Lover Unleashed (66 page)

Manny turned back to his girls, who were far off down the retaining wall and making a fat turn to return toward the house.

“I love her so damned much,” Manny heard himself say. “That’s my heart right there. That’s my woman.”

“Word.”

As a powerful accord weaved between the pair of them, Manny felt like he was home in so many ways; and he didn’t want to think too much about that for fear the fragile blessings would fall apart.

A moment later, he glanced over. “Mind if I ask you something.”

“G’head.”

“What the
fuck
did you do to my car?”

“What, you mean the music?”

“Where did all my—”

“Shit go?” Diamond eyes met his. “You gonna live here, you’re going to start listening to my tunes, true.”

Manny shook his head. “You’re kidding me.”

“You saying you didn’t like the beats?”

“Whatever.” After a harrumph, Manny copped, “Fine, they didn’t absolutely suck.”

The laugh was just a liiiiiiittle too triumphant. “Knew it.”

“So what was it?”

“Now he wants names.” The vampire took out a hand-rolled and lit it. “Let’s see . . . Eminem’s ‘Cinderella Man.’ Lil Wayne’s ‘I Am Not a Human.’ Tupac’s . . .”

The list went on and on, and Manny mostly listened as he went back to watching his woman ride while he rubbed the heavy gold weight of his crucifix.

He and Payne were together . . . that Butch guy and he were going to church together at midnight . . . and Vishous hadn’t stabbed him. Plus if memory served, Payne’s twin drove that black Escalade over there, and that meant payback was going to be a shitload of Black Veil Bride, Bullet for My Valentine, and Avenged Sevenfold getting loaded into that SUV’s sound system.

Just the thought made him smile.

All in all?

He felt like he’d won the lottery. In each of the fifty states. At the same time.

That was how lucky they
all
were.

BY J. R. WARD

THE BLACK DAGGER BROTHERHOOD SERIES

Dark Lover

Lover Eternal

Lover Awakened

Lover Revealed

Lover Unbound

Lover Enshrined

The Black Dagger Brotherhood:
An Insider’s Guide

Lover Avenged

Lover Mine

NOVELS OF THE FALLEN ANGELS

Covet

Crave

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Acknowledgements

GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND PROPER NOUNS

ONE - PRESENT DAY AQUEDUCT RACETRACK, QUEENS , NEW YORK

TWO - CALDWELL, NEW YORK TRAINING CENTER, THE BROTHERHOOD’S COMPOUND

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT - OLD COUNTRY PRESENT

NINE - ST. FRANCIS HOSPITAL CALDWELL, NEW YORK

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN

EIGHTEEN

NINETEEN

TWENTY

TWENTY-ONE

TWENTY-TWO

TWENTY-THREE

TWENTY-FOUR

TWENTY-FIVE

TWENTY-SIX

TWENTY-SEVEN

TWENTY-EIGHT

TWENTY-NINE

THIRTY

THIRTY-ONE

THIRTY-TWO

THIRTY-THREE

THIRTY-FOUR

THIRTY-FIVE

THIRTY-SIX

THIRTY-SEVEN

THIRTY-EIGHT

THIRTY-NINE

FORTY

FORTY-ONE

FORTY-TWO

FORTY-THREE

FORTY-FOUR

FORTY-FIVE

FORTY-SIX

FORTY-SEVEN

FORTY-EIGHT

FORTY-NINE

FIFTY

FIFTY-ONE

FIFTY-TWO

FIFTY-THREE

FIFTY-FOUR

FIFTY-FIVE

FIFTY-SIX

FIFTY-SEVEN

FIFTY-EIGHT

FIFTY-NINE

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Acknowledgements

GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND PROPER NOUNS

ONE - PRESENT DAY AQUEDUCT RACETRACK, QUEENS , NEW YORK

TWO - CALDWELL, NEW YORK TRAINING CENTER, THE BROTHERHOOD’S COMPOUND

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT - OLD COUNTRY PRESENT

NINE - ST. FRANCIS HOSPITAL CALDWELL, NEW YORK

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN

EIGHTEEN

NINETEEN

TWENTY

TWENTY-ONE

TWENTY-TWO

TWENTY-THREE

TWENTY-FOUR

TWENTY-FIVE

TWENTY-SIX

TWENTY-SEVEN

TWENTY-EIGHT

TWENTY-NINE

THIRTY

THIRTY-ONE

THIRTY-TWO

THIRTY-THREE

THIRTY-FOUR

THIRTY-FIVE

THIRTY-SIX

THIRTY-SEVEN

THIRTY-EIGHT

THIRTY-NINE

FORTY

FORTY-ONE

FORTY-TWO

FORTY-THREE

FORTY-FOUR

FORTY-FIVE

FORTY-SIX

FORTY-SEVEN

FORTY-EIGHT

FORTY-NINE

FIFTY

FIFTY-ONE

FIFTY-TWO

FIFTY-THREE

FIFTY-FOUR

FIFTY-FIVE

FIFTY-SIX

FIFTY-SEVEN

FIFTY-EIGHT

FIFTY-NINE