I punched hard, hitting him in the throat. He tightened his grip on my hair, dragging my face down into his groin. He coughed and sputtered. I laughed, "You hit me or hurt me, expect it back from now on. I don’t even care if it blows cover or the Burrow."
He cleared his throat and coughed again, "You and I are going to have a long chat about acceptable forms of affection and unacceptable." I shoved at him but he held my face in his groin, "I wonder what young Cooper is thinking is happening right now? I bet he is curious as to why your face is in my lap."
I shook my head, "He trusts me."
Servario scoffed, "So did I, once."
I growled, "Don’t even start on me. I never betrayed you."
He lifted my face by my hair, "If you think for one second everything I did wasn't for you, then you are mistaken. Every move has been for you. I made you a promise once that I would always be in your shadow and protect you. I included your kids in that. The minute I thought James betrayed me, I knew I had to keep your kids safe at all costs."
I swung at him, "Don’t you lie to me and include my kids in it."
He shoved my face back into his lap, "When you want to apologize and act like a big girl, I will let you back up."
My neck and back were aching by the time the car stopped, but I wasn't apologizing. Servario opened the door and dragged me from the car. The driver got out. Servario pulled a gun from inside the car door, with a silencer on it. I swallowed hard, "Okay, I'm sorry."
He gave me an astonished look, "You think this is for you?"
I shrugged, "I don’t know."
He looked furious. The second car stopped. The driver opened the door. Servario turned and shot the driver and then ours. I jumped, "Why did you kill them?"
He gave me a hateful look, "I didn’t, you did. You had to talk about important mission work in front of them? We can't let them live with all the words you spewed out there."
I gasped, "I thought they were yours."
He nodded, "They were, I still don’t say things like Burrow and blowing cover."
Coop walked up looking just as livid, "You talked shop in the car?"
I put my hand out, "Fuck all three of you."
Jack looked affronted, "I didn’t do anything. I was shocked he shot them too. I don’t even think our driver spoke English."
I turned and walked down the road to the marina we were parked on top of. I heard Servario say, "Maybe you should talk to her."
My right eye twitched and I picked up my pace. F**kers.
Coop caught up with me. His voice was gruff, "You have to remember to keep everything private. You know better."
I looked at Coop, "You aren’t mad that he shoved my face in his dick the entire ride here? That doesn’t make you angry? Me talking in front of the guy, I assumed he had on the payroll, that makes you psycho?"
Coop gave me his stoic face, "I saw you throat punch him, least that’s what it looked like. He has a decent welt. I assumed you had it."
Disgust covered every inch of my face, "What? No, I didn’t have it." I looked back at Servario. He blew me a kiss. I flipped him off.
I didn’t know why I had agreed to even do the stupid mission. It made no sense, nothing ever made sense. I wanted to shoot something, but we had bailed all our guns, and there was nothing left but the clothes on our backs. Even our passports were gone. I turned into the marina but Servario shouted, "That way, milady."
I looked over at a shack down the road. Of course. Nothing was ever predictable with them. The shack was a dirty, little shit hole. I opened the front door, praying to just get shot when I opened it. Inside was nothing. It literally was nothing but a room. Jack came in after me, "They went behind it."
I nodded and followed him into the woods. "That probably looked suspicious, the four of us walking into the bush. The two dead guys are probably not making us look less suspicious."
Jack nodded, "Yeah, this is one of the odder things I've ever done, and that’s saying something."
I sighed, "Yeah, me too."
He stopped, "Let's be honest about the things you've done, this is nothing. Evie, walking through some woods after shooting two dudes is like a regular Thursday for you."
I laughed. We followed Coop and Servario, who walked without speaking at all. When we got to a trail there was another cabin. I went to walk past it but Jack grabbed my arm, "They went inside."
"Of course they did."
He nodded, "You know you'll guess the wrong one. Statically speaking, when making a choice, a female…"
I put my fingers up to his lips, "Stop."
He smiled and spoke through my fingers, "You remind me of Luce sometimes."
I nodded, "Thank you." I pushed him into the shack. Servario was passing out things. I started to get excited when I saw some heels. "Louboutin?"
He shook his head, "Choo."
I fought my smile, "Cool."
He rolled his eyes, "Oh, just get excited."
