“Christ, son. You whole?” Bolt asks as he takes in Blaise’s battered body.
“I’m fine. Kady was about to cut me loose.”
Bolt nods at me, a small smirk pulling up the corner of his mouth. I wiggle the knife I’m holding. “Good girl,” he says, taking the knife from me. Dante cuts me free while Bolt finishes freeing his son.
“Are you okay?” Dante asks in his low I’m-about-to-murder-someone voice.
“I am now. Thank you,” I whisper, dropping my gaze to the floor.
“Hey.” He cups my face and runs his thumb over my cheek—in a brotherly way—“You’re safe now.”
I’m sorryis on the tip of my tongue. Somehow this is all my fault. No matter how Blaise tried to downplay my role in all of this, the truth is that if I’d kept my mouth shut the other night, Deacon never would have thought of using me to get his daughter out of trouble. I don’t have a chance to apologize, though. Once Blaise is free, he all but growls at Dante, pushing him aside. To his credit, Dante laughs and shakes his head instead of gut punching Blaise.
“Your face looks like hamburger, kid. You all right?” he asks Blaise.
“I’ll live. Let’s get her out of here.”
“Are you hurt?” I ask as Blaise kneels in front of me. Stupid question. Pain’s written in every move he makes. I wince as I take in the cuts and bruises all over his beautiful face. Through dried blood, he smiles.
“It’s nothing, Kady. Are you okay?”
“You two can play doctor at the clubhouse. We need to leave. Now,” Bolt urges.
Thorn squeezes my hand and nods at Blaise. Even though he has to be in agony, Blaise helps me stand, takes my hand, and nods at his dad. I turn and grab his cut. Bolt watches my every move.
Upstairs is straight out of some twisted action movie. Bodies, broken glass, moaning bad guys. “Are we whole, Dad?” Blaise asks.
Bolt grunts but whether it’s a yes or no, I can’t tell.
Romeo meets us at the door.
He sweeps his gaze over me. “They hurt you, Kadence?”
“No. Just Blaise.”
Romeo nods at Blaise as if to congratulate him for taking his beating like a man.
Outside, the rest of Bolt’s crew wait with brothers from the Iron Bulls. I turn and glance up at Dante, who’s just a step or two behind me. He nods and pats my shoulder.
Thorn leads us to a black van and slides the back door open. Blaise shakes off Thorn’s hand and helps me in the back of the van. He grunts when Thorn helps him inside and flings himself into the seat beside me.
“You all right, Kady?” he asks, running the back of his hand over my cheek.
“We need to roll out now,” Thorn says as he jumps in the front seat. “Cops will be coming.”
Hammer gets in on the passenger side, and we tear away from the shitty old house.
“They’re gonna light that bitch up,” Thorn comments as he stares in the rear view mirror.
Blaise groans and shifts, pulling me against his body.
Hammer turns and observes us for a few minutes.
“Blaise, you with me?”
“Yeah.” He groans and lifts his head.
“Heads up.” Hammer’s gaze shoots to me. “Bolt needs to question her when we get back.”
