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I drop the branch and wrap my arms around her. My hands feel slick and wet, and when I look at them, I realize they are covered in blood. I am covered in that fucker’s red blood. I should be disgusted, but I’m not. My mind is celebrating the victory of vanquishing an enemy and protecting what is ours. She is ours to protect, and fuck anyone that tries to hurt her now.
June rubs her hands down my face and then lifts the hem of her sweatshirt to try to clean off the blood I can feel on my face, but I pull away. I want it there. I want anyone who tries to harm her or come for us to see what I did to the last person who wanted to hurt her. I get back on my feet and pull her up towards me. The sun is quickly sinking in the sky, and if we don’t get to that fucking river and find my cousin’s men soon. We are going to freeze to death out here tonight, and I won’t be able to protect her from that. That is not a battle I can win for her.
I reach down and go through the fuckers pockets to see if he has anything of use and come up with a pocket knife and a wallet. Sliding both into the pockets of my wet joggers, I wrap my fingers around June’s hand and pull her forward and away from the body, back in the direction we need to go.
Her fingers interlace with mine tightly, and I have a moment of discomfort, remembering another female’s hand tightly clasped in mine—one whose grip felt so right like she was an extension of my body. June’s fingers are icy and stiff, and although they don’t feel like they belong in my hand, I don’t release her hold either.
We keep trudging forward, my mind praying for a miracle and this damn hill and river to appear before the elements finish off what Vincent and his psychotic lackeys couldn’t. If there is an almighty being out there listening. Please…please just let me get June to safety, then you can have me.
Chapter 38
Mia
“To him who is in fear everything rustles.” Sophocles
Wherethefuckishe?We have been sitting next to this small river for what feels like hours. The windows are all fogged up and filled with condensation. All of us are sitting here like lame ducks in Diego’s Escalade. I know what you’re thinking.Who the fuck drives a Cadillac Escalade on a rescue mission into a forest?Diego, the psychopath, does, apparently.
He left the car ten minutes ago to talk to one of his men. I can still see him through the front windshield. Worry is etched on his features, and he keeps gesturing aggressively with his hands at his man. Mateo should have made it to the river by now. According to the tip, it was no more than an hour, tops two, from where they were holding him by foot. Yet we have been out here for six hours with no one in sight. Did he not manage to escape? Did Vincent’s men recapture him?
I know Diego sent four scouts hours ago into the wooded area trying to track where Mateo was being held. Two have returned from the opposite direction with no news. The other two have yet to make an appearance.
I refuse to even think of the more permanent reason why Mateo is not here. I can’t bear the thought of never seeing him again, not after the small amount of hope we’ve had for the last couple of days. He has to be alive. He has to have made it out of there and is on his way back to me.
“Move, Carter; I need to talk to Diego and find out what’s happening. Mateo should have been here by now.” I shove against Carter’s hard shoulder. He and Theo have me boxed in on either side, both insisting I sit right smack in the middle between them, while Finn took shotgun.
They’ve both been acting really fucking strange toward me since Diego announced that he had a lead on Mateo. It’s starting to grate on my nerves and making me self-conscious. I’ve caught Carter staring at me, his face a blank slate. When I asked him what the hell he was looking at, he didn’t even bother to answer me with one of his flippant flirty remarks.Hell, his intensity is creeping me the fuck out.
Theo, the control freak, follows me from one place to another, never giving me a moment’s peace without him being there. Like, I know I gave him a fantastic blowjob, but this shit is unreal.He needs to take a step back and out of my personal space before I stab his ass.
Finn has become even more pensive and quiet. I can see the wheels turning in that head, but I don’t know his thoughts. He hasn’t approached me or tried to be alone with me, but like the other two, I catch him staring at me until I give him a menacing glare. What is it with these assholes? Are they just worried that I will do something irrational while we are out here searching for Mateo?I just might if they don’t get out of my way.
“No can do, blondie. You’re staying put.” He turns his face away from me and stares out the side window, dismissing my request for him to move. He can’t seem to hold my gaze today, preferring to look anywhere but at me when he speaks to me. His thick muscled shoulders bunched up in his coat, and the veins on his neck stand thickly against his golden skin. His tattoos peek from below the collar of his long sleeve shirt, a bright contrast against all that golden perfection. I watch as his hand with the rose tattoo clenches tightly in his lap.
