Free Chad's Chase (Loving All Wrong Book 2) by S. Ann Cole

What I just saw, the infrared on your forehead, is the scariest fuckin’ thing I’ve ever seen. Thought I was about to lose you, man. And I don’t ever wanna see or feel anything like that again. But now you have some kinda twisted feelings for your assassin, which I translate to death wish .
    “So here’s what’s gonna happen: we’re gonna pause workin’ on Red Rhage for now, until you get your shit sorted out. Fuck off for now and don’t come anywhere near my family. Not even Alina, because I consider her my family.
    “Whenever you need me, man, I’ll show the fuck up, but as for my family I don’t want your darkness shadowin’ their lives. Don’t want them knowin’ the ugliness of your second life.
    “Respect my wishes. If you don’t, I’ll sever all ties with you. Until you sort out this sordid thing you got with this chick, fuck off .”
    Because he understood, Chad nodded.
    If he had a family he loved and cared for, he’d demand the same. Chad had two sisters who’d issued him the same warning.
    They wanted him nowhere near their family. Hardly ever picked up the phone when he called, and invited him to none of their family gatherings. His sisters thought him and his father symbolized nothing but death and destruction.
    JK, he’s a pastor’s son. Goes without saying he couldn’t just sit and talk guns and bullets with the guy. Chad told him everything, and the guy would listen and never judged, but never accepted either. That dude might be an asshole, but he had the one coveted thing Chad didn’t have within him: humanity. And this made JK complete enemies with his dark side.
    Appeased with Chad’s easy agreement, JK relaxed in his chair and folded his hands behind his head, smirking. “So, how exactly are you gonna get this Killing Byrd on Team Chad?”
    Brow arched up, Chad looked at his friend as though the answer had been obvious. “I’m gonna fuck some sense into her.”

SIX

How precious did that Grace appear
the hour I first believed…
JHAY
    M onday nights at Empty Cage were b-o-r-i-n-g. Very few customers came out to blow their dough on Mondays, so the strippers are usually found curled up in a booth, freezing from the air-conditioner, while watching the club entrance for the next lone customer who walked in so they could pounce on him.
    I glanced over to the stairway leading up to Chad’s office. No sign of the boss’s goons. No sign of him. Maybe he was shaken up from dodging a bullet earlier in the day and wouldn’t bother showing up?
    Sitting bored-out-of-my mind in a booth at the back of the club to shield off the chills from the blasting air-conditioner, feet pulled up and tucked beneath me, I yawned for maybe the hundredth time.
    This chase was starting to debilitate me. After following Chad undetected for the past three weeks, I’d finally, finally gotten the perfect opening to take him out. My plan, everything, was fucking perfect. A clean takeout. I’d set up camp on the roof of a high-rise across the hotel building he was having a meeting in, had the clearest fucking shot of him, counted down to zero to pull the trigger…then some moron had jumped right in the fucking way.
    Pissed, I’d fired anyway, if only to shoot the goddamn imbecile who thought his partner’s life was more valuable than his.
    The brave thing to do was keep post and aim for another shot at him. The smart thing to do was Usain Bolt it from the scene.
    I went with smart. Because Chad was, well, Chad. He was a fearless, ruthless demon, and if he’d gotten even a glimpse of his shooter, it wouldn’t have been pretty for me. He would’ve found me before I could even think to leave the country. And even if I did manage to escape him by the skin of my teeth, and ran back home without getting the job done, it still wouldn’t be pretty for me.
    For one, The Voice didn’t take failures lightly. And two, I wouldn’t gain my freedom.
    So, I ran, and decided to strike that down as another failed