Free Rev It Up by Julie Ann Walker

under mysterious circumstances—made their way through the compound’s hand-rolled iron gates, frog-marching their captive across the open expanse.
    And even as he observed their would-be assassin struggle in the Knights’ grips, his mind drifted out to the courtyard.
    I wonder how Snake is farin’ now that he has Shell all to himself?
    Not too good, he suspected.
    One didn’t need his particular skills for reading people, or his aptitude for picking up on subtle cues, to see that Shell’s feelings toward Snake fell far short of friendly. It was clear as day for anyone with two eyes, because whenever she looked at the guy, she appeared ready to either break down sobbing or turn tail and run. He couldn’t help but wonder exactly what had happened between—
    “Is Eve on her way?” Boss asked Becky as she strolled up to the group, interrupting Rock’s thoughts.
    Oui , and there was another mystery. Because though it was obvious Eve Edens was a timid woman by nature, that didn’t account for the look of stark horror that contorted her pretty face the moment she heard Wild Bill was going to show up. She hadn’t been able to vamoose herself from the compound fast enough.
    “Yep, she’s headed home with her tail between her legs,” Becky said, snaking an arm around Boss’s waist before turning to watch the trio of men approaching from down below. When they walked beneath the yellow wash of a street lamp, she chuckled before adding wryly, “Well, holy flaming ninjas, Batman.”
    Rock grinned. The hit man, whoever he was, was dressed all in black. And he’d actually had the couilles to deck himself out in one of those tight, eye-slit hooded thingamabobs complete with a pair of weird double-toed, soft-soled boots.
    “He looks more like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dumbass,” Vanessa mused.
    A snort of laughter erupted from between Rock’s lips before he could call it back.
    Well, well, well. Aren’t you just full of surprises tonight, Miss Cordero?
    When she’d flirted with him earlier, he’d been so blindsided by the whole thing that, for a minute there, he’d gone dumb and mute as a bag of hammers. But he was proud to say he’d recovered in enough time to slide her some pretty good one-liners.
    Unfortunately, despite their titillating little tête-à-tête, it was obvious she was barking up the wrong damn tree where he was concerned. Because, merde , there was more than just lust in her eyes when she looked at him. Lust he could’ve dealt with quicker than a knife fight in a phone booth. But the visions of white weddings and matching rings he could see dancing around inside her pretty head stopped him cold. Happily ever after wasn’t an option for him…
    “Hey,” Bill yelled from the front door, dragging him away from his thoughts, “what do you guys want us to do with Shogun here?”
    “Put him in the interrogation room!” Boss ordered before turning to Rock and asking, “You ready for this?”
    “ Oui , I’m ready.” He nodded, taking a deep breath and turning toward the stairs.
    As he made his way down to the first floor, he ground his back molars so hard it was a miracle he wasn’t shooting little shards of enamel and the occasional filling from his ass. He stalked into the claustrophobic supply closet they’d retrofitted into an interrogation room upon first learning of Johnny Vitiglioni’s paid assassins, tossed off his ball cap and tilted his head from side to side, cracking the vertebrae in his neck.
    Zut. He hated this next part. Digging around inside a person’s psyche always left him feeling dirty…

Chapter Four
     
    Goddamn, what’s taking so long?
    Jake wasn’t accustomed to being outside the action. In fact, he was accustomed to being smack-dab in the middle of it. So this hanging out in the backyard with his thumb up his ass sucked. Hard.
    He felt like a sitting duck, like he’d cut his leg on a piece of coral and was chumming the water in great white shark territory.
    Oh, he