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“She wasn’t in the picture”—she let out a shaky breath—“because I edited her out. I knew she wouldn’t have wanted any of you to see her like that.” She looked down at the table, her voice a choked whisper when she spoke again. “It’s not as if it would have helped you find her any faster.”
The room grew silent, all the men uncomfortably shifting in their spots. Well, almost all of them.
One minute Hunter was standing in the kitchen, and the next he was beside her. He’d always been able to move like a whisper of wind. Normally, it creeped me out because it reminded me of how dangerous he was. But not today.
As I watched him scoop her up and cart her off down a hallway, I saw a different side to Hunter. The care he showed her was completely unlike him. Hunter wasn’t capable of love, but clearly, he felt something akin to it for this woman.
A woman who knew Stel well enough to know that it would have killed her for the guys to see her as a victim. There was nothing Stel feared more than her own vulnerability, and it warmed my heart to know that Brandy not only understood my girl, but was looking out for her.
Gunner reached for the laptop and moved it closer, his hair fisted in his hand to keep it away from his face. “It’s going to be a bitch getting all of them out safely.”
The prospect that had eyed me curiously at the clubhouse raised a dark brow. “All of them? I thought we were only interested in Mad Dog’s daughter.”
His voice was so smooth it was almost a soft purr. There was something vaguely familiar in the way he rolled hiss’s andr’s.
“When I said all, I fucking meant all,” Gunner barked at him, his old army days coming out with the command and weight of his voice. “You might be okay with leaving women locked up in cages like dogs, but I am not.”
“Me either,” Beast spoke up, resting both elbows on the table and stroking a massive hand down his dark beard. “But how big of a bitch are we talking here? She slashed a bike tire or poked a hole in the condom?”
“Jesus, who the hell have you been fucking?”
Beast raised his giant sausage of a middle finger in Tweak’s direction while his dark eyes watched Gunner.
“If they were cuffed or behind some type of chain link enclosure, we could have had them out in no time with the bolt cutters. Hopefully, before the guards even knew we were there.”
Gunner sighed, his breath ruffling the ends of his hair. “But the sick bastards have converted the warehouse into a damn prison. The only way we’re getting to the women is with a key, and that doubles the odds of them being used as humanshields. Saw that shit enough over in the Middle East and I’d rather not relive it in my own goddamned country.”
Hunter walked back into the room then, alone this time, and Ryder looked over at him. “Is she all right?”
“No, but she will be. Let’s get this shit done so she won’t have to worry herself sick over it anymore.”
Ryder blew out a breath. “Did you get a look at the picture?”
“Of course.” Hunter raised his brow, his dead eyes unsettling.
“We’re going to try to get the women out before we clean house, so if you see the chance to grab the keys, do it.”
Hunter nodded and Ryder looked over at Colt. “You hang back and take comm duty. Keep Hunter up to date on all outside activity, including any threats Gunner and Val have to neutralize. If Hunter should tell you things are going to shit on his end, call me.”
“Roger that, Prez.”
“And nobody goes in until I say so.” Ryder looked directly at me as he said, “Is that understood?”
All the men mumbled their agreement except me. That was a promise I just couldn’t keep.
Ryder was on me in two strides, his nose nearly touching mine. “I said, is that understood?”
He and I had never come to blows before. Not even close. But before the night was over, we just might. Nobody was going to stop me from getting Stel back. Nobody.
“I’ll toe your fucking line,” I said through clenched teeth. “Until I catch a whiff that something isn’t right. Then I’m going in and killing everything in sight because there’s nothing, and I mean nothing, more important to me than Stel.”
His dark eyes bored into mine, but it was Pops’s lazy drawl I heard coming from the table. “If a bullfrog had wings, he wouldn’t bump his ass when he jumped.”
Ryder’s old man had a habit of randomly dropping southern sayings like they were weird little wisdom nuggets. Normally, I found it amusing, mostly because it seemed to get under Ryder’s skin. Today, not so much. We needed to get moving rather than sit around decoding whatever the fuck it was he just said.
Ryder let out a frustrated breath, his eyes flicking over to the kitchen table before returning to mine. “Spit out whatever the hell it is you’re trying to say because I don’t have time for bull. Frog or otherwise.”
“Damn young bloods,” Mad Dog muttered as he shifted in his chair beside Pops. “He’s trying to say that demanding Switch follow orders tonight is like wishing for the impossible. If it were Valentina in there, you know damn well you wouldn’t be waiting around on an order. Now, I vote we get the fuck out of here and you boys can settle your shit after I get my daughter back.”
