Page 99 of Direct Action

“You’re right, brother. And I’m warning you, not only was that not good, but whatever that shit was, it’s going to make you lose your mind.”

Motherfucker got to Poppy.

Now I was well and truly fucked.

Chapter Thirty-One

“No,” Ryan growled from his place across the room. “Actually, not no. Hell to the motherfucking no.”

This felt like déjà vu. Poppy and I were sitting on Pete’s couch. Aiden was sitting where Cat had been. Gavin was standing next to Ryan. And Pete was in the same chair he’d been in during our last meeting in his home.

“Ryan—”

“Absolutely fucking no,” he cut me off, then continued to growl.

“Listen—”

“The only thing I’m listening to is you agreeing with me that this shit is not fucking happening.”

Okay. I was getting pissed. He was being a dick, and it was getting harder to keep in mind his head was going to explode when I presented my plan. Unfortunately, I hadn’t gotten to talk to him before I’d set the plan in action. Now his head wasn’t exploding—he was spitting fire while vibrating with fury.

“Please, Ryan,” I begged. “When you calm down, you’ll see this is the way to go. This is the in we need.”

“Calm down?” he asked in a deceptively calm voice. “Baby, you haven’t seen pissed yet.”

Oh boy.

I had a feeling he was telling the truth. As mad as he was, I figured he could get angrier.

“I was going to talk to you about this last night . . .” I stopped speaking when his already tight frame turned to stone.

“Come again?”

“Well . . . I was . . . um . . . Last night I got to thinking . . .”

Before I could stutter out more, he picked up my ramble. “You got thinking about what a great idea it would be to go from being in the frying pan straight into the motherfucking fire? Are you out of your fucking mind?”

Yep. I was pissed.

I shot to my feet, lifted my hand, and before I thought better of it, I jabbed a finger in his direction. “You wanna be mad, fine. You wanna stand there and cuss up a storm and beat your chest, be my guest. But do not stand there and treat me like I’m a fucking idiot. I know how dangerous this is. I told you I knew and because I did, I would be extra careful, and I have been. I haven’t said shit about staying at your house, even though it’s probably overkill, because that’s what you need to make you feel better. I’m not complaining about you or Gavin taking me to and from work when I could just as easily get an Uber or rent a car. I’m not asking questions, I’m not snooping, I’m not putting myself out there. I’m going into work and keeping my eyes and ears open, doing my part in keeping myself safe.”

I had to pause to take a breath. And since I was on a roll, I might as well just get it all out.

“So, yes, last night I was thinking I wanted to talk to you about me accepting an invitation to a feast if Sterling asked. And also ask you if your friend who got the watches for Beckett could send something for me to wear. That way you can track me. And of course, if he tells me where the party is ahead of time, I’ll tell you so you all can get there before I do.”

Ryan stared at me, his eyelids slits, his lips turned down, and his body still vibrating.

“Actually—” Aiden began.

“Swear to God,” Ryan cut him off. “One wrong word will set me off.”

“Brother, you’ve already detonated,” Aiden rightly pointed out. “And since you’re still smoldering, I’ll just say, you know we can make her safe when she goes in.”

Ryan didn’t say anything, but he did make a sound—a cross between a growl and snarl.

“Aiden found six women who have gone missing in the last year that fit. All in the porn scene, multiple arrests for drugs, families not close,” Pete started, and Ryan’s angry gaze went to him. Mine didn’t. I stayed staring at Ryan, praying that when this was over, it wasn’t also the end of us. “And since we’re piling it on, I’ll point out that if both Poppy and Chloe disappear, the jig’s up. The man’s not stupid. He’ll know something’s up. And it might also fuck Beck.”

Ryan grunted a string of four-letter words that weren’t actually four letters but were curses, nonetheless. This tirade included a lot of ‘motherfuckers,’ a lot of ‘fucking shits,’ and more grunting about being backed into a corner and being fucked.