I didn’t like the way Fangs shrugged his shoulders. “This is where him and I agreed to meet.”
Caleb’s face grew red as his fists balled up at his sides. “You’re insane, you know that? You’ve put everyone in this clubhouse at risk, including our women, because you can’t—”
Fangs turned around and held his hands up into the air. “Everything is fine, everyone. Just follow my lead and stay silent. All right?”
Caleb shoved past him and marched down the hallway, straight toward me. He gripped my upper arms before backing me around the corner, then he scooped me into his arms and didn’t put me down until we were safe and sound within the confines of his bedroom.
“What’s happening?” I asked. “What’s going on? Why are those guys here right now?”
He settled me down onto the bed. “Listen to me, I’m not sure what’s happening right now, so I need you to listen. Can you do that for me?”
I nodded. “Of course. Anything.”
He stalked over to the dresser stuffed into the closet and pulled out a gun from the top drawer. “I want you to take this.”
I gasped. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
He sat down beside me, and I watched him fiddle around with it. “This is fully loaded and ready to rock. One press of this button ejects the entire magazine, and then you just slip this new one in like so.”
I shook my head. “Why are you showing me this? What’s going on?”
He placed the gun into my hand and the extra magazine between my legs. “If anything happens to us during this interview, I want you to defend yourself at all costs. You shoot anyone that isn’t a woman and isn’t one of the guys. Got it?”
My eyes lined with tears. “We’re in trouble, aren’t we?”
He cupped my cheeks and brushed my tears away. “In my bedside table, there’s a notebook, and on the inside flap of that notebook is an address. If something happens to us, get the girls out of here. Everyone, do you hear me? Take them to that address. It’s completely off the map and no one knows about it, not even Fangs.”
“Do you think he’s—”
“I honestly don’t know what to think right now, which is why I’m telling you all of this. Repeat it back to me.”
I swallowed hard. “Button right here ejects magazine. Bedside table, notebook, inside flap, address, get the girls there if something happens to you guys.”
He kissed my forehead. “Good girl. Now, stay here and don’t make a sound unless you have to.”
And as he stood, I quickly reached for his hand. “I love you, Caleb.”
He brought my hand to his lips and kissed each of my knuckles. “I love you too, Rose.”
“Try to stay safe.”
He nodded. “I’ll do my best.”
As I watched him walk out of the bedroom, my stomach dropped to the floor. I had no more tears to cry, not after he had wiped them away. But the dread that filled my gut held my lungs hostage. I struggled to breathe as I stood from the bed. With the gun in my hand, I gingerly cracked the door to see if I could hear anything.
And I found a woman standing outside my door.
“You ready to come see what’s going on? Because I’m not staying in that room like Viper told me to.”
Viper.“Lila?”
She giggled. “I take it you’ve heard of me?”
I opened the door the rest of the way. “Something like that.”
She took my hand. “Come on, the rest of the girls are perched at a side window. We can’t see much, but we can hear everything.”
“Did you guys get a gun, too?”
