Silence.
Everybody stood silent for a brief second, but the silence was disrupted when one of the men grunted and went down, a bullet hole in his chest.
That bullet hadn't come from Aslan or Lennox. They looked at each other, confused but then another bullet was fired, and another man fell.
The remaining men quickly recovered from their shock and started shooting blindly. Aslan grabbed Lennox and dragged him back to the car.
"What's going on?" Lennox asked, confused.
"I have no idea," answered Aslan, breathing heavily.
The bullets continued, but none of them even came close to where they were hiding. Aslan peeped from the back of the car and when he saw familiar brown hair, the relief that poured out of him was great.
"Cassian," he breathed, resting his head on the car and closing his eyes. Cassian was here; he would take care of everything.
"Who's that?" Lennox asked, nudging Aslan gently.
"My man," Aslan responded without thinking.
Kade's eyes went wide. His man? What…? Wasn't he straight? He had a damn man? And why was Kade's chest aching? It was none of his business whether Russo had a man or not. None.
He looked away from his side profile, ignoring the pain in his chest as they waited for their knight in shining armor to come rescue them. Fuck the knight. Kade hated him even though he hadn't seen him.
They heard gunshots, grunts, and moans of pain. Then… nothing.
"Capo?" Kade heard a deep, smooth voice call.
Even though he hated the fucker, he had to admit he had a nice voice.
"I'm here, Cassian," Russo answered without opening his eyes.
A few seconds later, a large, fucking good-looking man stood in front of them, looking down at Russo with wide eyes, his eyes searching.
Russo opened his eyes and stood up slowly, waving the knight away when he moved to help him.
Kade hated to admit it, but damn, the man was good-looking. Tall and muscled like The Hulk, with honey-brown hair and eyes to match. Russo had good eyes, Kade will say that.
"Capo, I was so–"
He stopped, his eyes widening as he finally noticed Kade. His gun was immediately out, pointing at Kade with his eyes hard, the softness from earlier gone.
Kade rolled his eyes as he struggled to get on his feet, but his leg had reached its limit and could no longer hold him up. Russo looked like he was about to help him but then he seemed to remember their plan and he stayed where he was.
Kade grunted in pain as he slid back down, breathing heavily as he closed his eyes.
Fuck, he couldn't remember the last time he had been in so much pain.
"Lower your gun, Cassian," Russo said, his voice hard, back to being a capo. "And get handcuffs. He's coming with us."
He heard steps receding and he knew that was Russo. He didn't bother to open his eyes even when he felt Hulk's eyes burning into him. Eventually, he grew tired of staring at him and left to do as his capo instructed.
Kade felt like shit. He needed to soak himself in a tub and wash away the night. And his hair… Oh, his poor hair.
Hulk came back and locked the handcuffs around Kade's wrist, a little forcefully. Kade didn't open his eyes, but the eyes flew open when Hulk tried to manhandle him to his feet.
"Easy!" he snapped, his teeth bared. "Don't you know how to handle an injured man?"
"You're an assassin," Hulk snarled. "You are no man."
"I have the same dick as you do, Hulk. Though, yours will be much bigger than mine. But it's a dick regardless."
Hulk's nose wrinkled in disgust, and he looked like he wanted to punch Kade. Wouldn't be the first time he offended someone with talks of dicks.
Hulk went ahead and manhandled him to his feet, ignoring Kade's grunts of pain. By the time Kade finally managed to limp to the car, he was a panting, bleeding mess.
Aslan watched from inside his car with his jaw clenched as Cassian forced Lennox to walk. He dug his nails into his palm so the pain would keep him grounded and he wouldn't snap at Cassian to be easy on him.
He couldn't do that. Their plan has already begun. He needed his men to believe he had Lennox. He could already see the look some of them were giving him —respect. The look wasn't there yesterday.
He felt dirty with himself. Because he knew he wouldn't be able to take Lennox down. Despite his teasing and playing, the man was a beast. He wouldn't still be alive if he wasn't.
But this had to be done.
"Drive," he said to the driver once Lennox was inside the other car with Cassian.
***
What Aslan wanted was to just go to his house and wash away the blood on him, but first things first.
Cassian had assembled the men at the warehouse even before Aslan had arrived. And they were all waiting for me the same way they had stood just a week ago when his father was here.
But it was his father that stood where he did. And now it was him.
"The former capo's killer has been caught," he addressed the crowd, not shouting but his voice still carried. Lennox kneeled beside him, his hands bound in front of him, his head bowed. He looked so pale, so weak. "But he wouldn't be killed." Aslan saw a slight shift in the men, but they maintained their position. "There's a war brewing. A war my father told me nothing about. So we are going to fight in this war, and we're going to win. So Lennox shall be our weapon. Our assassin. After he has been used, he shall be discarded."
He paused, searching the men's faces. They looked at him with respect, pride. Their new capo had caught the legendary assassin, those were the thoughts going through their heads.
"No one is to touch him," he continued, making sure they heard the warning in his voice. "He's mine to do as I see fit."
From the corner of his eyes, he saw Lennox shift. The first movement since he started kneeling there. Aslan had begun to think he was dead.
"Not a single hair on his head is to be harmed." He let the or else hang in the air.
He looked away from them and turned to Cassian. He nodded down at Lennox.
"To my penthouse," he said.
He noticed Cassian's jaw tightened before he nodded. He moved to Lennox but paused when Aslan said, "And easy."
Again, Cassian gave a subtle shift before nodding. He reached down and tugged Lennox gently to his feet, but as Lennox tried to stand, a low grunt escaped him and he collapsed, slumping against Cassian.
He had lost consciousness.