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“I know they can handle it. I just don’t like not being there with them,” I reply to Rome.
“I know Koroleva, but it wasn’t necessary for us to be there, and those three needed a good workout. They’re all starting to get a bit twitchy.” Rome replies.
“He’s right,” Rip adds, nudging my leg with his, “just like you get stabby with inaction, so do they, and they don’t like that you’re going into the meeting with the Rougarou gang without them later despite the fact that you’re going in with Rome and me.”
I scrunch up my nose, “So what you’re saying is that they feel the same way as I do, and we all need to deal with it.”
Rip, Rome, and Waverly all chuckle, as Rome replies, “Yeah, Jynx, that’s what he’s saying. Although we all care about each other a lot, so I don’t think the worry is going to be going anywhere any time soon.”
“Fine, I hear you,” I huff.
“Do you think you should call the Rougarou and give them a heads up that you’re on the way? Is it a good idea just to turn up at their base? Surely that’s going to put them on guard.” Waverly asks me, her eyes glued to the house, looking for any sign of movement.
The guys look at me curiously, and I shake my head as I reply, “No if I call them and warn them they’re going to want to make things more complicated by meeting on mutual ground and knowing information before we meet, setting a time, that sort of thing and I want to get this done as quickly as possible. We’re already running slightly later than I’d hoped we would be because all of us ended up sleeping in this morning.”
Waverly nods, “Yeah, that makes sense. Plus, you said you’d had dealings with them before?”
I nod, “Yeah, I’ve done a couple of jobs for them as a favour for D.”
“Then, knowing you, it’s going to have a bigger effect if you just turn up on their doorstep.” She replies with a grin.
I chuckle in reply but don’t say anything because there’s no point; she knows she’s right, and so does everyone else in this vehicle.
Commotion at the front of the house puts an abrupt stop to our conversation as we all turn our attention in that direction, all of us preparing to get out and help if we need to. However, the scene before us makes me burst out laughing instead. I’d forgotten how short Chris was, and it’s now made abundantly clear as he is being practically carried by the twins while Ace appears to be mocking him. Each of the twins has an arm each and is carrying him between them. What makes the whole thing even more amusing is that his legs are desperately trying to get traction as they swing beneath him.
He does look worse for wear; his eyebrow is split, one of his eyes is swollen shut, and there’s blood dripping from his nose and down his chin. The guys have certainly worked him over, and Waverly’s smile says that’s exactly what she wanted. I think she’s handling all of this incredibly well, considering it’s been Micha and her since they were kids, I don’t think they’ve ever spent this long without each other, and I just hope like hell that he wakes up soon not only for Waverly but for his little brothers as well. They need something stable in their lives; Micha and Waverly are that for them.
Rome climbs forward to sit in the front along with Rip so that the others can easily sit in the back with Chris, and I scoot over as far as I can so that I’m out of the way. This proves to be a good move because when Ace opens the back of the van, he glances in to see where I am and then nods at Mason and Malachi, who proceed to throw Chris into the van. He hits the side right where I was just sitting.
The guys quickly follow in behind him, grabbing him again and propping him up on the bench since he doesn’t seem to be able to do it himself. Without speaking, Waverly starts the van, and we set off. We’ve got a brief stop to make before we head to the Rougarou’s place; fortunately, the back of the van has no windows, so even if Chris were capable of lifting his head, he wouldn’t be able to see where we’re going.
It was decided this morning over breakfast that since Mal,, Waves, and Ace are going to be back up and wait nearby while the rest of us take Chris in and deal with the Rougarou, we’re going to need the second van from the Conspiracy team. They aren’t using it since they’re using the motel as their base. We didn’t have time to grab it earlier, and as the hospital is on the way to the Rougarou main house, we’re just going to quickly stop off and grab it, as well as split up into the relevant groups.
“Where are you taking me?” Chris suddenly demands in the silence of the van. When everyone ignores him, he adds with a sneer, “You have no idea who you are messing with. You’re making a huge mistake.”
Ace grins, a slightly manic light appearing in his eye as he replies, “Chris Parkins, that’s your real name, not the one that you tell everyone—forty-three, birthday June twenty-third, nineteen-eighty. You weigh one-ninety, and you’ve got high cholesterol. Your parents are Derek and Eileen, both still alive, although they’ve disowned you. You are a low-level member of the Rougarou, and you particularly like preying on women and children, which is in direct contrast to what the Rougarou believe in,” Ace pauses as he looks at a shocked Chris and raises his eyebrow, his expression dark, “should I continue or is that enough?”
Wisely Chris seems to think better of it, snapping his mouth shut and not saying anything else.
I try desperately not to let my impressed shock show on my face because, damn, that was fucking impressive. The way he just reeled it all off was crazy clever.
He must have been up last night doing more research on him, I wondered why it took him so long to come to bed, but I just assumed that he was eating more. I catch Mason’s gaze, and he gives me a slight knowing grin.
Chapter Nine
Rome
Listening to Ace’s list of facts about Chris makes me proud. It’s a trick he likes to do since he likes to prove that no matter how protected they think they are, the internet is not a safe place, and Ace can find out whatever he fucking wants. He also likes to do it so there are no surprises for us, and we know everything we possibly can about whoever we’re dealing with.
I can only imagine how impressed Jynx is right now, and the amusing thing is Ace has no idea how impressive it is that he can not only find all of the information but also that he can list it so quickly and with such ease. I know that it’s only a small portion of the information that he found.
My head whips around as there’s a sudden yell, and I watch as Chris jumps up off the bench and aims for the back of the van like he’s going to try and make a break for it. Looking incredibly casual, Jynx just rolls her eyes and sticks her foot out, causing him to crash to the floor, where his head bounces off the floor, knocking him out.
Jynx starts chuckling, “I mean, seriously, what did he think he was going to achieve? I should’ve just let him try to get out of the locked door.”
Mal grins as he replies, “I always find it funny how people like him become sniveling cowards when stood up to by anyone at all.”
“It’s built into them. That’s why they target people who they perceive as weaker, in his case, women and children.” Rip replies.
