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“What kind of shape is he in?” Bash asked, his eyes on the shack.
“He’s breathing.”
“That doesn’t tell me shit,” Bash griped.
“He’s alive. Awake last time I checked on him. He’s pissed hisself a few times. Wouldn’t surprise me if he ain’t shit himself too.” He lit another smoke. “Been crying like the little bitch he is.”
“Figures. How much we owe you for the rundown?”
Dutch shook his head. “Just let me in on the fun, and we’ll call it even.”
Bash shot me a look, leaving the decision up to me. After a small hesitation, I nodded. I could let the man get a few minutes in before I took over. It was either that or pay the ten-grand bounty Dutch normally charged. Ten G’s wasn’t anything compared to the price we put on Fontana, but why pay money we didn’t have to?
“Let’s get to it, then,” Jet muttered, leading the way into the shack.
The place couldn’t be considered a cabin. It was basically just four walls on a dirt foundation. There was no running water, no electricity, and no windows. The only way in was through a narrow door, and the only light came from the oil lanterns hanging around the boxed room.
The only furniture in the place was a single sturdy chair that Boomer was currently tied to. The smell of human piss filled the room. His chin was against his chest, blood dripping from a gash on his head. The ropes around his wrists were so tight his skin was torn, and blood dripped down his fingers, saturating the dirt. As tightly as his legs were t
ied to the chair’s legs, there was no way he was getting free anytime soon.
As we walked closer, he lifted his head and I saw one of his eyes was swollen shut, but tears leaked from it. I moved up beside him and punched him in the same eye so hard the chair fell over.
“Welcome to the party, motherfucker,” I snarled, kicking him in the stomach.
“Let’s get some answers out of him before you bust any more ribs,” Jet advised, bending to right Boomer’s chair with him in it.
Answers. I had plenty of questions that needed those. But fuck, my fists ached to make Boomer bleed.
Chapter 12
Kelli
The heat coming from the large body behind me felt deliciously soothing. As sleep began to fade from my mind, I snuggled back into it, savoring the peace it was giving me.
But as reality began to set in, I jerked upright. Colt muttered something in his sleep, his arm moving to my waist as he pillowed his head on my lap. Damn it, when had he come back to bed? After he left earlier, I figured I wouldn’t see him again for the rest of the day.
That he came back, probably almost immediately, made something unthaw in my heart a little, but I quickly squashed that shit dead. I wasn’t going to let my walls down again just because he came back to bed and cuddled with me. Fuck knew why he did it, and I didn’t trust him enough to think he did it for me. No doubt there just hadn’t been anything for him to do, and he came back to catch up on sleep.
Untangling him from around me, I stuffed a pillow under his head and headed into the bathroom. After taking care of business, I showered but avoided getting my hair wet. Once I was dry and dressed, I went in search of Raven. Today, I had stuff to do, promises to keep, and then I could leave here without a single moment of guilt to slow me down.
A text to Raven let me know where she was, and I walked down the hall a little farther and knocked on her bedroom door. Seconds later, the door opened, and she stood there with Max on her hip. The miniature version of Bash gave me a scathing look and wiggled free of his mother’s hold.
Raven stepped back, waving me in. “We can talk in here without being overheard,” she assured me as she caught Max around the waist and deposited him in his pack ‘n play.
The toddler screamed unhappily and gave his mother a mutinous look that she only smirked at before flopping down on the end of her bed. “Quinn has Lexa and a few other kids in her room. I don’t want her to hear any of this.”
I nodded in understanding as I took a seat in the chair by her bathroom door. “I figured you wouldn’t want many people to hear this conversation anyway.”
“Flick is coming, actually.” She checked her phone just as there was a knock on the door. Standing, she answered it, waving her best friend in before shutting and locking the door.
Flick sat beside Raven on the bed, both of them watching me closely as I just sat there, trying to figure out exactly what I was going to say to Calvin when I made this phone call. I needed something that would catch his attention, make him want to send his latest fuck buddy back to Creswell Springs so Raven could have her face-to-face with the elusive Bubbles.
Tossing her hair over her shoulders, Flick gave me a long, sweeping appraisal. “I’m glad you didn’t turn on the guys,” she finally said after a long moment. “I like you and wouldn’t have wanted to kick your ass if you had.”
“Um, thanks?” I rolled my eyes when she grinned. “Whatever. I need a place to tell Calvin to have Bubbles meet me. What will be best for this showdown?”
After a few moments of considering it, Raven gave me a few different locations she thought would work, and I swiped my thumb over my rat bastard of a father’s contact. It rang for several seconds before he answered. “You got something for me?”
