Read Online Under Fire by Jo Davis - Free Book Online

friend, a confidant. An exciting lover.
    Lionel would provide all three . . . with a heaping dose of revenge as the coup de grâce.
    Anger boiled in his gut. Lust in his groin.
    Lionel’s hands tightened around the mop handle as he thought of Cori’s upset over her rescuer. A man named Zack Knight. Hadn’t been difficult to ascertain the situation with all the firefighters and cops hanging around shaking their heads, looking as though the world were ending. Since the shot Lionel had taken at her tire was intended only to frighten her, he supposed he ought to thank the poor bastard for salvaging his scheme.
    Recalling the earlier call from his partner, his lips thinned into a grim line. The man had been pissed enough to shit monkeys.
    “What in the goddamned hell was that ? Do you have any idea how much creative maneuvering and string pulling I had to do in order to keep your little fiasco quiet on my end?”
    “It didn’t go quite as planned.”
    “No fucking shit! You’re supposed to kill her after you seduce the information from her, you idiot!”
    “I’ll be more careful next time.” If he could, he’d shoot the sonofabitch.
    “You’d damned well better.”
    “You know, this whole operation would be expedited more efficiently if I simply took the slut and forced her to give us what we need. Screw this seduction bullshit.”
    “And that would be exactly the wrong move. Cori would dig her heels in and die before telling us jack. We play this my way,” he’d said coldly.
    And look where that had gotten them.
    Fine. If Cori became too attached to Knight, the man’s only thanks would be swift elimination.
    Lionel pushed the mop faster, working down the adjacent corridor. He’d been here too long and someone might get suspicious.
    Returning the mop to the janitor’s bucket, he cast a furtive look around and, seeing no one, stepped into the men’s restroom. Quickly, he shed the borrowed coveralls and ball cap, stuffing them into the garbage. He shook out his dyed blond hair, which fell in artful array to the shoulders of his black sweater. Designer jeans hugged lean hips and long thighs, cupped his sex.
    Not bad, he thought dispassionately, studying his reflection. He had never been homely, but now? He was nearly as beautiful as Cori. The idea made him smile, even though the total package was nothing more than a tool of a necessary trade.
    A vehicle to the ultimate payback.
    Caution, however. He wanted Cori all to himself, without interference. From his partner or anyone else. Straightening his shoulders, Lionel prepared himself to take another significant risk.
    The traitorous bitch was about to discover she needed a ride home.
    How convenient for them both.
     
    Zack looked up, eyes widening in surprise as Julian strode into the room. “Lost?”
    Julian moved to his bedside, extending his hand. “Heard the great news, man. We just finished a call, thought we’d stop by. The guys are in the waiting room at the end of the hall. I saw your lady outside and she said she’d been trying to call me. How’re you feeling?”
    He glanced at the offered hand and up at Julian’s earnest expression again before accepting it with a half smile. Either the man really cared, or those were some good drugs. “Like my face caught on fire and someone put it out with a brick,” he said, his roughened voice little more than a whisper. “Pretty awful, huh?”
    Careful of the IV, Julian clasped his hand briefly, then let it go, sitting in the chair beside the bed. Wincing, he studied the bruised and abraded side of Zack’s swollen face. “Nah, it’s not so bad. Besides, chicks dig a knight in shining armor. Get it?”
    Zack snorted, then grimaced in pain. “Don’t make me laugh, asshole. Hurts too damned much.”
    “Sorry. So this is what I have to do to get a pretty chica ? Seems like a lot of trouble. What do you think?”
    “That you’re full of shit. You have a different chica for every night of the