He holds his hand up. “I’ll watch and listen to the recording, don’t worry. I have plenty of cameras out there. I’m confident they caught everything.” He cradles my head with his hand, skimming his thumb over my cheekbone. “You don’t have to repeat it.”
“Thank you. And normally I’d be fine with that, but I feel like you need to know something Alec said to me—what he was taunting me with. It’s what sent me over the edge.”
“I’m betting I’m not going to like it.” His breath hitches as he stares into my eyes, and the bold gray of his almost knocks me off my feet. Or maybe it’s the assertive tone to his voice. It makes a shudder run through me. That possessive, hands-off-my-girl vibe he’d demonstrated in front of the other brothers had my heart clenching. In that moment, he’d taken my breath away.
“Nope,” I carefully shake my head, “you won’t like it at all. And I’d ask you to keep it to yourself, but I know better.”
“Why would you want me to do that?”
My tongue darts out to wet my lips, the answer to my panic earlier now like a glaring red beacon flashing at me. “I feel like every single thing I do causes an uproar… merely my presence in the house. I just—” I look down, hating that I’m not going to be able to stop this once I let the cat out of the bag. “Cannon doesn’t need anything else stressing him out, and Kingston doesn’t need more on his plate.”
Archer releases a huffed laugh, but there’s no smile to go with it. “He’s a big boy. He can handle it. Both of them can… and will. For you. Tell me, Elliot. Now.”
My lungs constrict. I close my eyes. “Promise me you won’t leave me up here alone if I tell you.”
At the plea in my voice, Archer’s face falls, his jaw working to one side as he studies me. “I can’t make that promise. What happened, Elliot?”
I wish I could shake the memory out of my head forever, but I need to tell him. I know I do. Expelling a harsh breath, I meet his glittery gray gaze. “He saw, Archer. AlecletNick take me. That bastard saw Nick walk off with me over his shoulder. He probably even saw Nick hit me.” The same rage I’d felt outside flows dangerously through my veins, my heart pumping the slick anger throughout my body.
Archer stares at me, speechless. After a moment, he grits out, “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“No. You’ll see it on the video.” My chest rises and falls fast with shallow breaths as I watch the way Archer morphs into an entirely new version of himself.
His jaw locks up, and his eyes blaze. With each furious intake of breath, his chest expands as it heaves with the effort to maintain control and calm. But it’s no good. I can practically smell the rage spilling from his pores, and before I realize what he’s going to do, he turns and stalks from the bathroom.
“Archer, wait!” I chase after him, snagging his elbow before he can leave the room. I swallow hard past the lump forming in my throat and force the words out. “You could wait for Kingston and Cannon.”
His jaw twitches, and he carefully removes my hand from his arm, then grasps my upper arms, forcing me to look at him. “Elliot. I can’t let this slide. Not for a single goddamn second, so don’t ask that of me.” He takes my lips in a desperate kiss, emotion pouring from him. “Stay here,” he rasps, cupping my cheek and staring into my eyes. “I’ll be back as soon as I’ve dealt with this.”
My heart collapses in on itself as he charges from the room, anger snapping and crackling from him like he’s the center of a raging storm.
TWELVE
ARCHER
If Alec thinksthis is going to fly or that I’d let this go so easily, he’s out of his fucking mind. He swore to us he hadn’t seen or heard anything after Elliot walked out the door on Monday. We should have known the fucker was lying through his goddamn teeth. I don’t doubt Elliot at all, and when I review the footage later of what went on down at the pool, I’m positive it’ll fire me up all over again. The balls he must have to admit to her face that he saw her get snatched—it’s fucking astounding in the worst way.
Elliot.Fuck.I wish there were a way to stay with her like she’d wanted, but I can’t in good conscience let this asshole think for a single second that he can get away with putting our initiate in danger.Again.He may not have shut her in a closet or knocked her over the head, but he fucking saw Nick take her. He may not realize what the end result of his piss-poor decision was, but he’s going to pay for putting Elliot in that position and then doing nothing to help her. What person in their right mind allows a man to haul a woman off, kicking and screaming?
Right.Fuckers like Alec who have no moral compass. And the shit of it is, this isn’t the first time I’ve felt that Alec and his buddies could be at the bottom of an incident in this house. Not a day has gone by that I haven’t thought he had to have had something to do with Will’s disappearance. But there’d been no solid evidence. Nothing to fucking prove it. And with Will never reappearing, what the fuck? The case slowly grew cold and is probably stuck somewhere at the bottom of some missing persons list. It’s fucking shitty, is what it is.
My blood boils and my heart beats a mile a minute as I fly down the stairs in search of Alec’s pathetic ass. I have zero chill at the moment, which is completely unlike me, but I can’t stand the idea that he thinks Elliot beating on him is the extent of the damage he’ll be dealt tonight.
Motherfucking fucker.I’m gonna kill him. Barreling into the kitchen, my eyes immediately connect with Taggart’s. When he sees me, he freezes in place with his glass mid-way to his lips. The reaction he has automatically makes Bridger and Zeke swivel on their stools. Zeke’s eyes widen. “Whoa. What the fuck’s going on?”
“Alec,” I bark, pausing at the kitchen island, and snatch up the bottle of whiskey they’d been sharing. I tip it to my lips, chugging some down. My jaw clenches tightly as my gaze moves among the three of them. “Have you seen his sorry ass?”
Bridger’s lips clamp shut, but Zeke rolls his eyes. “Yeah. He was up here a minute ago getting a baggie of ice for his nose… such a fucking whiner. So are we to assume that was Alec’s blood all over Elliot when you two blew through here?”
“It’s about time she put a fist in his face,” Taggart says, his voice low.
While I don’t think Zeke is a bad guy, I don’t think he needs to know any more than he already does. “No comment.”
Zeke holds his hands up in a placating gesture at the growl in my voice.
“They’re downstairs,” Taggart offers, lips pressing tightly together. I imagine from his expression those jackasses rolled through here laughing about what happened. Except Alec, who was probably whining about his injuries like a littlebitch.
I give him a stiff nod; Tag is the only helpful one of the bunch.Noted.I pivot on my heel and head for the stairs.
