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The man across the room laughs and pulls a gun out from the waistband of his pants. There’s a sharp click when he slides the top of the gun back and loads the chamber.
I widen my stance and lift my chin. If I’m going to die, I refuse to lie down and cry.
At least I went down swinging.
A radio beeps from where it’s sitting on a small side table against the wall, and a crackly voice comes through the speaker. “We’ve got company.”
The man with the gun keeps it trained on me while he walks to the radio and picks it up. “How many?” He releases the button on the side to let the other man’s reply through.
“Five. All armed. They didn’t come through the front gate like we expected them to.”
I don’t want to give away any hint of fear or hope, so I force myself to keep a calm expression on my face. Internally, I want to scream. It has to be Bash, Gage, and the boys that they’re talking about.
“Where are they?” The tatted man snarls into the radio.
“I—I’m not sure,” the other voice trembles. “They picked off several of our guys already and made their way toward the house pretty fucking fast. Should we follow them in?”
He thinks for a minute, tapping the antenna of the radio on the cleft of his chin. At first, he wears an angry expression. He was hoping to have them shot upon arrival I’m sure. The thought makes my skin crawl. Slowly, the corners of his lips tip up and a cruel gleam darkens his eyes.
“Two of you follow them at a distance until I give you the signal to shoot. Tell the rest of the group to load up and meet us at the airport. I don’t need any more of my men dead.” He pauses to lick the top row of his teeth and narrow his eyes at me, then continues his orders to the man on the other end of the radio. “It’ll be more fun this way. Getting to see them drop to their knees at the sight of her lifeless body before we kill them one by one.”
No.
No!
As much as I try to push it back down, the fear spills out of me in the form of slow and silent tears. I close my eyes and attempt to wipe the worst-case scenario from playing over and over in my head.
I’ve taken time for granted and wasted so much of it doing things I never truly wanted to do in my life. Time I should have spent really living, in every way that I desired, not in the way of false obligation.
Living.
Something I’d very much like to get another shot at.
In slow motion, the man takes a step forward. His index finger wraps around the trigger and I swear I can make out the clench of the muscles in his hand as his finger curls.
A shot rings out in unison with a deafening blast at the door behind him.
I duck down.
But not in time.
Chapter 34
Gage
“We don’t have the luxury of surprise, so this has to be quick and dirty,” I say into the headset.
The thrumming beat of the chopper blades is almost deafening, even with our ears covered. The trees and ground below us shake as we whir above them. There’s no way they won’t see us coming.
Bash flashes a sparkling grin as he loops a belt of bullets around his neck and over his shoulder. He’s always gotten off on danger. Sick bastard.
I look to the side at the guys I also consider brothers. They don’t seem sick to their stomachs or uneasy about the idea of us jumping out of this thing and facing whatever team of men are on the ground waiting for us. They’re ready to do whatever it takes to get Blythe back and end this.
What happens after that? I wish I knew. But that’s a problem for future me. Right now, I have to get my girl.
A hint of worry must cross my face because Heston fist bumps me. The most obvious gesture of encouragement I think I’ve ever received from him. Warren nods in my direction, gun in hand. It’s solemn and reluctant. But there’s a sliver of respect still lingering there between us. He has every right to be more angry with me than anyone.
I didn’t just leave out the details of my life or owning the ranch. I put his sister in danger. And I think that’s the real reason he’s been the slowest to come around.
