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“Hurry the fuck up. I’m tired of babysitting.”
The line goes dead, and I can feel Ayla glaring at me, her way of demanding an explanation, but I don’t have one to give.
“Motherfucker,” I grumble as I turn off the cruise control and press the gas pedal harder.
Daylight savings time is a real bitch, especially this time of year when the sun starts setting before evening can even take hold of the day. It’s dark by the time we get close to the address Donavan texted, the locked gate keeping me from driving my truck straight up to the house.
Ayla doesn’t listen when I tell her to stay in the truck. I’m not sure if it’s a need to be near me or the need to see that her sister is safe that makes her climb out of the cab.
She’s ignorant to what’s going on around her, but I sense the extra people surrounding the house the second she meets me at the front of the truck.
Movement to my right and left tell me we’re out numbered, but Ayla has no level of combat experience. I’m thinking we’ve been led right into a trap, wondering what the price was for Donavan to turn on us.
“Don’t even think about it,” a voice growls in my ear, cold steel pressed to my temple before I can reach for the gun in my waistband.
They pull it free, leaving me completely helpless and incapable of protecting her. It seems she was right to not accept the promise I made about her or Alani’s safety.
“You keep popping up like an untreated rash.”
I snap my head to the left, recognizing the motherfucker there.
“Are you fucking serious?” I snap at Kincaid, the tatted-up asshole president of that fucking do-gooder biker gang.
“Why are you here?”
“We could ask you the same thing,” he growls, before saying, “Stand down, at least for the time being.”
“Ayla?” a female asks, reaching for my companion’s arm.
Ayla moves out of her reach, pressing closer to me.
“Don’t touch her,” I warn, feeling only a little better when the woman holds her hands up and takes a step back.
I no longer have any weapons aimed at me that I can see, but I have no doubt there are others in the shadows, just waiting for the command.
“We’re here to get her sister,” I explain.
“We had people protecting her,” Kincaid argues.
“You’ll have to excuse me for not trusting that Alani’s well-being was a top priority.”
“The man inside took her and three others,” Kincaid says, stepping a foot closer as if the intimidation tactic will work on me.
“So, you’re admitting that they couldn’t protect her?”
Ayla tightens her grip on my bicep, and I know I’m not going to get anywhere out here, arguing with these guys.
“Donavan is inside. Angel asked him to keep an eye on her.”
“He took her,” the woman commando snaps.
“My godson and his husband are inside, along with another male,” Kincaid says. “I’m not very impressed with how your guy—”
“Not my guy,” I clarify. “I doubt he hurt them.”
Kincaid doesn’t seem any more relaxed than he did before disarming me.
“Let me go inside and deescalate the situation. Donavan wouldn’t hurt them if they weren’t a threat to Alani.”
I’m surprised when Kincaid takes a step back and sweeps his hand, palm facing up, toward the house.
“Ayla,” the female says when she keeps step with me as I walk in that direction.
She doesn’t bother to even look back at the woman, and that makes me feel a sense of pride I don’t deserve. Loyalty from her, after what we’ve been through, is just too much to hope for.
I shoot off a text to the number Donavan called me from, letting him know that I’m here and not to fucking shoot me when I come inside.
The room is nearly as dark inside as the night is outside, and I know that’s purposeful. I have no doubt Donavan has a count on exactly how many people are outside, preparing to enter the house.
I lock eyes on the three guys tied to chairs on the other side of the room.
“Seriously?”
Donavan steps in close, his chest brushing my arm. “If I’d known I’d end up on the wrong side of Cerberus, I never would’ve agreed to this shit,” he growls.
“Just put your gun away. They’re pissed at what you’ve done, but they’re not to the point of blowing your head off just yet.”
I don’t know why I thought for a second Cerberus would give me the full opportunity to deescalate the situation. They’re at my back, flooding into the house the second Donavan’s immediate threat is neutralized.
Donavan is glaring at me as he lifts his hands up beside his ears. It’s a vow that I haven’t heard the last of him about this whole thing. I nod at him, telling him I understand.
