Stakeout
Page 19
This is going to be too good to miss.
“Show time,” I mumble as voices begin to sound outside the room.
She struts back over to the chair in the corner, arranging herself casually while I sit myself back against the desk, boner long gone and a steely expression on my face.
We don’t have to wait long. Mayor Stephenson waltzes through the door looking every inch the smug bastard he is. A grin threatens to break my cold gaze when he visibly blanches at finding me in his office.
“What the hell,” he sputters, a hand nervously running over the lapels of his expensive jacket. The dude is shitting his pants, just the way I like it.
“Surprised to see me?”
He shakes his head, realizes he looks ridiculous, then tries to gain the upper hand. “Of course, I should have known vermin like yourself tends to survive.”
“Steady now,” Bri coos. “That’s my partner you’re talking about.”
Gomez waltzes into the room and as one, they both turn to find Bri kicking the door shut with her foot and settling back in the chair. She looks completely unfazed by our situation… and it is confusing the crap out of the Mayor and his goon.
“What is the meaning of this?” Stephenson scowls at Bri before attempting to pace back a step towards the door.
“Oh, I wouldn’t do anything stupid if I were you,” Bri laughs. She hitches the hem of her skirt up and all eyes dart to the spot. Now that is a sight to behold. Hot stems and a Glock wrapped around the thigh.
“We just wanted to congratulate you on a job well done, you really stuck it to us Mayor,” I smile and jump up onto his desk. It knocks his shit everywhere. He doesn’t seem impressed with the mess I made but wisely chooses to ignore it.
“And yet you managed to unglue yourself. I’d be interested to know how,” he comments.
Gomez circles around in the opposite direction to Bri, probably fearing the retribution she may be here to deliver. I stop him with a look and he holds his hands up in mock surrender. I can’t wait to wipe the smile off his face.
“Technicality. And here you sit, without so much as a finger pointing in your direction.”
He puffs his chest out. “It’s all about connections my boy. I have them, you don’t.”
“You killed Calvin O’Leary. Nadia killed Colm O’Leary… and that bastard Gomez over there assaulted a boatload of women. Women that mysteriously disappeared from the scene of the crime…” Bri flings her arms in the air in exasperation. “You literally got away with murder.”
“Yeah we fucking did!” Gomez laughs and thrusts his hips.
“Enough!” The Mayor shouts, and for once I agree. Gomez is a seriously sick individual. I glance over to Bri and notice she’s barely keeping her temper in check right now. “It was a means to an end. I may have a little blood on my hands, but it was for the greater good. The Irish Mafia needed to be shown who was in command in this city.”
Shaking my head, I look the picture of beaten down. “You really fucked us over.”
He waves a hand dismissively, as if we are co-conspirators now. “It wasn’t personal Mr. Maitland. In truth, I didn’t know you were going to be involved in any of this. I went after Miss Fairbanks because of her connection to Colm O’Leary. Should have known a silly woman wouldn’t be man enough for the job.”
Bri clicks her fingers. “You got me there, Sir. Such a simple woman.”
I stifle a chuckle. “And your wife?”
He grins and steps around his desk. “Nadia is a slut, and a damn good one. She was more than willing to open her legs for the cause. She’s a little disappointed that I got to kill Calvin, but I wasn’t going to let her have all the fun.”
“Well of course, that would be selfish,” I deadpan.
He waggles a finger in my direction, his eyebrows raising. “No need for sour grapes. You lost. Now, there’s nothing you can do about it, no evidence left to fight against it… just chalk it up to experience and move on.”
I rub a hand thoughtfully over my chin. “Ah, you must be talking about all our equipment and footage. What a shame it wasn’t backed up somewhere…”
“No need to try to bluff Mr. Maitland. My technicians assured me every trace is erased.”
“Oh, I’m sure they believed that,” I chuckle, jumping down from the table and making a show of straightening my jacket.
The Mayor is starting to get flustered and it’s a thing of fucking beauty. “Just what the hell is he talking about Miss Fairbanks?”
Bri smiles innocently and stands from the chair. “Funny thing happened while we were incarcerated. It was all just so lucky really. All that intel we had been collecting for you, all the footage and audio feeds, right up until we were arrested… it just… turned up.”
“Not to mention, a group of women who claim to have been kidnapped…” I shrug.
You could have heard a pin drop. Gomez is wide-eyed, staring from us to his boss with a look of absolute horror on his face. The Mayor has gone pale and clutches at his chest. “You’re lying.”
“Maybe, maybe not. Why don’t you ask these guys?”
