter offered me a fist bump.

I brushed my fist over his before quickly pulling it back. "I guess we're going to have to do this a different way."

"The direct route," Gianni agreed. "We walk right up to the front door and knock. I know, it's an old-fashioned thing to do, but I think we can pull it off."

"Knocking on the front door is so lame," Parker complained.

"Yes, it is, but that's what we're going to do," Gianni said. "At least, that's what I'm going to do. The three of you are going to stay here."

Before anyone could argue, he rose and strode toward the door like he had every reason to be there.

Without hesitating, I rose and followed him.

"I told you to stay back there," Gianni said conversationally.

"So you did," I said. "I decided not to. Kurt knows what you look like."

"He knows what you look like too," Gianni said. "If he tries anything, you should be far enough away to be able to run."

"I want to be close enough to stop him," I said. "You know what I can do with a knife."

"I also know you're traumatised by what he did." Gianni stopped short of the front steps. "Trauma and fear can make people hesitate."

He was right, but not in this situation. I couldn't let myself freak out. If I did, Kurt won. Fuck that.

"I won't hesitate," I insisted. "I can do this. Not to mention, there's nothing you could say that would make me back away now. We're doing this."

He sighed out his nose. "Woman, you're making me hard as fuck again. Fine, just be careful, okay? The longer this goes on, the more desperate Kurt will be. The more desperate he is, the more chance there is that he'll do something stupid. The stupider it is, the more likelihood we die. The more dead we are, the better chance I haunt his ass. No one wants that because I will be noisy as fuck." His teeth flashed white in the darkness.

"I'll be careful," I promised. "I don't want either of us to end up dead." The reality of that surprised me. At some point during the last few weeks, I'd started wanting to live again. I had things to live for now. Hope that my life wasn't a complete cluster fuck. I also really, really didn't want Gianni to die. The idea made my heart hurt.

"Okay, let's do this." He slipped his hand into mine and we took the front steps together, side-by-side.

A single light illuminated the front door. Painted off-white, it looked fresh, as though the whole house was recently renovated.

Gianni tapped on the door.

A shuffling came from inside the house, followed by footsteps.

"If you're looking for Courtney she's not—" The door slid open smoothly.

My heart bottomed out. The man standing just inside the door wasn't Kurt, but the resemblance was strong enough to knock the breath out of my body.

"We're not looking for Courtney," Gianni said easily, like they were having a pleasant chat. "Although, she's a lovely person. Really sweet. No, we were looking for someone else. A guy named Gustav. I know he lives around here somewhere. Do you know which house is his?" He twisted his upper body and gestured back toward the street.

The man looked confused. "I don't know no Gustav. I only just moved in here, I don't know anyone in the area. How do you know Courtney?" His eyes narrowed like he was trying to figure out what Gianni's angle was. And if he could get the door closed fast enough.

Gianni grinned. "I don't, I was just guessing. You seem like the kind of guy who likes his women sweet. I mean, don't we all?" He glanced over at me.

I smirked in response. I wouldn't consider myself to be sweet. Anything but.

"I guess so," the man said uncertainly. "Like I said, I can't help you."

"That's a shame," Gianni said. "That's okay though, we'll keep looking. He must be around here somewhere. A guy like Gustav is difficult to hide. He's the kind who stands out in a crowd, if you know what I mean." He turned away from the door and back towards the steps.

Before I followed, I pinned the man with a look. "Do you know Kurt Lasalle?"

His brief moment of hesitation was all the answer I needed.