He cuts the engine a short distance from the main gate, choosing distance over visibility.
“What is this place?” I slide off behind him, sneakers hitting the ground with a soft crunch. Taking in the layout, I spot multiple entry points—places where the fence has been bent or worn down enough for someone determined to slip through without too much trouble.
Gage steps out from behind a stack of crushed cars, his gaze flicking from me to Rafe and back again. “Thought you’d want to be here for this.”
“Yeah. I do, thanks. What are we looking for again?”
Gage glares at Rafe. “You didn’t tell her?”
Rafe shrugs as he swings his leg off his bike. “Hard to talk when she’s on the back of my bike.”
A muscle feathers in Gage’s jaw. “Right.” He drags his attention back to me and holds out a hand. “C’mon, Bell, you can come with me. I’ll fill you in.”
I slide my hand into his at the same time Rafe’s hand lands on my shoulder. “She’s fine here.”
Something pulls tight in the space between the three of us.
I clear my throat, and don’t even attempt to wade into the pit of emotions swirling inside of me right now.
There’s a version of this where I know exactly what to do. Where my throat doesn’t tighten, and I don’t feel torn between them. Where I don’t feel bad about wanting all of them.
I don’t know why I didn’t expect a little repercussions from fucking around with these men, but I really should have.
“Why don’t we all stay here together?” I lift my brows, looking between the two men.
Cruz’s voice comes from the right, close enough to hear clearly, far enough away that I have to turn to find him. “Bishop’s gonna kill all of you if you don’t get into position.”
I spot him half-shadowed along the fence line, positioned where he can see both the yard and the road without being obvious about it.
“Positions?” The word squeaks out of me as my mind ziplines me to the last hour, and the many different positions Rafe and I were tangled up in.
Like he’s reading my mind, he smirks, dragging this teeth over his bottom lip.
“Yeah, Bell. We’re watching all entry points so we catch those motherfuckers who hit us,” Gage says.
“Get into position. If we lose them because you two are busy pawing at her, I’m going to take out my frustration out of your cut,” Bishop says from further away.
“Way to advertise that we’re here, asshole,” Cruz drawls as he walks away.
Gage’s face darkens. “I’d like to see you fucking try.”
Rafe grins, and it’s all teeth. “He forgets that I’m the one who trained with him for years.”
Gage smirks. “He forgets a lot of things in his old age.”
Something passes between them—not quite a look, not quite a smile. The kind of thing that doesn’t need words because it’s already been said a hundred times before.
Rafe squeezes my shoulder before his hand slides to the back of my neck, tunneling into my hair. His fingers flex, tugging my hair at the roots. I feel tension melt from my body, my lips parting with an exhale like an involuntary body response.
“She’s with me tonight,” Rafe murmurs, voice low.
“Whatever. But you don’t get to hog her, asshole.” Gage steps in and kisses me— quick, hard, a little punishing—and then he’s already walking away before I’ve finished wanting more.
I take a few steps along the fence, giving myself a different angle, one that lets me see deeper into the yard without standing directly in the open. The metal is cool under my fingers as I rest my hand against it, grounding myself in something solid.
Time stretches.
No headlights cutting through the dark. No doors opening. No voices carrying across the yard. Just the low creak of the fence in the wind and the distant sound of something settling in the dark.
