Page 369 of Romeo

“Until he gets here, you stay with me.”

Her chin lifted.

“Wasn’t planning on going anywhere.”

Despite everything outside, a smile tugged at my mouth.

“That’s my girl.”

Then something moved beyond the back window.

And every trace of humor disappeared.

CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

Gator

By the time I hung up on Romeo, every man in the bar was already moving.

All but one.

That was one of the benefits of having only six brothers instead of a clubhouse packed with assholes who needed somebody to explain the same thing three different ways. Juju grabbed the keys to the boats. Worm shoved his laptop into a bag and disappeared toward the back room for the gear we kept locked up. Donut abandoned his plate without complaint, which told me he understood exactly how serious this was, while Braveheart headed for the door and Thore finally stepped away from Angel.

Angel hadn’t moved.

He stood in the middle of my bar staring at me with a look that made it very clear our argument was over for one reason only.

Fiona was in trouble.

I pointed at him as I came around the bar. “Before you get any ideas, you listen to me. This is my bayou, and you don’t know where Romeo’s hidin’.”

Angel’s eyes narrowed. “You think I’m staying here?”

“Didn’t say that.” I grabbed my cut from the back of a chair and shrugged into it. “I said you listen to me out there. You go chargin’ through those trees because you finally got close to your girl, you could make shit worse.”

His jaw flexed, but he didn’t argue. That worried me more than if he’d threatened to tear my head off again. I’d known Angel a long damn time. Quiet usually meant somebody was about to have a very bad day.

Worm came back carrying two bags and tossed one toward Braveheart. “How many?”

“Rome found at least two sets of tracks,” I told him. “Heard movement from more than one direction and spotted a boat somebody tucked across the channel.”

Juju stopped near the door. “So at least two, probably more.”

“Yep.” I checked my weapon before sliding it beneath my cut. “And the whole damn swamp went quiet.”

That got every Bourbon King’s attention.

Angel looked between us. “Meaning?”

“The critters know us.” I headed for the door, and the others followed. “Romeo and Fiona have been out there almost two weeks. By now, the frogs probably sit beside them for breakfast. If everythin’ around that cabin suddenly crawled into a hole, it’s cause someone new walked in.”

Angel’s expression hardened.

We took two vehicles from the bar to the private landing instead of trying to ride seven motorcycles lined up somewhere like a fucking announcement. Nobody talked much on the drive. There wasn’t anything worth saying yet. Romeo knew someone was around the cabin. He didn’t know who. And he didn’t know how many. Until one of us laid eyes on the bastards, everything else was guesswork.

Angel sat beside me in the passenger seat, one hand resting against his thigh while he stared through the windshield. I’d never seen him this still. The Angel I knew had always carried danger like some men carried a pocketknife. Quiet, useful, and close enough to reach when necessary. Steele used him as an enforcer for years because Angel didn’t need much convincing once he decided someone deserved what was coming.

Now his daughter was at the other end of the bayou.