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Santiago, who’d been pacing, finally held up one hand. “Alright,” he admonished. “Enough.”
The next minute or so was passed in silence, as the guys communicated with looks alone. Jonas eventually ran a hand through his naturally greasy but thick hair. He let out a long, heated breath.
“Look, most of this is my fault,” he acknowledged. “If I’d been just a little faster—”
“No,” Santiago stopped him. “It’s probably a good thing you weren’t.”
Silas nodded. “There were six of them, remember?”
“Yeah,” Jonas admitted slowly. He looked a little more at ease. “Still…”
Eventually Santiago sent the others away. He took Maya off to the side and whispered something to her first, then closed the door before returning.
“You know where we need to go, right?” Silas challenged.
“Yes.”
“Who’s going then?”
Santiago flexed one big arm and scratched the back of his head.
“You both are.”
“You mean thethreeof us,” I jumped in.
“Brynne…”
“Don’t even,” I cut him off. “You know damned well I’m not sitting around anymore. I’m not letting you fight my battles while I sit on the sidelines and do nothing. Either I’m coming too, or—”
“Okay.”
His answer knocked me back a step. “Wait. Really?”
“You may as well,” Santiago conceded. “It’s not like we could stop you anyway.”
“No,” I agreed. “You couldn’t.”
One of the men chuckled gruffly. I didn’t see what was so funny, though.
“Besides, you’ll be safest alongside one or more of us,” Silas added. “These assholes love catching people alone and off-guard. That’s not going to happen while you’re in our company.”
A sudden surge of belonging flowed up from within. Now we were getting somewhere.
“And where I’m going next, I need to go alone,” Santiago finished. He muttered under his breath. “Well, notentirelyalone…”
The sound of giant metal plates clanging against one another pierced the room, even through the closed door. It was still early, but the gym was already alive with a few dozen members going through their morning workout routines.
As I watched, Santiago pulled something heavy from his desk and tucked it firmly into the back of his waistband. While I didn’t see the object, it didn’t take a genius to know what it was.
“Be careful,” he said, on his way out. “Especially with her.”
The door closed again, muffling the sounds of iron and leather and steel. Crossing my arms, I turned to the others.
“He’s wound up a little tighter than the two of you,” I noted.
The guys exchanged the same strange look. “Santiago’s alright,” Cody exhaled. “Most of the time, anyway.”
“Most of the time?” I chuckled.