Briella flings the door open and graciously sweeps her hand to invite in the horde of Feds patiently waiting to strike. The room erupts into a shouting frenzy of rights being read, cries of injustice and the best sound of all – a grown man crying.
***
“What do you want to do with the rest of the day?” Bri asks as we saunter hand in hand down the street – after watching the Mayor and his goon manhandled into the back of a cop car. It was even more satisfying than watching the screeching Nadia when she was arrested just a few hours ago. FYI, her angry scream was just as annoying as her sex scream.
“We could hop a plane to Vegas and get married,” I muse, grinning like a fool when she nearly trips over her own feet.
She yanks on my arm and we come to a standstill. “What the hell is this now?”
“Fine,” I scowl. “No need to be a bitch about it. The courthouse it is.”
Her jaw drops in disbelief. “Are you on crack? What the hell has gotten into you?”
I sigh. “Look, I’m not prepared to live in sin for long, so you’d better put a ring on it.”
I leave her standing in the middle of the sidewalk, gawking at me like I’d lost my mind. Chuckling to myself as she runs to catch up, I decide to ramp things up a notch. When she gets close enough, I spin around and grab her waist. She squeals in shock as I duck into an alleyway and push her up against the nearest wall.
“Make no mistake Bri, one day soon you’re gonna make an honest man out of me.”
She runs her tongue over that deliciously plump bottom lip. “Is that so? What if I don’t want to marry you Colby?”
It’s cute she thinks she has a choice in the matter. “I could always ask your cousin…”
Her eyes turn deathly in a heartbeat. A lesser man would shit his pants. “Too soon?”
She holds onto her scowl for a few seconds before she begrudgingly breaks into a grin. “You’re a dick.”
“No, I have a huge dick, and you love it,” I retort, pushing said dick into her pelvis. She whimpers slightly, letting me know I’m forgiven.
“Not gonna argue,” she whispers, that sultry gleam, the one that always has my cock weeping, covers her eyes and I know we’re 10 seconds away from bolting back to my place.
“If you’re not prepared to buy some bling, the least you can do is move in with me.”
Her head cocks to the side and I think for one horrifying moment she’s going to try to turn me down. That would’ve been embarrassing, especially since the rest of our crew moved all her stuff over this morning.
“You sure about this? It’s a big step, domesticating the bachelor pad.”
Silly girl. No woman had ever set foot in my apartment except for her. I wasn’t stupid. Looking back, I think I always knew she was going to end up being mine. “Bri, I’ve never been surer of anything in my life.”
A breath
taking smile spreads across her face. One I was going to get to see every day from here on out.
“Then yes, I’ll move in with you.”
I hug my girl, hands roving in places that could get us arrested in public, but I don’t give a shit. Because I love this woman and luckily, she loves me too.
Now I just had to work out how to give her the plane tickets to Vegas…
THE END
Acknowledgements
Thank you so much for reading Stakeout! We love this story so much and hope you enjoyed it as much as we loved writing it. When we started out we weren’t sure what to expect. We even said “If it sucks, we’ll stop writing.” But we fell in love with these characters along the way and writing together came so naturally.
First off, we have to thank our beta team who kicked it up a notch this time around. Stakeout wouldn’t be what it is without each of you. Julie, Jenny, Tanya and Stacey… thank you ladies so much <3
We want to thank all the bloggers and readers who helped us get Stakeout out there. Every share, every post, any mention of Stakeout in general is much appreciated. Thank you.
To the ladies of the Sinful Street Team, you all kick ass. Thank you so much for helping out with every teaser Tuesday, posting the cover, posting random stuff we threw at you all. You all are THE BEST!
To our Sinful Smutters... you guys make us smile daily! Life would be dull without you all.
Finally... to you, the reader. We can’t tell you how much we love and appreciate you. Thank you so much for reading our words, we hope you love them as much as we do xxx
KAREN RAINES
A self-confessed reading addict, Karen is usually found either writing or with her nose stuck in a book. Or Adulting because apparently, she should do that too sometimes!
She’s a lover of wildly inappropriate humour, has an addiction to swear words and bananas, lands her foot in her mouth daily… but she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Karen can be summed up with 5 words:
Friendly, loyal, thankful, funny and above all… Smutty!
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BRITTANY CROWLEY
Brittany Crowley was born and raised in Massachusetts. She still lives there today with her husband and 3 kids. Getting into the world of romance after she had her first child, she was hooked. Though she had many ideas in her head, Brittany was unsure if she had what it took to become a writer. A few encouraging words and one writing challenge later, she completed her first book. Now you can find her trying to keep up with her crazy kids and writing any chance she gets.
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