“Yes, and when that happened, we got Benito Valenzuela,” Cisco reminded him.

Not much surprised Hawk Delgado.

That surprised him.

He turned to the man again. “You’re saying—”

Cisco also turned to him. “I’m not saying anything.”

“No,” Hawk stated firmly. “You’re saying you’re making moves to get out, doing it protecting Denver from a psychopath like Valenzuela.”

What Cisco said next didn’t confirm.

And it absolutely did.

“Hypothetically, if one were to endeavor not to make the mistakes made before him, actually learn from history for once, in reviewing how those before had taken their bows, one would note that the mistake they all made was that they didn’t select then train their successor in the proper way to go about things.”

Hawk felt one side of his mouth tick up.

Cisco ignored it and faced forward.

They were silent the rest of the way.

Not that B had ever been mighty, but even if there wasn’t far to fall, where she was now, she’d fallen to it.

It aspired to be a flophouse.

Christ.

“Charming,” Cisco murmured as he opened his door and got out.

Hawk did the same.

And with Joe at their back, they moved to the front door of the complex that might actually have no management. It looked abandoned.

So it was a squat.

Hawk didn’t miss Cisco had sent men ahead and they were positioned.

He also hadn’t missed the piece on Cisco’s hip.

He was also strapped.

Once inside, there wasn’t a lot of light, and what there was, was coming from candles since the electricity had been turned off. There was almost zero furniture except mattresses that had probably been hauled from a dump. Last, there were a number of smells, none of them pleasant.

And when they made it to the room where B had taken up residence, they saw the only real piece of furniture in the place.

The chair from where she was currently reigning.

She had a standing lamp next to her throwing light. That lamp had an extension cord that ran out the window, so she was stealing the juice from somewhere else.

And her phone in her hand was raised.

Her taloned thumb was moving over it when they came in.

She put her phone down.

And when they stopped in front of her, she declared, “This is the last time you see me.”

Christ, he hoped so.

Hawk nor Cisco spoke.

“You hear me? I’m out after this. And by out, I mean gone. No one gonna yank B’s chain no more,” she kept at them.

“We hear you, B, now why are we here?” Cisco said on an annoyed breath.

“They have a message for you.”

Shit.

He kept his eyes on Brandi and so did Cisco.

“And that message is?” Cisco prompted when she said nothing.

“We fold,” she said.

Hawk stood still and silent.

Cisco did the same.

Brandi said no more.

They didn’t ask for it because they both knew no more was to be said.

In unison, they both turned around and walked out.

Joe had them on the road, taking them back to where Hawk had left his Camaro when Cisco spoke.

“You believe that?” Cisco asked.

“Absolutely not,” Hawk answered.

Cisco sighed.

Hawk crossed his arms on his chest.

They were feeling the pressure.

Which was good.

But that was horseshit.

No one was laying down their cards.

The game was still on.

* * *

PEPPER

“You’ve gotta go.”

His breaths were still labored.

So were mine.

But his face was in my neck so I could feel his.

They felt beautiful.

He was also still inside me, mostly because he just came.

And so had I.

That felt even more beautiful.

“Sweetheart,” he whispered.

This shouldn’t have happened.

This never should have happened.

I pushed against his chest.

“Auggie, you have to go.”

He lifted his head and looked down at me through the dark.

“Pepper, that was good.”

No.

It was so good.

Frantic, I-can’t-wait-to-be-inside-you, I-can’t-wait-to-get-you-inside-me, wall sex right inside my front door?

That was not about ending a dry spell.

That was about Auggie.

Auggie and me.

Auggie and me and how unbelievably fucking good we were together.

On this thought, with a fair sight more desperation, I pushed again at his chest, trying to squirm away from him.

He kept hold.

And put his mouth to my ear.

“Baby, that was hot, but it was fast, and it was done before things were said. Now we gotta talk.”

“No.” I shook my head. “No talking. No nothing. That was a mistake.”

“It wasn’t a mistake.”

“It was totally a mistake. You are a mistake. This is a mistake. It’s all a huge mistake.”

He lifted his head. “I’m a mistake?”

I hated the tone of his voice.

Disbelieving.

Kinda pissed.

A thread of hurt.

God.

But I couldn’t go back on it.

I couldn’t.

This shit was not going to happen to me again.

And I wasn’t going to put Juno through it.

“Yes, Auggie.” I squirmed again and this time I got away.

My panties were somewhere on the floor. Fortunately, the skirt of my tank t-shirt dress was easy to shimmy back down.

I went to my front door that Aug slammed behind him after he stalked me into my house and before he’d pinned me to the wall.

And the reminder of all of that sent quivers down my inner thighs.

I opened the door and stood abreast of it, eyes to my feet.

“Pepper, sweetheart, you don’t want me walking out that door,” Auggie warned.

No, I don’t, I thought. I really, really don’t.

But I couldn’t have what I wanted.

I never could.

I’d learned that repeatedly.

Don’t reach, you might get it and find out (A) you didn’t want it in the first place, or (B) it didn’t want you.

So I said nothing.

He stopped in front of me. I could see the toes of his boots close to mine that were exposed by my flat sandals.