There was some division among us. Auryn and Rebel saw the benefits while Casper and Stray weren’t convinced. When they all looked to me for my stance, I shrugged.“I don’t know what you guys want me to say. In a perfect world, they would join us, and everything would be great. In the real world, I’m not so sure.”
“Let’s see how things go tonight,” Rebel suggested. “It’s a discussion worth having with them if they prove themselves to be trustworthy. It’s only the two of them now. They would benefit from joining us too.”
When twenty minutes from the time they were scheduled to arrive passed, I started to worry. What the hell was going on?
“This isn’t looking good,” Casper signed. “Something is up.”
I pulled out my phone, thinking about calling Noah. I didn’t want to do anything to give him away if he was with Garrett right now. Maybe I should wait longer.
I paced a path in the snow, packing it down beneath my boots. Instinct told me that something was wrong. Finally, I gave in and called Noah. The call went straight to voicemail.
“I think we have a problem,” I said. “Straight to voicemail. His phone is off.”
I didn’t have a way to get a hold of Damon. I would have to go to their house.
“Maybe they’re delayed,” Auryn suggested. “Should we wait a bit longer?”
Part of me knew without a doubt that something had gone wrong. Yet another part of me worried that Noah really had screwed me over. There was only one way to find out.
“I need to go to their house. I need to make sure he’s okay.” Nobody questioned me or tried to talk me out of it. They were all on board when I rushed back to the car.
Casper drove, which was a lot safer than if I’d been behind the wheel. Impatience took over, making me irritable and desperate to get there. My mind raced with the many possibilities of what might’ve happened. None of them good.
“Breathe, Dom.” Placing a hand on my shoulder, Rebel did his best to reassure me. “Everything will be fine. I’m sure therewas some kind of delay. Maybe his phone died. There has to be a logical explanation.”
He had to be thinking the worst as well. We all were. I appreciated his efforts, even though they didn’t help much.
When we finally turned onto the street where Noah and Damon lived, my heart leapt into my throat. The sinking sensation that something bad had happened grew stronger. Unshakable.
That feeling only intensified when we pulled up and found the front door hanging open. Nobody in their right mind left the door open in the heart of winter like that. I shot out of the car, almost slipping on some ice in the driveway. The guys weren’t far behind me as I burst through the open door.
“Noah.” I shouted his name several times. No answer. The house was deadly quiet.
I ran through the four-level split, searching every floor for him. There was no sign of Noah anywhere. Rebel called my name from somewhere else in the house. I found him standing in the doorway to the bathroom on one of the lower levels. Damon lay on the floor, a bloody, bruised mess.
Casper tried to rouse him, gently tapping his face while checking him over for serious injuries. Crouching next to Casper, I called Damon’s name. His eyes fluttered open.
“Dom?” He struggled to focus on my face.
“Yeah, it’s me. What happened to you? Where’s Noah?” It was pretty obvious to me that someone had beat the shit out of him.
One eye was nearly swollen shut. Blood had started to dry on his forehead from a cut near his temple. He started to sit up, groaning with pain before lying back down on the hard tile floor.
“Garrett and his guys were here,” Damon said, holding his ribs as he winced. “They knew it was a set up. They took Noah.”
“Took Noah?” I repeated, unable to believe what I’d heard. “Where did they take him? Why?”
“Garrett said he knew you guys were going to kill him. If you want Noah back, you can trade yourself for him. He knows the only way him and his crew will get out of town alive is if they take one of the Kings as a hostage. But they want you, Dom.” Damon tried again to sit up. This time Casper helped him, making sure he didn’t fall back to the floor.
“That motherfucker is smarter than I thought he was,” Rebel muttered.
Stray helped Casper get Damon back onto his feet. “What do we do now?”
There was only one thing to be done. I had to do whatever it took to get Noah back.
“I trade myself for Noah,” I said, matter of fact.
Rebel didn’t look convinced. “And then what? Even if they use you to get out of town without us coming after them, it doesn’t mean they won’t kill you. We can’t take a chance like that.”
