I skidded to a stop right in front of the door to the warehouse. It burst open and Stone stormed out with Texas and the rest of the guys hot on his heels. They surrounded the blacked-out sports car. Chloe instinctively took my hand as I threw the car into park and cut the engine.
And the second we stepped out, Stone laid into us.
“You fucking two have a lot of god damn nerve—”
The second he saw the injuries on my face, he studied Chloe, who had gotten out right in front of him. His head tilted off to the side before his eyes darkened, and his gaze locked with my own.
“Notch, go get the girls. These two need to be checked out,” Stone commanded.
I’d never seen Notch move quicker in all his fucking life.
Utter chaos erupted as they ushered us inside. We both sat down at the kitchen table and Chloe refused to release my hand while they stitched up our wounds and iced our bruises. They gave us a thorough examination, even going so far as to test how badly our ribs and muscles were bruised.
And after Notch gave both of us the all-clear, Stone pulled up a chair.
“Start from the beginning and tell me everything that happened,” he said flatly.
Chloe cleared her throat. “Well, I had to leave to go do something that was sort of in the works before all of this happened, and when I met with—”
I still wasn’t comfortable telling Stone everything, so I interjected. “She had a project for work. She couldn’t get off the project, so she had to go into town and turn some stuff in so she didn’t lose her job. I followed her to make sure she was okay, and we were jumped by the cartel.”
Stone’s eyes didn’t waver from Chloe’s face. “How did they take you?”
Chloe sighed. “We were tossed into the back of a van. At least, I think it was a van. Then, they took us to some abandoned office building somewhere and beat on us for information.”
His eyes finally panned over to mine. “How did you guys get away?”
I sighed. “How the hell do we always get away? I killed some of them, took their weapons, and we hotwired a car to get back here.”
He stood to his feet. “The three of us need to talk more in private. If you guys could follow—”
I looked over at Chloe and watched as her eyes drooped. The girl was so damned tired that her head started to bob. I walked over to her and scooped her into my arms. She curled instinctively into me, gripping the throat hem of my shirt so hard that I wasn’t sure I’d get her let go.
“Can we talk tomorrow? The both of us need some rest,” I said.
Stone blinked. “I know the two of you are lying to me. I’m not sure about what, but I know you’re hiding something. And if you think for one second that your lies are going to help us at all, you’re sorely mistaken. So, heed my warning: if the two of you leave without permission again, both of you will be tossed out onto your asses.”
“Stone,” Texas said.
The man held his hand up. “I have to protect the masses. I charged you with protecting her. And if those two missions don’t coincide, it’ll be nothing but a numbers game. Got it?”
I swallowed down the sheer fury working its way up my throat. “Yeah. Got it.”
“Good. We’ll talk tomorrow, first thing.”
I stared him down for a few more seconds before I carried her through the hallway. Everyone’s eyes were on us as I hobbled, trying my best to keep my muscles moving when all they wanted to do was collapse. I took her straight into my room before I kicked the door closed. I used my elbow to throw the lock, then I walked over and laid Chloe gingerly on the side of the bed that I never occupied.
“What did you mean when you said you couldn’t lose me again?” she asked softly.
I slid her shoes off and perched on the edge of the bed. “What was that, beautiful?”
She turned onto her back. “That’s what you said. You said something like, ‘I can’t do this again.’ Or, ‘I can’t lose her again.’ Or, something like that. What did you mean?”
I knew exactly the moment she was talking about; I simply hoped that she had forgotten all about it. But, now that she had posed the question, after everything she had been through with the club I felt that she deserved at least an honest answer.
So, I drew in a deep breath. “I used to belong to another crew. You know, before I pledged this one.”
She pushed herself up a bit, her gaze holding mine. “Was there another woman, too?”
