Rue doesn’t flinch but half the men around him start shifting on their feet, uneasy with being so close to my rage.
Good.
I’m about to start fucking shooting.
“They took over The Boulevard, more than fucking forty of them at once. I didn’t even know she was gone until we got it back. Twenty-five of ‘em made it out alive, ten are dead, and five are trussed up in the back waiting to get their teeth ripped out for information. Brother, we will get her back. I fucking swear to you, I won’t sleep until she’s back here.”
Three motherfucking hours.
She might be dead already.
I can’t think, my mind is a whirling fucking mess of rage and sorrow and, fuck it, panic.
She might be fucking dead.
King starts snarling out orders at the guys around me, mobilizing them and getting together an army to get out there and fucking find my girl.
Poe is over by the bar, hollering at Rue and trying to get his attention but there’s no fucking time to fuss after her mood. I need to find my girl. I’m already armed to the teeth and fuck protocol, I’m going to fucking Texas.
I can’t fucking lose her before she’s even mine.
Lights hit the side of the clubhouse as a car pulls into the parking lot.
“Stop fucking freaking out, I told you I had it covered,” Poe calls out but I barely register her words. What sort of drug dealer has just showed up here in a fucking Ferrari?
She shoves me out of the way to get to the door and snaps, “It’s my sister’s boyfriend. If any of you fucking assholes would listen to me, you’d know he has Angel. She’s fucking safe.”
That gets me moving, hightailing it the fuck out of the club and ignoring the fucking ruckus starting up behind me at Poe’s words but the kid is practically flying down the stairs.
The car pulls up outside the front steps and Poe rips the door open before the engine cuts out, pulling Angel into her arms and sobbing all over her. I’ve never seen the kid cry like that before, the fear in her over her friend is fucking jarring.
Angel’s beat the hell up.
Fuck, her lip is busted and her cheek is bruised all over, fingerprints down her throat and I’m going to lose my fucking mind.
A snarl tears out of my throat in time for the driver door to open and a guy to get out. He’s tall, dark haired, and clean cut. When he steps around the car in time to catch Poe as she throws herself at him I catch sight of the holsters and the guns he’s got tucked under that tailored jacket of his.
Definitely a drug dealer.
Rue steps up beside me, his eyes fucking full to the brim with loathing as the guy tucks Poe into his arms a little more securely, murmuring quietly to her so we can’t hear a fucking thing. Angel struggles to get to her feet, wincing as she moves and I snap outta the fucking trance this whole mess has put me in. I ignore the asshole holding Poe and glaring at me, fuck him, and pull her into my body. She stiffens a little but it’s not one of her flinches so I’ll call it a goddamn win.
I’m so fucked.
“You been checked out yet? I’ll call Mom to come have a look at you.”
She shakes her head and clears her throat, pulling away from me a little goddammit. “I’m okay. I’ve already been looked at by a medic.”
“Who the fuck is that?” Rue snarls and Angel jolts in my arms.
I don’t like that reaction.
I’m leaving Rue the fuck out here to deal with that shit by himself. I don’t know who the fuck Poe’s sister is, who the fuck that drug dealer is either, but all I can smell on Angel is the blood that’s trickling out of her lip and her legs are still fucking bare because she was obviously taken between dances.
I want my girl fucking resting and I don’t give a fuck about this medic, I need to hear it from Keely that she’s okay.
“Angel.”
I turn around with her to look at the guy. The way he fucking dismisses me has my teeth clenching violently, I want to beat his stupid face in. The tone he uses with her has me seeing fucking red.
“You know where to find us if you need help.”
Ex-fucking-cuse me?
“Aw hell,” Poe says, and moves in front of the guy.
I shoot Rue a look that could strip paint. “Fucking deal with him before I do because I’ll start a fucking war, brother.”
I get an arm around Angel before she can argue with me, leading her up to the clubhouse and trying my best not to rush her and risk hurting her more. There isn’t a patch of skin on her that isn’t fucking bruised and now, now I’m fucking pissed. Enraged. Rage pumping through my blood until I’m vibrating with the need to bleed those gutless fucks out.
“I’m fine,” she whispers, and I shake my head at her.
“Clearly you’re fucking not.”
A hushed silence falls over the bar as we walk through, only the sound of Monroe’s giggling breaking it and my control isn’t even fucking visible from where I’m at.
“I will rip your throat out with my bare hands, Monroe. Don’t fucking push me.”
No one tries to stop us or speak to us which, really, is for the best.
I get Angel into my room and lock the door behind us. She’s trembling a little and I have to stop myself from crushing her against my chest to get her to quit. I don’t know what’s hurting her under the torn up hoodie.
“Can… is it okay if I have a shower? I’m… there’s dirt all over my legs.”
Deep breath. She’s scared and she always reverts back to meek and fucking hesitant when she’s scared but I hate her asking me like that. It makes me feel like she thinks I’m going to stop her from taking what she needs.
“I’m going to call Keely to come have a look at you as well but we’ll get you cleaned up first. Have you taken anything for the pain yet?”
She nods and I walk her into the bathroom, shocked at how clean it is in here but then I realize she’s been living here while I was gone.
I like that feeling way too much for this to be nothing but infatuation, she’s mine and I’ll do whatever it takes to fucking keep her.
I now fully understand why both my uncles tried locking the women who ‘struck them down with a baby because that sounds like a fucking plan.
“You need help in there?”
She shakes her head and just stands there, clutching at the towel like it’s gonna fix shit. “I just… need a minute.”
Right.
She needs space and even if it fucking kills me I’ll give it to her. I step out of the bathroom and wait there until I hear the water start running. Then I dump my shit onto my desk because I don’t need to be walking around fully armed where some asshole might run his mouth about her and end up with my knife sticking through his fucking eyeball.
I think about heading to the kitchen for food so I don’t have to leave her again any time soon but I can’t. I can’t walk outta here without her right now because the hesitancy in her voice just tore me to fucking shreds.
Instead, I take a half second to clean up the piles of my shit everywhere. There’s guns and knives left out over every surface and my desk is a mess of computer parts and security cameras I’ve been fucking around with. She hasn’t touched any of that shit at all since I’ve been gone but the piles of clothes are gone and my wardrobe is neatly organized like she’s been fixing shit in all her spare time. I know her schedule, I know she hasn’t got any real spare fucking time, she’s done it because she fucking cares about me even though I’ve been fucking nothing but an asshole to her.