“I’ll get right on that.”
“Warren, stop being a prick.”
“You haven’t even begun to see what kind of prick I can be,” he said, his voice low and dark. Waverley actually recoiled from him. This wasn’t the Warren she knew, this was War. “Mace and I are going to have a brief chat, alone,” he held up a hand when she started to protest. “There are things he and I need to talk about before we get into what is going on with you andmom.”
“You promised,” she said, her eyes flitting anxiously from War to Mace. I stood behind her ready to, though not wanting, to have to restrain her.
“Wave, I need ten minutes with him. I promise there won’t be a mark on him.”
“Oh, okay, you want me to just pop out for a stroll.”
“Fucks sake,” he groaned. Mace looked around at all of us and I straightened up, not liking him seeing this. Or one of Waverley’s stubborn ass moments.
“Not leaving,” she crossed her arms. “Deal with it. Besides, I had a conversation with Danica, so I already know all the shit you think you’re keeping fromme. And more.”
War looked at me over her head. We weren’t going to tell her anything we knew. We wanted to know whatheknew. I gave an imperceptible nod, it wasn’t worth the argument. But it was his choice. He’d have to tie or lock her up to keep her out and, neither of us would do that to her after what she’d been through.
“I’m gonna go get us some drinks,” I said, sparing a quick glance at Mace. This had to be pretty confusing, seeing our dynamic. Especially Waverley and War bickering. Things had to get back on track, allowing a Kingsmen to see us like this irritated me. I left them and headed to the kitchen, grabbed the beers I’d left the other day. I contemplated getting water for Mace, then remembered I didn’t give a fuck about him, and headed back.
Seemed like no one moved or spoke while I was away. I wasn’t sure if War wanted me to take over the way I had with Omen. It felt like a lifetime ago we sat in that dirty old house questioning our brother about his betrayal. Now we were questioning a Kingsmen about his.
“Can we just get this over with so I can fucking leave?”
“You think you’re leaving?” War asked.
Mace’s face was thunderous. He shifted on the seat, wriggling his wrists a little bit. I looked at Waverley, she was about to open her mouth, but I gave her a look that said, don’t even think about it. For once, she listened. It must be finally dawning on her we’re showing a side of us we didn’t want Mace to see. The last thing she wanted to do was make us look weak, even if she was protecting this asshole.
“If you did leave, where do you possibly think you can go where your head isn’t going to be detached from your body?” War taunted him. “If my President doesn’t get hold of you and do it, yours will. No,Mace, sucks for you that this is the safest place you can be right now. And trust me, the only reason I haven’t shot out your kneecaps is because my sister is standing beside me.”
Waverley tutted. I handed her a beer to keep her quiet, then shepherded her to the sofa. She sat down glaring at me, but I just sat next to her, close enough that our arms and thighs were touching. She was pressed into the corner. Fortunately, she didn’t push back or argue about it. Hopefully because she needed to touch me the way I needed to touch her. It still felt surreal that the agony and uncertainty of the last few days was finally over, and she was here.
“Tell me what Nytro has planned?”
“No idea.”
“Bullshit.”
“Like you said,” Mace glared up at him. “I got no choices now. So why the fuck would I tell you anything? If I knew anything,” he added.
“So Nytro shut you out, is that it?”
Mace’s eyes went to Waverley. He’d been with her for the whole time she was gone. It actually made sense he had been too far away from the action. It was fucked up that I felt thankful for that. Not in the sense he may not be able to give us anything, but he’d not just watched over her, he’d protected her. I was really conflicted about it.
“We already know he tried to kill Ranger,” War went on. “Was he going to kill you too, has this whole thing just pushed up the timeline on your place in your club?”
Again, Mace just glared defiantly back at War. This wasn’t getting us anywhere.
“Tell us about Danica,” I spoke up. Seemed to me, discussing his club was making this conversation stall and I got that. Despite what was happening, he was loyal. I didn’t doubt he’d go to his grave without saying a bad word about the Kingsmen. Danica was a different story.
War blanched slightly at the mention of his mother. It had to be fucking with his head that she was still alive, especially after those photographs of her dead body were sent to King.
“Why did she take Waverley?” I asked.
Mace inhaled and blew out a long breath through his nose.
“Consider this Mace,” I told him. “We’re doing you a favor here. You know Ballistic,” I said, it wasn’t a question though. Everyone knew of Ballistic. “He will be our next call.”
It pained me to insinuate my mentor would be more able to break him, when I was perfectly capable of it, but Ballistic didn’t have the emotional attachment I did. This weird fucking gratitude to our enemy. Still, I couldn’t be soft either.
