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"You should have seen her, Donovan," Callie said, a bit of awe creeping into her voice "It was auys down all by herself Especially that giant"

"I just bet it was," he muttered

"I told them about Stu’s murder and Randall Dekes and how the va ht before you showed up, Gin was telling et Dekes to stop harassing us To get hiood"

Donovan’s face hardened, and his golden eyes sparked with anger "Absolutely not," he growled "I told you I’ll handle Dekes I’ll get him to back off What happened to Stu won’t happen to you I promise you that"

Callie frowned at her fiance, obviously wondering at his sudden show of temper "You’ve said yourself that Dekes thinks that he’s above the law That he gives too much money to too many people for anyone to want to rock the boat So far, you’ve been right The cops haven’t even questioned him about Stu’s death So if Gin can help, then why not let her?"

"Because I don’t exactly do things by the book or even by the law," I said "And you kno Donovan is - he’s such a stickler for the rules"

Donovan opened hishiroan on the floor A few seconds later, Trent rolled over onto his side and started to come to as well Bria helped Donovan prop them both up in chairs and handcuff them; then Donovan called some of his fellow boys in blue to come haul them off to the nearest jail

Bria and Donovanto each other cop-to-cop, while Callie grabbed a broolass That left uys

After staring at e, Pete finally opened his mouth But before he could speak, I casually pal it end over end in my hand

"Yeah, yeah," I said "I know exactly what you’re going to say I’ain real soon If I had a dollar for every time I’d heard that, I’d be even richer than I already a at me, so I leaned forward so that my face was level with his

"Trusthim see the cold violence that always lurked just below the surface ofwith, and you do not want to find out Do yourself a favor When your boss Dekes springs you from the pokey, tell him that Callie Reyes is off-limits and to find somewhere else to build his fancy resort - or he will be sorry that he didn’t You got that?"

"Yeah," Petetired, maybe I wanted to li to salvage so Pete and his boss a chance to walk away before things got any bloodier I doubted that either one of theh Still, it was more than I nors, well, what happened would be on them, not me

The po-po arrived soon after that, their blue and white lights flashing in the parking lot and casting garish shadows into the restaurant Bria stayed inside to say her good-byes to Callie, but I followed Donovan outside and watched him and two other cops load Pete and Trent into the back of a squad car The two cops got into the front of the vehicle and pulled out of the lot

"How long will it take Dekes to bail thehts fade away "Not long enough"

"That’s what I thought"

We didn’t speak for aDonovan’s suit to his side and outlining his firht held all the answers to his questions I could have told him not to bother, that the shadows only whispered of lies, when they bothered to speak at all, but he wouldn’t have listened tothat had reallyfor hi for that, even if I knew that he would probably reject me just the way he always did

"You know, my offer still stands," I finally said

"And what offer is that?"

I didn’t know if it was intentional or not, but his voice dropped to a low, husky whisper, and his eyes gli face I realized that ere alone for the first tiht - and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that

I wasn’t good with feelings I never had been, and everything that I’d seen and done as the Spider had only uard my heart that much more carefully The more you cared about someone, the more and the easier they could hurt you, whether it ords, actions, or the lack thereof But I’d thought that Donovan had potential, that we had potential, so I’d opened myself up to him, or at least tried to But he’d turned his back on rets Donovan’s leaving had hurt me far more than I’d let on to anyone - even Owen

"To help Callie with Randall Dekes To get hiht you were retired"

The old, sharp accusation flared in Donovan’s voice, and it surprised ht of ed "Assassins don’t ever really retire But eventually, sos besides killing people forthese days"

"Really? Is that what you did to Mab Monroe?" Donovan asked "I heard, you know About an assassin nao in Ashland Was that one of your better deeds?"

"No," I said "Mab was personal, and the bitch got exactly as co to her"

Donovan shook his head and let out another laugh - that hard, caustic, bitter laugh that felt like acid eating away at ain, his face remote, his eyes cold

"Stay away from me, and stay the hell away from Callie I’ll keep her safe from Dekes I don’t need your help, Gin," Donovan snarled "I didn’t back in Ashland, and I certainly don’t now Got it?"

"Yeah," I said "I got it"

Donovan glared at me another second before he stalked into the restaurant, turning his back on ain

Chapter 6