Carter is beautiful to look at; of the four kings, he is the most classically gorgeous of the group. He could be a model if he wanted to, gracing the pages of magazines while women all over the world drool for him. The thought makes the little green monster that lives inside of me jump to attention.He’s ours, and we have no intention of letting any other women have him.
“I wasn’t asking Carter.” I shove him harder into the door with my shoulder. “Move unless you want me to make you a eunuch.” Before I can reach out to squeeze his nuts, Theo grabs onto my hand and pulls it forcefully into his lap.What the fuck!
“Release me, Theo.” I yank back on my hand, but he laces his fingers tightly through mine and refuses to release me.
“Settle down, Mia. You’re not leaving this car. Diego will come back and tell us what’s going on.” His dark midnight blue eyes stare into mine, and I instantly feel entrapped by him. My body ceases to fight for a moment, falling into the dark pools that want to drown us. The fact that he’s willingly touching me is as much a shock to my system as his demanding words.
“Have you both lost your fucking minds? In what world do I take orders from either of you?” I once again try to yank my hand from Theo’s grip, but his hold is solid and unrelenting. I swing my other hand at his face, but before it can make contact, Carter has gripped it tightly in his hand.
“Un, uh, blondie, no more violence. You need to control that bitchy temper of yours.” Carter stares at me with a severe expression. His husky blue-gray eyes narrowed, and his lips pursed.Oh my God, have they completely lost their damn minds?What is this? Both of them trying to control and restrainme? I don’t take orders from them.
“If you two idiots don’t release me immediately, I assure you. When I get free, the amount of damage I will do to you both will be incredible. You two fuckers don’t control me, nor have I given you the right to order me about.” I pull on both their grips. Carter releases me first, a slight smirk across his face. Does he think this is funny?Let’s see if he thinks it’s comical when I have a blade to his delectable throat.
I turn my glare on Theo, and after another hard squeeze, he releases his grip on my fingers, and I pull both my hands back into my lap. “Mia, you need to stop threatening us with a good time, killer.” Finn’s voice fills the cabin of the vehicle. I can hear the amusement in his words: assholes, the lot of them.
Before I can get another word out, Diego heads back towards the vehicle, sliding his large frame inside. He turns in his seat to stare at me. That long rough scar is sharp against the contrast of his olive-toned skin. His green eyes are dark with worry. “They haven’t found him yet, but something’s burning in the forest. A few of my guys went to investigate. There’s been no word from the person who was helping him escape.” He runs both his large hands down his haggard face. “I’m starting to think this was a trap, Mia, or a hoax. He should have made it out by now, and we are sitting ducks here, just waiting for an ambush.”
“No. I feel it in my bones that this is legit. That someone was helping Mateo to escape. Something must have happened. He has to be out here, Diego.” I struggle to swallow the ball of emotion that’s clogging my throat. The tears sting behind my eyes at the thought that Mateo didn’t make it out. That something happened during his escape attempt. He could be lying hurt somewhere in this forest while we sit here and wait.
“I don’t know, killer. I think Diego might be right, and this was a mistake.” Finn turns in his seat to stare at me. His face is lined with worry, dark purple stains are visible below his brown eyes, and he looks unkempt for Finn. He hasn’t bothered to shave in days, the stubble across his cheeks and chin giving his gorgeous face another dimension. This has all been so hard for everyone, especially for Finn. I know that he’s the closest to Mateo.
“Please. Just a little longer. He has to be here somewhere.” I beg, my gaze going from Finn’s to Diego’s, then turning in my seat to stare at Carter and Theo. We can’t give up. I feel it in my soul that he’s here somewhere. I need to hold on to the hope that he will be found and returned to me; without it, I’m lost in my despair.
A loud shout up ahead captures all of our attention. Diego immediately exits the vehicle, his gun drawn and pointed in front of him. I can’t see from my position in the back seat what is causing all the commotion. My heart starts to pound rapidly in my chest. Carter slides out of the car on his side, slamming the car door behind him. Theo does the same on my left, and I push against his door, trying to get out after him. Finn’s hand whips between the seats, grabbing onto my arm in a tight grip and preventing me from getting out of the vehicle.