I snatched the stunning heels from his hands and ran my fingers down the side of the strappy silver stiletto. The straps were so delicate and fine. It was like the band of an engagement ring. I touched the bling lining the sides, "Are those real?"
He sneered, "You know I only buy the best." Coop and Jack had gone into the other room. Servario handed me a black pleated skirt, short black bob wig, a makeup kit, a water bra, and a red, off-the-shoulder top with bat wings. I nodded, "I miss Roxy sometimes." He glared at me. I shrugged, "I know she was a bad person, but she had great taste. These were hers, weren’t they?"
He looked disturbed, "No." He backed up to the wall, leaning on it. I scowled, "Turn around."
He smiled, shaking his head, "Hurry up."
I met his gaze with confidence, "Fine."
I pulled off my shirt and bra and pulled on the strapless water bra. I turned to the side, "You sure these aren’t too big?"
He laughed, "You need to look like the usual girls."
I cocked an eyebrow, "Ewwww. I am not getting on that boat again. Pervert. You should have burned it to the last dildo."
He chuckled, "We aren’t going on the boat with all the dead people on it."
I pulled on the skirt and dragged my yoga pants off. I tossed my pants at him. He pulled the underwear out, "Really?"
I nodded, "I'm trying to look the part of boat whore."
He pocketed the underwear, "You're trying to drive me crazy, that is what you're doing."
I lost my smile, staring at the small lump my panties made in his pocket. "Those were dirty."
His smile widened, "Oh, I know."
I mentally massaged my temples and reminded myself of Coop. I really liked Coop. I could bring Coop around my kids and he was amazing in bed. He was never going to be the big bad wolf that Servario was. I almost looked down at my bare va**na and reiterated that point.
Coop good, Servario bad.
I pulled on the top and positioned it so it hung with one shoulder uncovered. I pulled my hair into a ponytail and slipped the wig on. I dropped to my knee and slipped on one shoe and then the other. I could hear his breathing changing as I walked over to him and passed him the mirror.
"You look…"
I shook my head, "Shut up, please, or I will swear at you." I looked in the mirror and put on the falsies and eye shadow. I dragged the eyebrow pencil up my eyebrows and back brushed them with the small comb. They looked natural being that dark.
I dragged the lip brush covered in Russian Red across my lips.
"Fuck me, Evie."
I looked over at Coop and laughed. He and Jack both looked like they were going to star in an Eminem video. Baggy Carhartt cargo shorts, Nike runners, baseball caps and baggy t-shirts. They both looked young. "What are you two wearing?"
Servario looked at them both, "They look like my young American friends who come and party."
I scowled, "They don’t dress like you?"
He shook his head, "No. They're Americans. They dress like urban gangsters."
"They look like they're twenty."
He nodded, "They are twenty, what's your point."
I saw what he was doing. I rolled my eyes, "Whatever." Coop was still staring at me, as was Jack. I scowled, "You like my new hair?"
"Tits, I mean, I like the whole thing."
I glared, "You and the water bras."
He nodded, "Yeah, those look so real."
Jack gave him a look, "He means you look really slutty, very whorish. I think this is perfect, exactly the type of girl we normally record Servario with."
Servario's eyes twitched, "Let's go."
He turned and walked out the back of the shack. Coop walked to me, pulling me into his arms. I pushed on his chest, "We need to look professional. Like partners." He smiled but I pushed him back, "No."
We walked out the back of the cabin to a massive set of stairs. I looked at them, "Are you kidding?"
Servario smiled, "I'd be happy to carry you?"
I laughed and walked past him, "This isn’t a fun little field trip; you guys get that, right?"
By the time we got to the bottom, my feet were pressing through the ends of the sexy sandals. I was in agony. I looked at the huge flight of stairs climbing the cliff, shaking my head. Coop wrapped an arm around my shoulders, "You wearing underwear?"
I gave him a sly smile, "Why?"
His eyes turned steely, "I thought that about mid-flight of the stairs there was a gust of wind, and I might have seen something, something I recognized from the other day."
I smiled, "I'm pretty sure you didn’t see anything."
Jack smiled as he walked past, "No, we did."
I blushed, "Well, stop looking, perverts."
Coop looked nervous, "Why aren’t you wearing underwear?"