Motown Showdown (6 page)

Like I said before, Camo was…
more
.

She was a soldier, a leader, my best friend.

My other half
…

When Kandace gave me the green light to come in, I all but ran. I needed to see her, touch her, just know she was okay. Since I peeled that shit from her face, I couldn’t lose the image. It was forever branded there, embedded inside of me. My feelings for her ran deep and her being beautiful shouldn’t even matter but, I’d be a lying prick if I didn’t say that it did. When she started to wake, and I saw those eyes open, something in me settled.

“Hey there,” she says motioning me to sit on the floor next to her.

“Fuck,” I groan when she winces in pain trying to turn to face me. All of those times she was there for me and I chose to go my own way, led us to this, her being in pain, over me. “Should’ve listened to you.”

“Do I have your attention now?” she asks me smiling at me.

“Yeah beauty, you do,” I confess as I take her in.

“I’m okay,” she says reaching for my hand and I don’t hesitate in giving it to her. Holding it, comforting her, hell, comforting me. “Do me a favor, call a family meeting.”

“Not yet, I haven’t come clean with them yet and you need to rest--”

“Call the meeting,” she says again, this time losing the smile. “You brought me to your sister’s place, you’re thinking exactly what I’m thinking. Call it.”

Knowing she was right, I did call it and when I struggled to come up with an explanation as to what I truly did for a living and why I lied about it; it was Camo who spoke up when Kandace started talking.

“My brother is very protective,” she says looking at me. “Just level with me, Camo.”

“They call me Camo, obviously,” she says simply. “I call him Gadget and we’re called a lot of things. Operator, butcher, liquidator, dropper, plugger, enforcer, but I prefer the happy hitter. Look at me, seriously, I’m a fucking ray of sunshine. We don’t just take lives and prevent larger problems from happening, sometimes we save them too or at least Gage does. He’s sweeter than I am. However, what matters here is we make a difference. We do something few can. Mostly we are someone’s last resort. We mete out justice, balance the scales and we just happen to kill some bad people while we do it. How’d I do?”

“Jesus,” I moan looking over at my sister who doesn’t look shocked and neither does her man. Actually, Kandace looks fine, and Rome looks excited like he met fucking wonder woman.

“Assassin,” says Rome looking at each of us.

“Gah, that’s boring,” she says rolling her eyes. “And accurate,” I point out. “Do you have any questions?” I ask looking at Kandace first.

“Oddly enough, no,” she says looking at Camo and the fondness I see she has for her does something to me. “Explains a lot, actually. Good luck with dads though. Call me when
that
meeting happens.”

“I got one,” says Rome. “What kind of money do you make as a hitter?” slapping his shoulder, Kandace sighs, and Camo laughs.

“A lot,” she says answering for me. “At least
I
do.” She offers winking at me, and there she was, the smart ass.
But she wasn’t flirting, that’s a first
…

“There’s more to it than whacking fools,” I try to explain but honestly, they both handled it better than I expected them to and was coming up blank.

“Okay Camo, so how did you get started in the business?” Kandace asks, and I went on red alert.

“You called her, Camo,” I point out. “Before she came clean, you did.”

“Oh did I?” she asks innocently looking at her. “Oops.”

Giving her a look of
what the fuck
, she just smiles and says, “I’m high as a mutha which means you can’t get mad. Don’t give me that look, she asked, I answered. You’re welcome.”

“If you didn’t just take two bullets for me, I’d spank your ass.”

“Twenty bucks says I’d let you.”

Infuriating, sexy and adorable woman. I chose to ignore the thread of lust behind the statement, for now. “So when did you start whacking?” Kandace asks again, and I almost laughed. My main concern for years was Kandace thinking less of me for being a hitter. Now she was looking at Camo with hero worship and me with pride.

“Hang on,” says Rome pulling up a chair refusing to miss out. “Okay, start from the beginning.”

She did.

Gadget was becoming reckless. To a point, he always had been, but now? It’s as if he does it on purpose because he knows I’ll be there like he’s testing me. I almost didn’t make it this time. How I made, it was pure luck because he should be dead right now. Seeing the mark, I didn’t even dial it in, just fired and almost missed. His handler sent him out on a bunk mission. The mark wasn’t a job; he was one of us. The fool never bothers to check in, network or research his hits. Because of this lack, I was just forced to take out one of my own to save his ass.

The years spent protecting him, honing him, weren’t having the desired effect. The idea was to bring him to my side, but the longer this went on, the more careless he became. I realized he might not live long enough to choose a side.

If Gadget continued to ignore the rules, I’d have to kill him myself.

They wanted my history, and I was just blown enough to give it to them with a smile on my face. Kandace wasn’t kidding, whatever she gave me was good shit. I was happy to share my story (Well, let’s face it, I was always happy), I was proud of it, hell I earned it. Gage needed to hear it, so he understood but, all I could think of was getting a spanking, which meant his hands would be on me. Those dark hands turning my ass pink sounded glorious.

The way he watches me is intense like I’m beautiful to him.

It wasn’t until he saw you free of makeup that his eyes lit up
… Perfect,
now
I’m being reasonable.

Gage has always been super alpha but having it aimed at me was hot. Yes, he’s shallow and I should hold a grudge but I just…can’t. Anyone who watches Star Wars knows the force is strong, that it’s impossible to resist. The force was really strong in this one, and if he wanted me to call him Vader, Luke or fuck it, Chewbacca, I’d do it on all fours. That’s just the kind of girl I am.

