I watched on as they bickered and moaned to each other about the situation they found themselves in. It was almost comical as they floundered, calling in favours, left, right and centre. All to avoid Raf.
Personally, I got it. He was a scary motherfucker. But he hadn’t always been. Once upon a time, he was as close to me as Trey was, then he got in with the Ironborne, and he turned into an asshole. I was just glad Frankie got out of the relationship, even if it did break her heart.
“I’m calling Raf,” Bry said, picking up his phone to dial when I saw Roger smash it out of his hands.
“Don’t.”
“No need,” Raf’s deep baritone echoed in the small room we were in. I looked to the door where he was stepping into, a gun by his side, and a seriously pissed off look on his face. “Care to explain this monumental fuck up?”
“Raf…”
Bry was literally shaking in his shoes. If I weren’t mistaken, I could probably see his pants getting darker with urine.
“Twenty words or less,” Raf said, his eyes finding mine and something crossing over his expression before he looked back at the two idiots before him. “My time is precious.”
Roger stepped forward. “We took her to piss the MC off so we could start the war the Ironborne have been too scared to start for years.”
Raf’s laugh was unnatural in the tension mounting, and it had a chill running down my spine.
“And you think you two are the best to start said war?” Raf asked. “Mannix doesn’t even trust you with basic errands. He handed you over to me so you didn’t embarrass him anymore. And now look at what you’ve gone and done.”
“Raf…”
“Enough,” he boomed, and I even jumped at it. “Untie her.”
“But–”
“Did I fucking stutter, Roger?”
Roger moved behind me, yanking at the ropes, causing the material to rub against my already tender skin.
“If I see her wince one more time, I’ll be putting a bullet in your hand.”
The untying was gentler for a moment, before I could finally wrench my hands in front of me. He untied my ankles, and I kicked away from the chair, a little woozy but able to stand on my own.
“Did they touch you, Rowan?” he asked, not looking at me. I watched as confusion coasted over the two bumbling idiots’ faces.
“No, didn’t give them a chance.”
Raf smirked.
“You told us to attack her,” Roger argued.
“He told us to hurt her, never to kill or touch,” Bry said, almost as if it had dawned on him. “The orders never came from the Ironborne.”
My eyes shot to Raf, but he didn’t look my way. Fuck…did he have me beaten for no reason?
“Both of you, come here.”
They begrudgingly walked toward us, and I felt my senses heighten as Roger seemed hellbent on getting to me first. I used my training and blocked his attack, hitting him in the side of the head. He fell to his knees, weakened. Raf clocked Bry on the head with the butt of his gun.
“Usually I would kill them for what they did, but a promise is a promise.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Get in the car outside, Rowan.”
I moved away from him, unsure if he was a saviour or an enemy, and looked outside. It was dark still, so I couldn’t have been gone for long, and one lone car sat in front of the building. Two others were parked further down. I looked around for an escape, but we seemed to be in the middle of fucking nowhere.
