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“Wanna go for a ride?” Harlow asks when we’re alone. “I don’t know about you, but I need the wind to blow away some of this stress.”
“Absolutely.”
* * *
“Remind me to put Vinnie’s patch to a vote.”
“Shit, she deserves a patch and a spot in the bad bitch hall of fame,” I joke. “Anyone who can corral our men like she did when they tried to follow us deserves more than being a prospect has to offer.”
Malachi and Nico weren’t even sneaky about it. They followed right behind us from the clubhouse to the gate in Malachi’s fancy car. I don’t know what they were thinking, but it was obviously an exaggeration of their abilities because Vinnie shut that shit down and locked them in.
“Our men?”
“Huh?”
“Our men,” Harlow repeats. “You said ‘our men’. I wasn’t aware that Nico was yours.”
“Fuck off,” I snap, trying to inject more censure into my tone than I feel.
I’m not ready to admit out loud what my heart has been trying to tell me for a year. I fought Nico tooth and nail, threatened him every chance I got. Which was a lot with all of his texting. But, other than Harlow and spilling blood, he’s the only thing that genuinely brought me any happiness since all the shit with Nicholi and the Ricci’s was dredged up. My world is dark, but he holds the flashlight and helps me find my way through it.
And the man knows how to use his cock. That certainly doesn’t hurt his case any.
“Less girl talk, more action,” Spooks says as she steps up next to us.
We parked two blocks away from the house where the Bend family is supposed to be and walked the rest of the way. Story and Nate are sitting in the van right across the street, close by just in case.
“Okay, bitches.” Harlow claps her hands together. “We ready?”
Harlow leads the way to the back of the house, leaving me and Mama to follow, while Spooks, Giggles, and Fox make their way onto the porch. Once stationed outside the back door, I glance at my watch and count down the seconds until it reaches nine exactly.
Lifting our feet, Harlow and I simultaneously kick the door, sending it flying off its hinges. We breach the house, weapons drawn. Spooks takes out a guard, slitting his throat in the living room. We move from room to room on the first and second levels, clearing each space. And with each room the family is not in, my disappointment continues.
The last place to look for the Bends is the basement. Harlow gives the hand signal for us to proceed down the steps. I go down first, and the stench that assaults me almost has me tossing my breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
“What the hell?” Mama mutters behind me.
The basement is divided into four cells. Each member of the Bend family is chained to the floor in their own cell. Memories flash of another place where people were chained to the floor. The homemade cells have a bucket, but they don’t appear to have been emptied at all.
With my lockpicking skills, it doesn’t take long to free them, but it’s not going to be easy to get them upstairs. Mrs. Bend is barely conscious, so Spooks lifts her in a fireman’s hold and carries her up and out to the van. Mr. Bend is able to walk as long as he’s supported. Giggles and Fox lead him out. Harlow cradles the little boy, leaving the little girl for me.
She’s currently curled into a ball in the corner and when I step closer to her, she flinches.
“It’s okay,” I say softly. “I’m gonna get you outta here.”
The girl watches me with her sad blue eyes. “My name is Peppermint,” I tell her.
“You’re Peppermint?” she asks as if she was waiting for me specifically.
Confused by her reaction, I nod.
“He was right.”
“Who?”
“The bad man.”
A chill races over me.
