“I’m already ahead of you,” a man with a gruff familiar voice says.
I’m surprised by my lack of feeling when Ares Haynes appears behind Baz in the hallway. He has an unconscious naked guy flung over his shoulders. When I think about it now, our feud was immature and pathetic. Our differences don’t matter when you consider the big picture. Investing time and energy in hating one another is stupid. I have no feelings about Ares either way right now.
“Ash is right,” Ares says, casting a quick glance over me. His nod of acknowledgment is subtle, but it’s there. I return the gesture, grateful he came. “We’re not leaving them behind. I don’t care what we previously agreed or what the consequences are. We’re setting them free.”
Ares and I share a look, and for once, we appear to be on the same page.
Jase relents. “Okay. It’s agreed. Let’s move out then.”
ChapterTwenty-Eight
Chad
Ares strides down the hallway with the naked guy on his shoulders. Baz and Jase each take one of my arms as I stagger unsteadily from the room. Some feeling is returning to my legs, but I can’t yet walk unaided, and I fucking hate it. The man’s dead eyes look straight at me over Ares’s shoulder, and I wonder if he’s even aware he’s been rescued. His frame is skeletal, and the haunted look in his eyes tells its own tale. He must have been here quite some time, and it’s obvious his spirit is broken. I hope he gets help on the outside so he can reclaim his life.
How do you do that after such a prolonged ordeal?
I’m pondering that question as Ares hands him over to whomever is standing behind the side door. Ash rushes past us, checking on me with a brief look of concern as if she needs to confirm it’s really me. She shares a look with Ares as they race off down the hallway in the other direction, heading toward the room I was incarcerated in. I have zero desire to ever set eyes on that space again.
Armed guards lie motionless on the hallway floor, shoved over to the side. A couple are dead. The round holes in their skulls and bloody pools under their bodies give it away. The rest appear to be unconscious. Tape covers their mouths, and their hands and feet are tightly bound.
A growl slips from my lips when I come face to face with the man behind the main door. He’s one of the guards. Not one of the nastier ones, but he’s still a perverted prick in my eyes. Anyone who was a party to this and did nothing is an asshole. Blood seeps from a small injury to his head, trickling down his face.
“Go help the others with the cages,” Jase snaps at him.
Avoiding my gaze—because he’s a chickenshit—the guard walks around us, following orders without hesitation. I have a ton of questions. A ton. But it’s not the time to ask them. They can keep until we’re back home.
After all the prisoners are safely evacuated from the basement, they are taken away in a large black van while we get into a limo. I must have fallen asleep immediately because I don’t recall the journey. I only recall waking up in this strange bed, in an unfamiliar room, with jackhammering pain rattling around my skull and seriously sore limbs. A doctor was here at one point. I have a vague recollection of him checking me out, but I must have fallen back asleep before he left.
I stare out the window, trying to work out where we are. There are no curtains on the window and it’s pitch-black outside making it hard to determine my location.
“We’re here,” Ash says.
I roll onto my side, in the direction of her voice, wincing as my body protests the motion. Ash and Jase are slouched in uncomfortable-looking chairs, pulled up close to the king bed I’m lying in. They both have blankets draped over their laps and tired expressions.
My eyes adjust slowly to the semi-darkness. A small lamp emits dull spurts of light from the bedside table it resides on, bathing the room in an eerie glow. “Where are we?” I rasp, yawning and rubbing my eyes before I pull myself up against the headboard. I’m glad my limbs are cooperating again. It must mean the effects of the drugs are wearing off.
“You’re at a safe house in Tahoe,” Jase explains, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. “I’m making arrangements to move you to a property my family owns where your mom and Tessa are staying.”
Panic is instant, spreading through my veins like fire. “What’s happened? Are they okay?”
“Relax. They’re both fine.” Ash reaches out, taking my hand. Warmth seeps into my skin from her touch, immediately soothing me. “It was a precautionary move. A lot has happened while you’ve been gone.”
“Like what?”
Jase and Ash trade looks, silently communicating.
“Tell me.”
Ash squeezes my hand, peering at me with sympathetic eyes. “You’ve been through a lot, Chad, and it’s only four thirty a.m. You should try to go back to sleep.”
Peeling the covers back, I swing my legs to one side, noticing I’m only in my boxers. My ass hurts, and my cock throbs with the need to ejaculate, but I bite on the inside of my mouth and adjust my hard-on before standing. “I’m awake now. I’d rather take a shower, grab something to eat, and catch up on everything I’ve missed.”
“Why don’t I run you a bath?” Ash suggests, climbing out of the chair. “You’re still weak, and submerging your sore muscles in warm water will help. Or I can get you something to eat first, if you prefer?”
“I’ll take the bath. I want to scrub that bitch off my skin and clean every last trace of that place from my body.”
Her hands clench into fists at her side, and her soft smile seems forced. “Stay in bed. Keep warm. I’ll call you when it’s ready.” She ducks into a side door, which I presume leads to an en suite bathroom.
