Dangerous Lovers (92 page)

Pete stopped, forcing Dinah to follow suit. The others noticed the group of five New World army soldiers all at the same time.

“Shit,” Garret, “Great,” Seamus, “Crap,” Trent. Dinah remained quiet.

“Where are you lot heading off to then?” one of them called out.

“Home,” Trent answered. “What’s it to you?”

The soldiers all looked at each other, grinning wolfishly. “What’s it to me? I’m protecting the streets, don’t you know? It’s our job to make sure none of you lowers cause any problems.”

“Mate,” Pete scoffed. “The only problem in this street right now is you.” Dinah squeezed his hand in warning. He squeezed back, keeping his focus on the soldiers.

“Is that so? Well I think we need to do a search. Make sure none of you hooligans are carrying any illegal weapons.”

Crap. Pete guessed all of them were carrying guns.

“How about you just let us go home, and save us all the trouble?” Seamus suggested.

“It’s no trouble for us,” another one answered.

“It will be,” Garrett said. “Trust me.”

Dinah turned to him, pressing into his arm. He was standing in front of five of his enemies, darkness all around them, danger an almost guarantee, and yet he was still extremely aware of the feeling of her body pressed to his. He had problems.

“McKay,” she hissed softly. “Don’t do this, please. Isn’t there a way we can just turn and leave?”

He looked down at her. She had no idea what it was like on their streets “Dinah, they’re not just going to let us turn and go. This is how they are.” He leaned in closer. “And I’m guessing all of us are packing heat, so this is only going to get uglier.”

“Something wrong with your pet?” the first speaker called out. “Why don’t you come over here, darling, and I’ll keep you safe.”

Pete actually laughed, genuinely amused. He didn’t even need to look at Dinah’s face to know this guy was about to get what was coming to him. “Mate,” he shook his head, “you have no idea who you’re talking to.”

Dinah let go of his hand, and walked slowly toward the soldiers. Trent made a move to stop her but Pete shook his head subtly. She didn’t need their help. The soldiers all smiled as she approached, watching her. It took every ounce of discipline for Pete not to shoot them right then. She stopped just before the speaker. Pete couldn’t hear what was being said, but when her hand flew up, the heel of her palm smashing into the man’s nose, all he could do was laugh. The man fell to his knees clutching his face.

The four other soldiers drew their guns, Pete and the boys following. The New World assholes were alternating their barrels between Dinah and them.

“Stop!” Pete yelled. “Nobody shoot!” His heart was pounding. If one of them pressed the trigger he was too far to help her.

The tension in the air was thick enough to cut with a knife. Dinah, however, stood calmly amongst the chaos, her back straight, hands loose at her side. She hadn’t even bothered to pull her weapon, which he knew she had tucked away somewhere. She wasn’t the type to go out without one. She crouched down in front of the man still moaning and groaning about his face. Pete hated whiners.

“What should we do?” Seamus hissed.

“Wait,” Pete said. “Let her handle this.”

“This is not good, Petey,” Trent murmured. “I don’t like where this is headed.”

“Trust me,” Pete assured him. “Just let her do her thing.” Inwardly he prayed she actually did know what she was doing, because if she didn’t this night was going to get really bloody.

“What’s your name?” Dinah asked, keeping her voice low.

“Screw you, bitch,” he snapped, removing his hands from his face. Dinah clicked her tongue disapprovingly.

“Fine,” she said calmly. “I’ll find out for myself.” She pushed into his head, finding the information as easy as picking a stone up off the street. “Gregory is it?”

The man stilled, his eyes going wide. The others began to shift uncomfortably around her. She could hear their thoughts, all of them confused and anxious. Seems the boys had been drinking on the job, and were seriously starting to question this whole plan. Looks like beating up lowers wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, Dinah mused.

“How did you…?”

Dinah looked him in the eye. “Take a good long look at my eyes, Gregory, and you tell me how I did it. Think really hard.”

