“These are real people,” Jacob murmurs while tiredly pinching his nose.
“Bad people,” Hayden corrects with an evil little grin.
We all stand and slowly make our way to the warehouse. The metal creaks when Jacob slides the door open, but there’s no sound of other people. A scream echoes around us and my blood goes cold, then immediately boils. That’s Reid.
Hayden grabs my arm hard, and his eyes implore me to stay calm. But I can’t. That’s my man crying out in pain. Suddenly an alarm goes off and Jacob swears loudly as he grabs his guns. Five burly men round the corner, freezing in their spots at the sight of us. A scary hush falls over us as enemies take each other in. The men are all older, covered in scars, obviously used to fights of this kind. But what we lack in age, we make up for in fevered training and the thrill of blood on our hands. Parker is the first to draw his gun, aiminghis silencer and pulling the trigger before any man can blink an eye.
Chaos erupts when the man falls to the floor dead, bleeding from the perfect bullet-sized wound in the middle of his forehead. Perfect Aim Parker strikes again. One of the men yells and charges for me, and I focus on him instead of my brothers. I don’t have time to grab my own gun before he’s pummeling into me and we’re fighting. His fist connects with my chin and that fucking hurts, pain radiating through me distracts me only for a moment, before I’m getting my own punch in. The noise around me from the other fights is distant, no longer important as I fight for my life.
The guy is bigger than me, not in height, but in weight, so he has more momentum when he aims a punch for my stomach. I dodge him as best I can, but he still makes contact, and Jesus it’s been a while since I’ve been in a fistfight. I lunge for the gun in his holster at the same time he aims an uppercut to my nose. Fuck. I’m going to have thebiggestnose of all time if it breaks again. Which only makes me think of Reid. My Reid. My hand wraps around the warm metal of the man’s gun and I tug away, only for him to rush at me until we’re rolling around on the dirty warehouse floor.
Distantly, I can hear Jacob screaming in his own fight, but I can’t focus on him right now, I have to focus on me. We tussle for the gun and the man gets it spun around, pulling the trigger. Oh. That fuckinghurts. I can’t care about where that bullet went or the warm ooze of blood I feel on my side, instead I butt the man's head, grinning when it shocks him into falling to the side. Two seconds is all it takes for me to get the gun to his head and pull the trigger.
I lie there for a second, catching my breath, ignoring the pain at my side, then sit up in a rush.
The sound of gunfire echoes around us, blood spraying everywhere as the fights continue. Parker is engaged in hand-to-hand combat with two of the men, while another man has Hayden in a tight headlock while Jacob tries to take him out. Jesus, we’re all a mess. A scream rents through the air, not coming from any of us. That’s Reid. Fuck. Where the hell is he?
Parker uses the men’s momentary distraction at the sound of Reid’s scream to do one of his weird karate moves that has them both bonking their heads together, then slumping to the floor like rag dolls. The final man standing now looks agitated and terrified, his grip tightening around Hayden’s neck.
Hayden’s eyes are calm, arms limp at his side, as his gaze stays firm on Jacob. I can’t hear what they’re talking about, instead I look down to see blood oozing from beneath my black tactical gear. Fuck. Parker hurries over, presses a hand to my stomach, then his dark brown eyes meet mine. His hair is messy, slightly curly from sweat.
“You need a haircut,” I tell like the stupid fuck I am.
Parker bites back a smirk. “I told you, I’m growing it out.”
“Awkward length,” I mumble in annoyance.
Parker shoots a look over his shoulder, lips curling in distaste as Jacob is still trying to talk the man out of letting Hayden go. Over it all, Parker stands, marches over, pulls his silencer, and shoots the man dead.
Jacob lets out the loudest huff of all time. “We neededoneof them alive to ask questions.”
Hayden yelps and jumps away from the dead man that had been holding him captive. “You were far too comfortable with him possibly killing me,” Hayden says as he tugs on his shirt to straighten it out.
“He wasn’t going to kill you,” Jacob argues.
Hayden stares at him hard. “Oh yeah?”
“I wouldn’t have let him,” Jacob says with finality.
Silence echoes around us.
Then another scream.
And then I see red.
My speed is unmatched. The boys lag behind me as I run toward the sound of Reid’s scream. We’re magnets. My body knows the way to Reid before my brain can even fucking catch up. Everything hurts, blood drips down my side, my nose and jaw thrum with the pulse of bruises to come, but none of that matters. All that matters is that I get to Reid.
12
REID
Claude was right. Itdoesn’tfeel good when the cutting is not in my control. He leans over me, smelling like rank sweat, and the scalpel draws another thin line along my abdomen.I am not going to give him the satisfaction of crying.
“Are there other groups in other cities?” Claude asks, breath smelling like death.
“I don’tknow,” I answer through gritted teeth.
My limbs are shaking from the pain and adrenaline. The feeling of my blood dripping down my sides makes me want to vomit again. Claude makes an exasperated noise as he sits back up, dragging the scalpel again. A scream erupts from me before I can hold it back. Slash after slash, I can’t even hear the questions Claude is murmuring to me anymore. He seems to catch on and stands with a disgusted look on his face. My blood drips from the scalpel, and this time the food from earlier does return. Rolling over onto my side, I vomit again, then wince when the wounds on my stomach ache with my skin pulling tight.
