AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I looked down, but he wasn’t on the lawn below. He’d fucking left. The son of a bitch had run away. My initial instinct was to go after him myself, but I needed to alert the others. I wasn’t going to do exactly what he was doing and try to handle this on my own.
“That fucking son of a bitch.” Grant slammed his fist down on the table.
“That’s not going to help anything,” I yelled. “This is my mess. I’ll go look for him.”
“No,” Grant said. “It’s Fox’s mess, but we’re all going to help him. You can’t go running off. If his enemies have seen you and they’re out there, they’re going to take you out too.”
I was closer to full-scale panic than I’d been in a long time. “I promised to look after Fox.”
“It sounds like this job has become personal,” Rogue said.
“It has.”
Ghost smiled. “I thought so.”
“Not like that.”
“This is not the time,” Grant hissed.
He barked out orders, sending pairs of men in different directions but leaving me out. “I’m not going to sit here and do nothing.”
“There’s a chance Fox is still on the property. Why don’t you check the buildings around the ranch. I assume X has already given you the schematics.”
“He has.”
Grant huffed and motioned for everybody to go. “The sooner we find him, the better chance he has of being alive.”
“Jesus,” TJ said. “You really are riled. You’re always Mr. Positive.”
“That’s just on the outside,” Rhys said. “Grant worries all the time.” They headed out, and I started walking. I followed a trail into the woods looking for any sign that someone had come past. Nothing. Which way had Fox gone, and why was there nothing to show me?
When I reached the barn, I heard horses making snuffling sounds and shifting in their stalls. Then I heard a voice. Oh, fuck no. I stepped inside the barn, and there he was, talking to a fucking horse. “I can’t believe you’re in here.”
He shrugged. “I like horses.”
It was all I could do not to punch him, or kiss him, or hug him, or I don’t know what. Instead, I just stood there, fuming. “I thought you’d run off you fucking idiot.”
19
FOX
Darren spoke into the phone as he picked his way across the barn trying to avoid getting horse shit on his designer shoes. I assumed he was talking to Grant, telling him I was fine, though I might not be once he got done with me. After saying, “That’s for fucking sure,” he ended the call.
I thought about how cold and collected he had been in the lobby of his fancy hotel. Even I hadn’t thought I could get this far under his skin this quickly.
I told myself I was going to keep my distance and insist Darren stay in the room Jacob had set aside for him, but seeing him all angry like this, stalking toward me in those goddamn hip-hugging trousers, I knew that wasn’t happening. “Don’t you have any normal clothes?”
He looked at me like I was crazy. “Why would I?”
“For situations like this, and I know you do because you were wearing some the first time we met.”
“I’m rarely in situations like this.”
“And yet you think you can run the show no matter where you are. You think you’re better than me, and—”
“I’m not better than you, Fox. There are things I am more skilled at just like there are areas where you excel. But when I’m put in charge of a mission, I will damn well see it through. Like right now. I’m going to march your ass back to that house, sit you down, and make you take part in our preparations. We’re doing this for you.”
“I told you not to. Just let me go.”
“Blade is on his way.”
“No. This is the last thing he needs to be involved in. He’s doing so well now, and it could fuck everything up.”
“I talked to him on the phone before I went looking for you. He sounded like a man who knew his mind.”
“You called him?”
“Ghost called him first. We didn’t know what else to do. Somebody’s got to get through to you. You’re losing it, and we need you in this game.”
I ran a hand through my hair. He was right. I was close to falling apart completely. “We can’t make any plans until the damn bastards surface again.”
“They don’t seem like patient men. I don’t think we’re going to have to wait long.”
“Right now, we need to see if we can figure out what triggered their movements.”
“X is working on that, but we need a defensive strategy. If they come here, we need to be ready. We’re going to fix this, but we can’t fix it if you keep acting like this and ignoring the rest of us, and if you ever scare me like that again, I will track you down wherever you are, and you will regret ever walking away.”
