Page 99 of Declan

“Brother,” Max warned.

“Silver lining to that is, if the bitch likes to play, we have time.”

Autumn didn’t have a damn thing to say about Zane calling Ashaki a bitch. Not surprising. What was surprising was Owen’s response.

“There’s no goddamn silver lining. I promised Nat she’d be safe and she was snatched from my fucking living room. I want Nat found and that woman put down once and for all.”

Autumn had nothing to say to that, either. Not verbally, but when her arm around me got tight, I knew she was at war. Part of her not wanting to believe a trusted friend would harm an innocent woman and part of her feeling the sting of betrayal so deep she knew Ashaki was indeed capable of doing just that.

Complete clusterfuck.

Chapter 31

“Take Autumn to the basement and get her kitted out,” Zane instructed and Declan went solid.

“Z—”

“Don’t even try to cut me out, Declan,” I snapped.

His gaze came to mine—hard, angry, and unyielding.

“You’re—”

I pushed away from him, squared my shoulders, and prepared for battle.

“I trust you, Declan. Right now, you need to trust me. I’m going with you.”

“This has nothing to do with me not trusting your ability to handle yourself and everything to do with you personally knowing Maloof. There’s a strong possibility she’s not walking away alive.”

Damn, that hurt. I was having a hard time reconciling that the Ash I knew, my friend, a person I’d trusted, might not be who I thought she was. She’d lied to me about something important, something huge, so what else hadn’t she told me?

And if Natasha was who they all thought her to be, a victim sold into human trafficking, why would Ash take her?

That didn’t make sense. I’d witnessed her helping countless men and women, I’d seen her free them from shipping containers. I’d seen the emotional toll that’s had on her. You can’t fake that kind of hurt.

“That right there, baby, that flinch. That hesitation. That’s why I want you to stay back.”

Would I hesitate to take her out? Probably. Somewhere inside of me I still had a conscience.

“I need to do this and I’m asking you not to sideline me. We both know, if you pitch a shit hemorrhage about this, Zane’s taking your back and I’ll be escorted to a safe room and locked inside until you get back. I’m asking you for a variety of reasons not to let that happen. One of them is, we’re a team. I need to take your back and I need you to let me do that.”

Okay, was it shitty of me to use the teammate motto that Declan used on me? Hell yes, it was. Did I feel bad about basically emotionally blackmailing him? Hell no. I hadn’t lied, I needed to help. I also needed to have Declan’s back.

“Thad,” Declan shouted.

“Jesus, man, I’m right here.”

“Take her to the basement,” he told my brother-in-law, then came back to me. “Don’t think I don’t know what you just pulled. And I’m warning you now, in the field, I’m the boss. Period. You follow directions.”

“You know, I have to say, you’re kinda hot when you get all growly and bossy. But warning, big guy, you might be the boss in the field but you try and pull shit when I’m not strapped and wearing a bulletproof vest, you’ll find that my bite is sharper than my bark.”

Declan’s red eyes flashed and narrowed.

“You know, I’m rethinking the shy, sweet wallflower.”

“You’re such a liar. You wouldn’t know what to do with shy and sweet. She’d bore you to tears. Besides, someone’s gotta keep your bossy ass in line, and lucky for you, I’m more stubborn than you.”

With that, I walked out the door, smiling when the room burst into laughter. That was, everyone but one man who stood by himself, with his arms crossed over his chest looking supremely pissed.