PURPLE HEART - Soliders Of Fortune [BOOK TWO]

Chapter THIRTY FIVE

Sunday 'Sunny' Santos 

…twenty minutes later…

All dressed up in our Friday night finery, Max parks up in an eerily, unlit alleyway and immediately I grow antsy in the passenger seat.. A prickling sense of panic surges through me to be somewhere so isolated and alone as I squint out of the windscreen into the surrounding shroud of darkness.. 

Where are we?
What are we doing here?
Why have we stopped?

A million questions swarm my mind, the result a mess of catastrophic thoughts, each more terrifying than the last..

“Max?” Caution quickly gets the better of me and all my frightened instincts kick into overdrive.. “I thought you said we were going to a club?”

Doubt creeps in, seeds of suspicion planted in my psyche by years of abuse.. I try to push the intrusive thoughts aside, but my worst fears refuse to be ignored..

What if everything Max ever told me was a lie?
What if this was all some kind of game and I've been fooled?

What if?

“This won't take long..” He replies calmly, surveying the alley behind through the side mirror of the black Range Rover..

Suddenly, the back door of the car is yanked open and I yelp in shock as an enormous tattooed hulk squeezes himself into the backseat behind me.. “Eek!”

With the swift swivel of his neck, Max frowns at me, either out of disapproval or concern, I can't quite tell.. Though he doesn't acknowledge my momentary freak out beyond that. “What’ve you got for me, Sig?” Instead he makes his demands no sooner than the door shuts behind the man..

The burly bear in the backseat, with his fierce Nordic features and windswept flaxen hair, eyes me warily.. “Who's the girl?”

“Don’t look at her, look at me..” Possessive and rough, the order Max makes isn't one to be challenged..

Sensing the danger he's in, the stranger doesn't dare keep The Loan Shark waiting for an answer any longer.. “Sasha’s spiralling.. He think's Petrovich and the brothers are after him, out for blood.. He's been talking trash about revolution and retribution, but he'll still want to take some big players off the board before he can really make moves..”

Clarity dawns; Oh.. This isn't’ an ambush, it's an exchange of information..

Exhaling a breath of relief as realisation settles over me, my clenched fingers unfurl and calm returns, though I remain painfully embarrassed by my somewhat dramatic internal reaction..

“Like who?” Max’s eyes continuously scan our surroundings in a surveillance sweep, vigilant and militaristic..

The Outlaw informant shakes his head a little too hard, unconvincing in his protest.. “C’mon man, he don't tell me nothin’ like that–”