He’s still trying to figure me out, I can see him piecing it together and I want to tell him when he does to fill me in because I’m clueless. From the beginning, he and I had this weird chemistry. We’ve never shared space, and I found that I liked it, craved more of it. That all the years of flirting, guardian angel detail, and other women wasn’t for nothing because well, Gage was
something
. He was worth waiting for. He was worth risking my life for. He was my purpose.

Mine
.

Bet your sweet ass he would be.

“From the time I could walk and hold a brush, I loved makeup.” I start because if I didn’t I was going to crawl into his lap butt naked. Not how I wanted to get to know the lovebirds… “Obviously, as you’ve seen, I use it to change my appearance, to blend. Well, I was playing with said makeup when some bad men showed up threatening my parents. My dad owned the agency I now run with my grandpa, Bobo. Anyway, hitters have a rule which Gage will tell you we live by. It’s simple, we don’t kill each other, ever. I was in makeup blending into the curtains when they showed up. I memorized their faces out of habit. When they left, he knew they’d come back. So he looked at me and said,
the trees, Pep
. I did what I was told and started climbing. My mother refused to leave his side, so they died together.”
They died because I didn’t make it in time
… Watching their expressions, they ranged from intrigue to pity, to outrage. The outrage belonged to Gage. “I was raised in a hitter’s world. As far back as I could remember. My parents told me they had enemies and that I had to be alert. I started hunting when I was seven and possessed an accuracy my dad and grandpa envied. When Bobo asked me if I was ready to mete out justice, I said yes.”

“Oh my God,” Kandace whispers clutching Rome. “How old were you?”

“Thirteen.”

“You killed two men when you were thirteen?” Rome asks already seeing the truth but asking anyway.

“The rumors were true,” says Gage assessing me.

“Not entirely,” I say looking him in the eyes. “You heard I enjoyed it, yes?”

“Yeah.”

“I didn’t enjoy it,” I tell them all. “I fucking
loved
it.”

The lovebirds both look shocked, and Gage looked resigned but very proud of me. “For five years, I laid fairly low. Bobo spent that time training me, polishing my talents. When I was eighteen, I started the wire.”

“What’s the wire?” Rome asks.

“A network hitters use to communicate with each other. The idea is to share inside tips, new weapons to use, new ways to keep our asses off the grid and tracking kills. But mostly it’s a pissing match with the others trying to impress Camo.” Gage says for me.

“You created it?” Kandace asks ignoring his attitude.

“I did,” I confirm. “If an outsider stumbles across it they see a computer game. I needed to have access to all the players. We needed a way to look out for each other. I also wanted to be the first to know if any of them went off the rez. They do, they have, they died.”

“That’s how you watched my back,” he says when it clicks. “How you were always one step ahead.”

“Yep,” I confirm however I was also lying. I can track him anywhere, anytime, and I do. Faithfully. But I don’t use the wire to do it. But let’s just say technology is a hitter’s bff. “My game, my rules. The players are chatty, like girls in the bathroom at prom. Not that I went to prom, I’m just assuming. I control the wire, therefore, I control the game. How I want it played, who plays and who sits the bench. At least I did until Pilgrim changed the rules, the prick. He pretty much has to die for that, by the way.”

“Who’s Pilgrim?” Kandace asks. Deferring to Gage, I stay silent.

“He was my partner until he ordered my hit.”

“Your partner ordered a hit on you?” Rome asks with a whistle. “What a dick.”

“He’s greedy,” I point out. “In the hitters game, Gadget is in high demand. But lately, he’s been turning down jobs, and my guess is Pilgrim doesn’t appreciate that. Gadget has a reputation as a lone wolf, kill first and never ask questions. Only he did start asking questions.” Then leveling him with a look, I drive my point home. I had to hurry because I was getting sleepy. “I know why you’ve been pulling back and you were right to do so. That’s why I’ve followed you all these years.”

“Because I play by my own rules?” he counters.

“No,” I whisper. “Because you have a conscience, and I have never trusted Pilgrim. He’s been setting this up since he joined the wire. But I had to wait it out until I had more proof.”

“How the fuck---” he starts, but I shut him down.

“He was setting you up to breach by stretching you thin. If you were busy, you didn’t ask questions. Had you breached any one of us would be within our rights to take you out.” Although, technically he already has breached, I was keeping that on the down low. “Pilgrim needed proof, as far as the others go; he claimed to have it. Pretty sure I’ve said as much but you just bitch me out leaving me no choice but to tail you. Now he’s just making shit up, and people are listening. You know why they’re listening too, you keep yourself apart, and the others don’t like that. You may not like the wire, but it’s what unites us. The general consensus is if you’re not with us, you’re against us. Guys will step up because they have no loyalty to you. But they are loyal to me, and I’m counting on that to keep you breathing.”

“Are you in pain?” Kandace asks cutting off my rant.

“Yep,” I tell her.

“Okay, I’m going to give you something so you can rest. We can talk more in the morning. Gage, I’ve got a spare---”

“Staying with Camo,” he says and it thrilled me. “Tomorrow we talk strategy because coming here exposed you both and for that I’m sorry.”

“Okay Gage,” she says softly. “We’ll figure it out,” says Rome pulling Kandace to him. Just as I was feeling the pull of sleep, I spoke to the room or maybe it was to the butterflies dancing above my face?

“Anyone comes at either of you, they die, you have my word. My word is gold, ask anyone living.”

“I believe you,” says Kandace.

“Pay to see it,” says Rome.

“They’d have to go through me---” I hear Gage but then, it was lights out and heard no more.