“My name is Rae,” I reminded him.
“Lady’s fine.” He motioned toward the door. “There’s twenty-eight…seven,” he corrected, kicking the body at his feet, “men out there waiting for you to wake up. Once Dolan questions you about the shipment, he’s going to hand you over to them to do whatever they want.” A grim look settled on his face. “They aren’t the kind of men to do anything nice to you.”
“O-kay. So thenwhyis the window not an option?”
He didn’t bother to answer my question. “Stick close and I’ll do my best to get you out the back before they realize you’re missing.”
Window. Back door. I didn’t care how he helped me escape as long as I wasn’t given over to that group of men out there. “What shipment do they all keep talking about?”
He opened the door a crack and maneuvered himself so he could look out without being seen. “Ecstasy. It was earmarked for a buyer who was willing to pay top dollar for it.”
“And that’s what the dead man by the bridge was doing?”
“Yeah. He was supposed to be taking it to Idaho.”
“I wonder why he was so far down Warren Road then?” I asked out loud. “He would’ve needed to stay on the highway-”
“He ran into an unsavory character who wanted the Ecstasy.”
I frowned. “Who even knew he had it besides your…” I broke off, studying the smug look on Forge’s face. “Wait. Didyoukill him?”
“Coast’s clear,” he replied, evading my question. I had no idea what was going on with any of this, but I wasn’t going to delay escaping to ask. “Stay on my ass and don’t make a sound.”
I crept out after him, head swinging this way and that as I looked for anyone who could be a threat. It was my assumption that anyone in this building other than Forge was, so all movement was suspect. I looked over my shoulder to make sure we weren’t being followed, then inadvertently plowed into Forge’s back when he stopped.
He grunted at the contact, then scowled at me over his shoulder. Though he didn’t say anything, he shook his head.
‘Sorry’, I mouthed at him. My hands were shaking. I wished I still had Owen’s gun. It wasn’t like I was very good with it, but at least I’d have something to protect myself with. Reaching out, I grabbed the back of Forge’s shirt to make sure I kept close like he asked.
He paused and gave me an incredulous look over his shoulder again. I shrugged, then nodded my head, indicating for him to keep moving. As if I was in charge here. I wondered if both of us managed to get out of here alive if maybe he’d be interested in one of my friends. He was an incredibly handsome man, and didn’t have a ring on his finger.
Sure, it was a crazy thought to be having right now, but I needed the distraction because every shifting shadow was making my heart rate spike in preparation for a fight. Of course, did I want one of my friends dating someone who killed indiscriminately? But then again, he didn’t, did he? Like he said,he had a moral line, or something like it. Apparently women were off limits, even if his own people weren’t.
“Duck,” he said in such a low voice I almost didn’t hear him.
Duck? Duck where? I looked around frantically for a place to hide, but we were going down a long hallway and there weren’t any doors on one side, the other opened up down onto a factory floor below. Maybe that was why he didn’t want to go out the window. We were on the second story of this building.
I crouched down, waiting as he did the same. There were men milling around down below. They were standing around some kind of platform. A single man stepped up on the platform and began talking in a booming voice.
“That’s Mark Dolan,” Forge said, turning toward me as he spoke so that he didn’t have to raise his voice. “Leader of this crew.”
I peeked over the side of the railing. The guy wasn’t super impressive. Not like the bikers. He wasn’t all that tall. Maybe five-ten? And he had a balding patch on the very top of his head. He just wasn’t what I expected the leader of a gang, and a drug lord, to look like. Not that I’d ever seen either of those two types of people. But the books I read would have me believe he’d be a tall, ripped, gorgeous man.
“Follow me,” Forge said again, moving forward slowly and still crouching.
I moved with him, doing my best not to catch anyone’s attention. Ahead of us was another hallway that I hoped would lead to some stairs and out of here. I really, really didn’t want to see what was going to happen if these men got their hands on me. Pyre’s smile flashed through my mind and I wondered if he even knew I was missing yet? I’d give anything to see him right now. To have him wrap his strong arms around me so I felt safe and protected.
We made it across the open walkway without incident and I blew out a relieved breath as we stood to our full heights again and were able to move faster. My head was still pounding, but it was something I shoved to the background. I didn’t have time to focus on that for now.
“Stairs are this way-” Noise on the stairs had us freezing. “Shit. Go back. Go back.”
I doubled back and opened the first door I came to near the top of the stairs. Looking around, I was grateful no one was in here right now. Most of them seemed to be in that meeting.
Forge shut the door in my face. “Sterns.”
“I thought the boss had you watching over the woman, Forge?”
“Higgins told me to get my ass downstairs. That Dolan had something he wanted to talk to me about.”
