“No.”
“There are six of us,” Jared growled. “Stand aside!”
“No.”
Jared had already grabbed the man by the throat when Kane caught his attention by punching him on the side of his head. “They will throw us in the brig again, gods damn it! And I am tired of sleeping on the fucking floor! And I am more tired of not seeing Chloe!”
Jared released the man. After staring at Chloe’s door for several moments, he turned and headed to his own quarters. He had already flung himself on his bunk when Kane followed him inside and directly behind him, Damon, Sebastian, Lucien, and Thor. They looked around the tiny cabin and finally simply leaned against the wall.
“I do not like this worth a fuck!” Kane said tightly.
“I do not like this worth a fuck either,” Jared growled. “I came tomyquarters because I did not want company! It is not enough that we have shared the same fucking cell for two fucking weeks?”
Kane ignored his outburst. “Why would he set a guard to prevent us from speaking to Chloe?”
“Because he wants her for himself!” Sebastian said abruptly. “I have seen the way he looks at her and he has made a great effort to be very friendly, gods damn it!”
“That is gods damned underhanded!” Lucien snapped. “You mean to say the bastard has been romancingourwoman while he had us locked up?”
“When the fuck did she becomeyourwoman?” Jared growled. “That is what I would like to know!”
“I said ours!” Lucien said indignantly. “We are all her crewmen and she said that we were family!”
“Yes, but … Never mind! I think I will go and speak to Reuel!” Jared said, getting up from his bunk.
The others turned to the door even as he got up, however, and he discovered that he had to wait until they had filed out before he could leave. Thor, who had been closest to the door, led the way until they reached Reuel’s quarters and then stopped and turned to look at Jared expectantly.
“Why are you looking at me? You led us here!” Jared growled.
“It was your idea.”
Rolling his eyes, Jared stalked past the other men and rapped on Reuel’s door.
Reuel opened it more swiftly than he had expected. He would not have admitted it under torture, but he found that singularly unnerving. It was almost as if Reuel had been expecting them.
He glanced around the edge of the door, surveyed the men lined up along the wall, and nodded. “I have been expecting you. Come in.”
Frowning, Jared glanced at the others, but he followed Reuel inside.
“You are wondering why I placed the guard in the corridor, I do not doubt.”
“We were wonderingexactlythat!” Jared informed him. “Sir.”
Reuel gestured for them to sit although where the fuck he expected them to sit when there was only one chair besides the one he took himself was beyond Jared. Everyone glanced at the chair and then folded their arms and planted their backs against the wall instead since he had indicated that they were guests.
“I do not claim a vast understanding of the humans in general and the women—well, their own men do not understand them—I have been trying to understand Chloe, however. It seemed completely illogical to me that she would insist that she be solely responsible for the … welfare of her crew one moment and then dismiss it in the next … even for a human.
“She will not speak to me about it either and the only thing that I have been able to grasp is that she is deeply wounded and she desires privacy to heal.”
Jared felt his belly clench sickeningly. “Why is she wounded?”
“How is she wounded?” Kane demanded.
“Who hurt her?” Damon ground out.
Reuel held up his hand. “I do not think that anyone wounded her, but if you are suggesting that it was I … Well, mayhap I was careless in speaking. There was no intention to wound her. I was only speaking the truth as I saw it.”
“Begging your pardon, sir,” Jared said tightly. “But I do not understand a gods damned thing that you just said!”