Understanding dawned, his features taking on the look of realization and fear. “X?”

She smiled thinly. “You and your boys need to turn around and leave. And,” she added, “I better not hear of you guys drinking on the job again, or I’ll make sure Roman is very much aware of the situation. Understood?”

His eyes looked over her shoulder questioningly.

“Look at me,” she ordered. He did so immediately. “Roman and Ludwig are well aware of my whereabouts, got it? This is none of your concern. Now, get up and get going. Probably best to just head back to headquarters so you can get patched up.”

He nodded, scrambling to get up. The others put their guns away hesitantly, their eyes flittering between her and McKay’s crew behind her.

“And Gregory?”

“Yes, X?”

“Don’t ever call me a bitch again, or I just might show you how much of one I can be.”

She turned her back on them and walked to where the others stood. She could hear the soldiers retreating back down the alley they had appeared from. None of McKay’s guys, including himself, had put their guns away, their eyes watching the soldiers carefully. Only when they were out of sight did they lower them.

“How the hell did you do that?” Garrett said in amazement.

“Must be my feminine charm,” she said, smiling tightly.

“Seriously, what did you say to them?” Trent asked, his eyes narrowed on her suspiciously.

“McKay!” called out a new voice. Dinah sent a quick prayer upwards for that prime interruption. She hadn’t thought about what she was going to say and Trent didn’t look like he was going to let it go without an explanation. Crap, she thought.

“What’s up, Tommy Boy?” McKay said. Dinah turned to see the guy from the other night come running up.

“You’re needed,” he said, catching his breath. “Sorry to interrupt your night off,” he continued, looking at Dinah quickly. “But it’s – important.”

McKay turned to Dinah apologetically but she waved him off. “Don’t worry about me, I can find my way back. You guys go do what you have to.”

“I can always walk with her, just to be safe,” Seamus offered.

“No, you come with us. She’ll be fine,” Pete said before she could, his eyes still on her. “You guys start walking and I’ll catch up.”

They all waved goodbye to her, Trent still looking at her curiously, before walking away with the new boy, Tommy. McKay moved to stand in front of her, cutting off her view of the others.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, sure. Everything’s fine,” she said easily.

“You positive?”

She sighed, meeting his hard gaze. “Yes, McKay.”

“Pete.”

She looked up at him questioningly. “Pardon?”

“Call me Pete. McKay is what everyone else calls me.”

What was that supposed to mean? That only his friends could call him McKay? Did he not consider her one now? From how the night had been going, she figured they’d reached some sort of middle ground, but now she wasn’t so sure. Pete’s chuckle grabbed her attention right as he placed a palm on either side of her face, holding it gently.

“You know, for a tough ass girl, you sure show every emotion on this beautiful face of yours. I thought you were supposed to be all mysterious?” He said, smiling.

Dinah tried to jerk her face away, but he wouldn’t let her. “I’m only mysterious when my face is hidden.”

He let his eyes look her over slowly, pausing on her lips. Her stomach rolled just has her heart picked up speed. It was crazy how this boy affected her body. “I’m glad your face isn’t hidden from me. Now, to correct whatever thoughts I just saw running through your head, it’s not that I don’t want you to call me McKay because you’re not a friend or anything. I’d just prefer you call me something most people don’t. Make it’s a little more…special.”

He looked slightly embarrassed, his cheeks flushing as he finished. That was why? Dinah felt herself start to smile like an idiot, even though she really want to keep it cool. Too late. “Okay,” she said softly. She really needed to stop sounding like such a girl. It was pretty hard to do that with Pete though.

“I need to run. You’re going to be okay, right?”

She nodded.

“When will I get to see you again?”

“I’m not sure,” she said.

He looked over her head where the soldiers disappeared, thoughtfully. “Is that going to be a problem for you?” he asked.

