Trust Me: The Lassiter Group, Book 1 Read Free

careful to keep him in her peripheral vision, never turning her back on him entirely.
    Smart girl.
    She turned a corner, and instead of bolting down the narrow hall toward the back door, she disappeared into a room on the left. He let out the breath he’d been holding, half-anticipating that she would run.
    A chime over the door tinkled.
    So much for being alone with her. He glanced at the front of the store and went perfectly still. Fuck.
    Picking up a red and blue windmill from the closest display, he ran through his options, eliminating every one that involved walking Maxine Walker past the two men who just stepped through the door.
    The first one inside—tall and dressed in a green Aloha shirt—had a tattoo that wrapped around his throat and supposedly ran down the length of his body. James “Snake” Martin was Blackwater’s muscle and had been working for the dealer for over twenty years. He usually stuck close to Blackwater though, unless he was with…
    His gaze darted to the second guy through the door.
    Fantastic . Blackwater’s son.
    Christ, he needed to talk to Tess. Whoever her source was, they’d apparently shared their information with Blackwater, and god knew who else. It would be really helpful to know who else might end up breathing down his neck before he got Max the hell out of here.
    He was hardly a fan of hers, considering more than one person had implicated her in Cara’s death, but he could guarantee what he had in mind didn’t involve roughing her up for the hell of it. He’d bet his next bonus that neither man wandering around the front of the store could claim the same.
    Sensing movement, he spotted his target in the doorway, a box in her hand. He started forward, planning an interception that began with getting her down the hallway and ended with them slipping out the back door, without attracting the attention of Blackwater’s men.
    It would have worked out fine if she’d kept her eyes on him and didn’t glance at the two men who’d joined them. He had to give her props, though, since the only indication she’d recognized them was the squaring of her shoulders as she strode to the counter, closer to the men.
    He knew from his homework that Maxine Walker was a risk taker, reckless according to some, and had earned the nickname Mad Max. If he had doubted what he’d read, every determined step forward would be proving him wrong.
    Either she was confident neither man would recognize her, or there was some tactical advantage in heading back to the cash register. Moving to catch up with her since she’d dodged around another display to get ahead of him, he undid the snap on the side pocket of his pants where he had stashed his Sig Sauer.
    Seeing as he was supposed to be fishing in Florida, using the pistol was at the bottom of his to-do list.
    Ahead of him, Max set the box on the counter, hollered out about the shop being closed in a deeper-sounding voice than earlier, and bent down to grab something. He saw her dig a gun from a bag beneath the counter and tuck it in the back of her waistband as he approached from her left.
    She stood, sparing him only a glance before slipping the dream catcher in the box.
    “Just had a couple questions.” Snake strolled closer. “For the owner, actually.”
    Max’s hands momentarily stilled, then she continued to slip the box into a paper bag with the shop’s logo on the front. “She’s away on vacation,” she lied. “Won’t be back for a couple of weeks.”
    “That’s too bad. Maybe you can help us. We’re looking for someone.”
    “Sure. Just give me a minute.”
    She motioned to Lucas. “The dream catcher comes to nineteen seventy-five.” She kept her face angled away from the two men the whole time, but Lucas didn’t doubt she was keeping track of them.
    Still, there was no way she’d be able to have a conversation without one of them seeing right through her new look.
    Lucas turned toward them, cutting them off before they got any