“Is that his name?” Em asked.
I had forgotten she was there. I whipped my gaze up to hers. “I don’t think he likes being called that, but yes.”
She grinned. “He only likes it when you say it?”
I searched her gaze. “Something like that.”
She giggled. “Don’t worry, Ranger’s the same way.”
The front door slammed open, and Anna tore through the throng of us. I looked around to see if anyone would hand her a bag, but no one seemed to offer one up. I watched as she strode through the living room, ignoring the girls who called out for her. Ignoring the men who tried to stop her. Ignoring her brother who called out for her.
“Anna, come on!” King called out with his hands cupped over his mouth.
The only answer he got, however, was a slammed door in the distance.
I asked the only thing I could. “What’s happened to our men?”
The room stilled as King turned to face me. “Nothing. We’re bringing back supplies for you guys that they have picked up.”
“And why aren’t they bringing them to us?” Jasmine asked as she came to stand beside me with her own bag of things.
King didn’t hesitate. “Because they are preparing things for the next phase, and to do that they have to be in familiar territory. They can’t do any of that here. No privacy, too cramped.”
I narrowed my eyes as I looked up at him. “You’re holding something back.”
He stared down at me. “I’m always holding something back.”
Amanda walked up to my other side. “What are you not telling us?”
“Yeah,” Ariel said as she stood behind me. “Something’s wrong. We can feel it.”
“Might as well rip the Band-Aid off now,” Em said as I heard her behind me as well.
King groaned as he ran his hands down his face. “Girls, everything is okay and being taken care of. The best thing you guys can do is lay low here, and when Cap and his guys are done, they’re coming back here. But they don’t have any room to do anything here?—”
“Anna!” I barked as I turned away from him.
He clearly rehearsed his answers.
I wanted the information.
I stormed away from the girls, clutching my plastic bag, still not having read Doc’s letter. I’d read it once I had the information sorted out, but I didn’t like having things withheld from me. If we were in danger, we all deserved to know what was lurking about and what was being done about it, and I’d die on that fucking hill.
“Annaliese!” I barked as I marched down the hallway.
The door down the hallway whipped open and she stepped out. “What?”
I marched right up to her. “What did your brother tell you?”
She shot me a look. “Nothing, that’s what’s pissing me off.”
“I want to know, word for word, what he said to you,” I said as I stopped in front of her. “What were you two talking about on the porch?”
She leaned against the doorframe and folded her arms across her chest. “I asked what they were going to do. They didn’t show up on their bikes, they showed up on your men’s bikes. They took the van, which means whatever they’re doing, they’re doing as a group.”
My heart fell into my stomach. “I didn’t realize that. I was too busy?—”
“Which means my brother and his guys will be here for a while, at least until your guys get back and they can switch back out. But if my brother and his airheaded Barbie posse are here without their own bikes, it means they’re having to perch here and stay. Which means whatever the guys are doing, they’re at least assuming they might kick something up.”
