Les turns to Micah and Dex. “Make sure there isn’t really anyone outside. I think he was bluffing as hardas me. If it’s clear, bring the cars up.” They nod, get the keys from Gage and me, and set off outside. She turns back to Ghost. “You need to lay low.”
Ghost casts uninterested eyes over an unconscious Spinner. “What about him?”
Les grins. “He’s coming with us.”
Twenty minutes later,we’re finally back at the house. Dex, Gage, Micah, and Les are tying Spinner up downstairs with everyone else, all pretense of a civil conversation going out the window. Holden hightailed back to his office, and I don’t have time to check on him no matter how much I want to; my first priority is Les. I pull open the door to the wine cellar that will take me to the hidden basement; they took Spinner in through the secret door in the garage. I catch Leo in my peripheral vision and turn around.
“Where are you going?” I ask, and he gives me a look that calls me stupid forty times.
“With you.”
I shake my head. “You don’t need to see this.”
That sets his teeth on edge. “I’m going with you,” he repeats.
I shut the door back and step into his space. “Do you know what’s about to happen?” I ask, and he just looks at me without answering. “We’re going to torture him for information.”
“Okay,” Leo says slowly.
“Some things you don’t need to be involved in, Leo.” This is one thing we might be able to save him from seeing.
“That asshole had something to do with what happened to my mom today,” he grits out. “Quit trying to push me out.”
“I’m not trying to fucking push you out!” I yell and take a deep breath to rein in my temper. “I’m trying to save you from shit you don’t need to see.”
“I don’t need you to save me, Ryder. I’m in whether you want me to be or not.”
I shake my head and pop the door back open. “It has nothing to do with whether I want you here or not.”
I slide the panel to the side and place my thumb on the lock, waiting for it to read it and open the door. “So you admit you still don’t fucking want me here?” he asks. “Fucking figures.”
I stop dead, almost making him run into me. I slowly turn around. “I never said that.”
“You didn’t have to.”
“You remember what I said about not being a little bitch? This is what I meant.” I turn on my heel for the next door. It also opens with a click reading my thumbprint and the same with the next. I place my thumb on the next one that will let us into the basement. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” It pops open, and I wave him to walk inside.
They already have Spinner hanging by his arms over his head, still out cold. Everyone is lining the walls except Les, Micah, and Gage, who are standing in front of Spinner. Leo is going to see Les and Gage in a whole new light. Asshole can’t say I didn’t give him plenty of warning. I take a spot beside Dex, propping a boot on the wall, crossing my arms over my chest. Leo walks over and stands between Evander and Mateo.
“Should he be down here?” Dex asks.
“I tried to tell him,” I shrug, “Not my fucking problem now.”
Les walks over to the table lined with all her knives, her heels clicking on the floor, and it hits me like a ton of bricks. We haven’t grabbed someone for her to take out since she started seeing all of us. We were getting them once or twice a night, every night. I don’t think she’s done with her crusade, but something has quieted her mind enough to where she doesn’t need to, and my only hope is that it’s us.
Les picks up one of her ammonia capsules and glances at Leo. She sees the hard set of his jaw and shakes her head in resignation before walking back to Spinner. She cracks it open and waves it under his nose. “Wakey wakey,” she singsongs, making Gage laugh.
Spinner groans in pain and slowly opens his eyes. He lost a lot of blood from the wound in his thigh, but she didn’t hit anything vital, so he won’t bleed out. “What the fuck?”he asks gruffly.
“It’s time you answered some of my questions, Jacob.” She pulls one of her favorite knives from the sheath on the back of her jeans. It’s the wicked-looking curved one with her initials engraved on the blade, a gift from me. She runs the knife up his shirt from the hem, slicing it open and exposing his chest. “What’s Viktor up to?”
Spinner grins with blood caked on his teeth, where Ghost kicked him in the face. “I don’t have to tell you shit, you stupid bitch. You can threaten all you want; I won’t say a word.”
Les rolls her eyes. “Why do men have to resort to name calling when a woman is involved?” She steps closer and runs her knife up his thigh until it’s nestled beside his cock. “I will cut this shriveled motherfucker off and choke you with it until you decide Viktor isn’t worth it,” she threatens, and I’m sure every man in the room winced; she’s dead serious.
“Maybe if you let me choke you with it, you wouldn’t be such a fucking bitch.” Spinner laughs at his own joke, not expecting the next hit. Gage nails him right in the ribs so hard the chains swing.
“Don’t you ever say that to her again,” Gage says through clenched teeth.
