A way to mangle us more than we had already been mangled.
I watched as my guys—my brothers—struggled for an answer. I watched them rack their brains, trying to come up with ideas while hopelessness crossed their faces. It killed me seeing them like that. Seeing my family struggling just to come up with answers to an impossible fucking question.
“Well,” Stone said as he locked his hands behind his head, “consider this a thinking cap sort of time. We’ll remain in lockdown here in the warehouse until we can figure out our next moves. But you guys are right. We need a forward plan of action that puts us back on top, and we can’t risk moving until we have it.”
Stone dismissed church, but everyone stood there for a second. We didn’t know what the hell to do. We didn’t know how the hell to come together to beat an entity that had at least twelve times the amount of people that we did at their disposal. It felt like we were an island off the coast of some fucking country, yet we were responsible for protecting the entire country while we watched fucking bomber plans headed in our direction.
I tried not to give up hope altogether as Stone came up to me.
“Can we talk?” he asked.
I pulled myself back out of the recesses of my mind. “Yeah, yeah. Sure.”
He held his hand out, leading me into the kitchen, and I went with him. It felt like my body had been commanded to move by some other entity. As if someone else in my head were calling the shots. Everything felt so… fuzzy. Everything felt as if it moved at lightning speed while my body felt as if it trudged through mud.
And after all of the guys cleared out, Stone licked his lips. “How’s Chloe doing since you got her back here?”
I shook my head softly. “She’s pretty banged out. She’s got a fractured rib, possibly two. Her bruises will certainly get worse before they get better. She had a finger that got dislocated somehow, and now it just needs to rest.”
“Can we trust her? Is she someone we can keep close?”
That was when Frost stuck his head in. “As someone who makes it a habit of listening in all the time, Lexi is Chloe’s best friend. We can trust her.”
Stone glanced over at him. “She’s willing to vouch for her friend?”
Frost nodded his head as he came into the kitchen. “They aren’t just friends; they practically grew up together. Chloe has been helping to raise my daughter. She’s family at this point. We can absolutely trust her. Plus, she’s got skills we could use.”
I furrowed my brow. “Skills?”
Frost grinned. “She’s a hacker. A techy. You know, like you.”
Stone’s eyes ignited with hope. “That, we can most definitely use.”
“So, you’re trusting her?” Frost asked.
I shrugged. “I trust her. At least, until she gives me a reason not to.”
Stone nodded. “I’m in that same boat. She’s good until she isn’t. We can’t afford to turn down working talent right now, anyway. You think she’d be up for a few small jobs?”
I didn’t know why that made me bristle as much as it did, but I kept it at bay. I stuffed down the knee-jerk reaction that bubbled in my gut and watched while Frost and Stone went back and forth about this girl. I stood there, staring at the metallic backsplash of the kitchen while they talked as if I didn’t fucking exist.
And when they finally called my name, it wasn’t for the reason I expected.
“West,” Stone said.
I turned my attention to him. “Yep, I’m on it. Whatever it is, you know I’m up for the task.”
Stone grinned. “Good, because you’re officially in charge of taking care of and watching over Chloe.”
I blinked. “Wait, what?”
Frost chuckled as he patted my back. “All of us are busy with our own women and children. So, you get to take the watch on Chloe. Make sure she gets the rest she needs in order to heal, otherwise Lexi might just kill you over it.”
I clicked my tongue. “Thanks.”
Stone came to stand in front of me. “We need you on this, all right? You up for it?”
I shook the cobwebs from my head. “I’ve got it under control. Don’t you worry about that.”
