I close my eyes at the thought of seeing Gage’s and Les’ beautiful blue eyes. Gage’s are a couple of shades darker, but they can see straight through your soul. I would give anything to hear either one of their laughs right now. I feel a hand squeeze mine and look down at Ryder’s hand in mine. I don’t know when we made it here, but I’m not passing up his comfort. Evander and Mateo are here, but all they can offer are platitudes I don’t want to hear.
I squeeze back. “They have to be fine, Ryder.” I hear my voice break on that last word and know I’m about to lose my shit.
“I know,” he whispers back, and I know he’s hanging on by a thread too. I open my eyes and look at Dex and Holden. Dex is sitting ramrod straight, hands balled into fists, staring into space. Holden is hunched over his computer, tapping away, but I can see the strain and worry lining his eyes.
Ryder starts sending text messages to anyone he can think of to keep an eye out for Les or Zane because we assume they’re together or he knows something. We need everyone she’s ever done a favor for to help us, or I know there will be plenty of threats being thrown around.
“Would Zane take her?” I ask because it’s been running through my mind since I found out their phones were together.
Ryder shakes his head. “I want to say yes just so I have someone to blame, but he would never do that to her.”
“Then explain the phones,” Micah demands. “He didn’t give a fuck when he was taking advantage of an eighteen-year-old girl. What makes you fucking think he gives a fuck about taking her?”
Ryder levels those dark eyes on Micah. “If I could fucking explain it, jackass, I wouldn’t be sitting here with my thumb up my ass.”
“You guys promised to protect her! You let her go off during a fuckingwarwith one of you. Now, look! Les is gone, and Gage could die!” Micah rages, exploding from his chair.
“You’re blaming us?” Ryder growls, standing up. “Les is the boss. What do you want us to do? Tie her up somewhere?”
“I don’t think this is the time to have this conversation,” Evander says, trying to keep the peace. “You’re blaming the wrong people.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Micah grits out. “Why are you even here?”
Evander’s eyes narrow. “My brother needs us, and I care about Les and Gage.”
“All you motherfuckers can leave for all I care. You obviously can’t do shit anyway, so there’s no point in you being here,” Micah says.
Dex moves so fast that no one has a chance to react. He grabs the front of Micah’s shirt in a tattooed fist, slamming him back against the wall. “You have one more thing to say, and I will rip you limb from limb,” he growls in Micah’s face. “You can blame us all you want, but it’s not doing shit. Get your head on straight.”
Ryder walks up and places a hand on Dex’s shoulder. “Let him go, man.” I can hear the wheezing breaths from Micah from the hit he took last night. Having someone the size of Dex slam you into the wall doesn’t help. Dex peels his fingers away one by one but doesn’t step back. “Come on,” Ryder urges, trying to get Dex to back off. Dex gives Micah one last withering look before falling back into the chair. Ryder looks at Micah. “Are you done?”
Micah jerks a nod, and Ryder walks back to his seat.
“I found something!” Holden says excitedly, tapping keys like crazy. “There’s Les and Gage pulling in.”
We crowd around the computer and see the car they stole pull into the lot, Zane’s truck right behind them.
“What the hell?” Ryder mutters, pointing at the truck. “What the fuck is he doing?”
No sooner than they park, two SUVs come into view, four guys jumping out and firing at the car. You can see Zane duck behind his door and pull his Glock, firing back at the SUVs. That answers that question. He wouldn’t be firing at them if he were involved. Gage and Les don’t even have time to react before they have the car surrounded. One of the guys fires several shots at Zane, and you can see him slump against the side of his truck.
You can’t see any details about the guys. They’re in non-descript SUVs with masks on, and no one questioned gunfire in that type of neighborhood.
One guy jerks open the passenger side door, dragging Les out by the hair of her head, and she’s fighting like hell. He backhands her across the face, and everyone watching tenses.
“Motherfucker,” Ryder growls.
The guy in front of the SUV fires at the windshield, and I know the moment Gage takes the hits. His body jerks several times before slumping onto the wheel. You can see Les screaming and up her fighting. Kicking, punching, anything to get away.
I clamp a hand over my mouth, and Ryder pulls me in again. I can feel his whole body vibrating with rage and know that they will raise hell on earth to bring her back.
The guy holding Les jams something in her neck, and she drops to the ground; he doesn’t even try to catch her. He scoops her up and dumps her in the backseat of Zane’s truck. Someone else comes around and grabs Zane hauling him inside too; then they jump inside. They all peel out of the lot and disappear from sight.
No one says anything for the longest time, just staring at the screen at Gage’s body slumped against the wheel.
“Can you track them?” Ryder asks Holden.
Holden nods, picking up his laptop back up from the table.“I can,” he answers, bent back over the computer.
