Page 40 of Obey

“What?” I asked quickly. “What about the other clubs?”

Gemini blew out a quick breath. “We thought they were on their way, but Knight moved more quickly than they thought he would. Your plan happened and he knew he had to go after you, and the other clubs weren’t ready. Their presidents called after he’d already left, and I haven’t been able to get through to him.” He cut himself off and looked at me like he had news he definitely didn’t want to tell me.

Which meant it was news I definitely needed to hear.

“They’re not coming,” I guessed. “And he thinks they are.”

“They’re not coming,” he agreed. “At least not in time. And he has no idea.”

Shit.

Knight was in the middle of a life-and-death battle with a guy who definitely wanted to kill him and thought he had reinforcements on the way, when the opposite was true.

He was going to have to pull through with only the men he had. And from what I’d seen, when Devil called for reinforcements from his clubhouse, Knight’s crew wasn’t going to be big enough.

They were going to be so outnumbered they’d be lucky to last ten minutes against Devil’s crew.

“They’re sitting ducks,” I said quietly. “They’re finished as soon as Devil calls for reinforcements.”

Gemini didn’t answer, but I could see in his eyes that I was right. When Knight first left, they must have thought there was a chance he’d win the whole thing. Maybe even kill Devil. Gemini now knew differently. And he hadn’t been able to get ahold of Knight to let him know.

Knight was in the middle of a war. He wasn’t exactly checking his phone.

Damn. I’d thought things were scary before, and I hadn’t had one fucking clue.

“Sounds like things have gone from bad to worse,” a voice said from behind me.

I jumped off Gem’s lap and whirled, recognizing the voice but barely believing it.

And when the lights came on, I saw that I was right. Because Mandy was standing there, looking dirty and scuffed up, definitely the worse for wear.

But alive. And in our clubhouse again.

I flew to her, my heart singing at her presence, and threw my arms around her. “You’re out!” I whispered. “I’ve missed you!”

She chuckled and wrapped her arms around me, too. When she pulled back, though, her face was serious. “I missed you too, kiddo. But it’s not time for reunions. Sounds like we need to come up with a plan, and do it quick.”

“How the hell are you even here?” I gasped. “I thought you were—”

“That’s Frank’s doing,” Gemini said, stepping up and smiling affectionately down at Mandy as he wrapped a hand possessively in her hair. “I don’t know how he did it but he went down to the courthouse and sweet-talked the judge into letting her out a week early. They didn’t have any reason to hold her anyhow. Just needed a judge to say so.”

He bent to Mandy and brushed his lips across her temple, the look on his face so tender, so quiet, that my heart melted.

“This is the last battle, baby,” he whispered. “The last time I carry a gun. After this, we’re out of here. That’s a promise.”

She turned to him and smiled, his tenderness reflected in her eyes, and nodded. “But first, we need to bring Knight home.”

“We need to bring Knight home,” I agreed. “How do we do that? How do we tell him that he has to retreat when he’s not answering his phone? How do we—”

I looked over and saw his cut hanging on the wall, and my words died in my throat.

How did we get word to him when he wasn’t answering his phone? How did we make sure he knew what was going on and that he couldn’t expect the reinforcements he’d been hoping for?

Easy. We went to him in person.

I was moving toward the wall without any conscious thought, then, and pulling his cut off the wall. I slid my arms into it and turned to my friends, Knight’s cut hanging past my hips in what had to be a completely ridiculous picture.

But if I was going out there after him, I was taking a piece of him with me. And I’d never felt more at home than I did in his arms. If his cut was the best I could do right now, it would have to be enough.