I walk to Camile and Rook, and as I approach her, Camile shrinks back a little. I don’t take it personally and hold my hands out, palms up.
“Are you hurt?” I ask her. “Do you have any injuries?”
“Her injuries are up here.” Rook taps his head hard enough for it to be painful.
He looks shocked to the core. We’re going to have two traumatized people to deal with when we get home, a man to interrogate, and Ace to contain.
My gaze flicks down Camile’s body, making sure she hasn’t been harmed. I freeze in horror. The tan skin of her thighs is streaked with dried white. I check her face and see it there, too, covering part of her cheek, and some in her hair.
Oh, Christ.
“Camile,” I say softly.
She shakes her head, and tears immediately spring to her eyes. “Don’t. Don’t you fucking dare, Ghost.”
I nod. I get it. She’s holding herself together, and me losing it at what they did to her will not help at all.
“I know you,” one of the Revenants says to one of the men from Ledger’s gross little group who hasn’t beenshot. “You were looking at prospecting for us a while back. Beau shot you down. How the hell did you get involved in this?”
“Garth offered us some money to help them guard a girl, and we said yes.” The man looks terrified. “I don’t want any trouble.”
“You should have fucking thought about that before you did this.” He turns to Jack. “Can we take these three back? I think Beau will want to deal with them. They’ve all been sniffing around our club, and Beau wasn’t interested in having them hanging around. He sent them packing, but they obviously got involved with Garth and Sutton.”
“Yes. Fucking take the trash.” Jack looks around at the dead and injured.
Sutton was the one shot in the chest, and he’s still breathing, but it’s fast and shallow. He’s not going to last for much longer.
“Please, can I go home?” Camile’s voice is small, but it cuts through the room like a knife, grabbing the attention of every man in there.
“You want to go back to the college?” Ace asks, a note of panic in his tone.
“No. I meant the compound. If you’ll have me there?”
“If?” Jack grumbles. “You’re not going anywhere else, Baby-girl, and you’re not to be alone, ever. You’re always going to have either me, Ace, or Ghost with you. Mike, I want you to stay a while, too, if that’s okay?”
“Of course,” the big man says.
“Or Rook,” Camile adds. When Jack doesn’t answer and Ace only glowers at Rook like he’s going to kill him, she states again, more firmly, “AndRook.”
A muscle twitches beneath Jack’s eye. “If that’s whatyou want. We’ll discuss it more later. Let’s all get back first. I want you out of here and safe. Can you guys take this cartel piece of shit with you? Put him in the walk-in cooler with the Numbnuts.”
He gestures at Ace and jerks his chin at Ledger. He’s being all business, and Camile looks a little hurt, but I get it. He’s gone into Prez mode, and he just wants her and his men safe.
Ace walks to Ledger and leans in close. “I’m going to haveso much funwith you.”
Looking around the room, I see Camile’s clothes, but they’re ruined. Wet through and balled into a corner, they won’t do her much good, but the shirt she’s wearing doesn’t provide much protection either. I race outside and back to the truck we parked a way down the path. There’s a blanket in there, and I grab it and rush back into the outbuilding.
“Here, let me put this around you, okay?”
Camile nods, and I carefully wrap the blanket around her. “When we get you back, you can get cleaned up.”
“What did they do to you?” Ace demands.
“Ace, shut the fuck up.” I turn on him, and for once he does as he’s told and clamps his lips together. “Camile can talk when, and if, she wants to. Do not fucking push her.” I glare at him, and he swallows and nods.
“Thank you.” She whispers the words at me, and her legs buckle.
“I’ve got you.” I pick her up and hold her, bridal-style, wrapped in the blanket.