“No. They won’t say anything. I think I scare them too much,” she replied. Pete could not know that Roman and others knew of what she was doing, otherwise he’d realize it was because they planted her here. Suddenly she didn’t feel so good.

“Okay, well I’ll see you around then.” He leaned in and kissed her forehead before dropping his hands and stepping away. Another quick grin and he was running after his friends, leaving her standing there, frozen speechless and alone. Why hadn’t he kissed her? Did she want him to kiss her? Yeah, that was a big, fat yes. Even she couldn’t deny that. Dinah started walking back toward the area where she parked her bike, all the while thinking she’d gotten way in over her head with all this. She just hoped she would make it out with all of herself intact, including her heart.

Chapter Twelve

Why didn’t he kiss her? Pete wanted to seriously smack himself in the face. It would only complicate an already complicated situation, his smarter self answered. Still, he was going to be regretting that decision for days.

“I’m going to leave you here,” Tommy Boy said. “I’m off to the Red Lounge again.” He winked.

“How does someone like you have enough money to go to a place like that?” Garrett asked, baffled.

Tommy Boy smiled. “I got me a job now.”

“
You
have a job?” Seamus gasped.

Garrett snickered. “You mean, aside from playing messenger boy?”

“Do we even want to know what it is?” Pete said.

“Don’t ask, don’t tell,” Tommy Boy answered. “Trust me, boys, some things are better left in the dark. I’ll catch you all later.”

They waved goodbye as they headed toward St. Anne’s. Trent fell into step with Pete as the other two walked up ahead.

“You want to tell me what’s going on with Dinah?” Trent asked in a lowered voice.

Pete looked over in surprise. “What do you mean?”

“Well for starters, what the hell was that back there? I’ve never seen New World army soldiers back down for anyone. Why would they do it for some tiny girl?”

“And what else?” Pete said, avoiding his brother’s questions.

Trent’s mouth thinned out like it always did when he wasn’t happy. “And what’s going on between the two of you? All of a sudden there’s some strange girl hanging around, and you’re acting like some schoolboy with a crush. What’s up with that?”

“I am not,” he defended.

Trent gave him a bland look. “Bro, I’ve seen you with girls my entire life. Not one has ever really interested you. The only girl you’ve spent more than a week with is Bridge, and that’s only because you think of her as a sister. From the way you look at Dinah, I’d say you’re not having brotherly thoughts about her. And if you are, you have way more issues than I thought.”

Pete laughed, shaking his head. “I definitely have more issues than you think, let’s just leave it at that.”

“You’re not going to tell me what’s really going on? I’m not stupid, Pete. I can tell there’s more to all of this than what either of you are telling us.”

Sometimes he really hated how observant his older brother was. He trusted Trent explicitly, but there was no way Pete could tell him who Dinah really was. He would freak out and rightly so. The whole situation with them was dangerous. Pete wasn’t even sure why she was hanging out with them, but that didn’t mean he would stop it. God, you’re such a masochist, he thought.

“I need you to trust me,” Pete told him. “I’ll explain it all, just not now.” Was that a lie? Maybe, maybe not. If he could get Dinah to leave Ludwig and join them then he could be honest about her. But until then, there was no way he was saying anything. Was that what he wanted? For her to join them instead? Because of her value, or because he just wanted her with him?

“Fine,” Trent said, interrupting his thoughts. “But I’m holding you to that. Eventually you need to come clean, because I’m not the only one who’s going to pick up on this.”

Pete nodded, keeping his features calm. They entered the church and headed to the confessionals. Pete walked through the hidden door and down the stairs to the rebel’s main hideout. The General and several of the council members were already there, sitting around the large, round table set up in the middle of the room. Pete hated being down here. It was cold and damp all the time, the stone walls offering no heat of any kind. And it smelled musty. The sconces on the walls barely lit the wide, open room, and the ceiling was too low for him to stand upright comfortably. He always felt the need to hunch a little.