Page 7 of Obey

Please say you won’t answer, please say you won’t answer.

That simple statement and I’d have everything I needed to start this. I’d be on the road to saving Saraya within the hour.

“I can’t promise you anything,” he replied, evading my question neatly. “I don’t want to go to war, not on Devil’s account. I’ll make a decision tomorrow.”

I fought hard not to argue with him, knowing that it was more than I’d been hoping for when I got on the phone with him, but a charge ran through my body at how close we’d come to having exactly what we needed... and how empty it felt to be hanging up without getting there.

“I appreciate that,” I said quietly. “You have my number.”

“Sure do. And Knight?”

I paused, tipping my head. “Yeah?”

“I was sure sorry to hear about Tinker. Man did some good work on one of my bikes. Good man. It’s a loss for all of us.”

The tear in my heart, the one that had happened when Tinker fell, opened up at the words, and I closed my eyes in pain. I hadn’t had time to deal with Tink’s death yet and that meant I didn’t have the right armor up against a statement like that.

But the fact that he’d gone out of his way to say something made me think Jack wasn’t a lost cause yet.

Even dead, Tinker was helping me run this club successfully.

“Thanks,” I whispered.

I hung up, and then, knowing there was nothing else to say, and turned to Frank and Remy. “He’s going to think about it, but he doesn’t like Devil any more than anyone else,” I told them. “And he knew Tinker.”

A smile touched Remy’s mouth and he shook his head. “Course he did. Everyone in this area of the country knew Tinker.”

“And if he helps us, it’ll be because Tink did him a favor,” I noted, my lips turning up in a smile. “Now, give me the news. Where are we at with Saraya? Do we know where she is? Is she safe?”

“No word yet from our man on the inside,” Frank replied quickly.

Not what I wanted to hear. “And the cop who took her?”

“We’ve been following him since he got back to town, Boss. No sign of Saraya,” Remy said. “She has to be with Devil. It’s the only option.”

The only option. It was, but that didn’t mean I liked it. I hated that she’d gone off on her own the way she had. Hated that she’d thought she had to do it by herself rather than talking to me about what she was planning.

And I couldn’t stop blaming myself for it having gone so fucking wrong.

I’d been right there—right there. Close enough to see her when they were taking her away. I’d seen the blood on her face and the rip in her shirt and the fury and terror on her face, and if I’d just gotten there a little more quickly, just rode a bit faster or asked the right people the first time, maybe I’d have been in time to save her.

Maybe she’d still be here with me, safe and sound. And we wouldn’t be going to war or trying to get people like Jack Mason to agree not to respond when Devil called them.

I wouldn’t have this hole in my gut reminding me every second that it was my fault she was gone, and that if she died, that would be my fault, too.

“Where’s the cop now?” I snapped, turning back to Remy.

“In town, I’m guessing,” he said. “Doing the things a cop does when he’s off duty.”

“He got a family?”

He frowned, but shook his head. “Not that I’ve seen. Seems to be single.”

Well, that made the decision a whole lot easier. “Get rid of him.” I wanted that cop dead for teaming up with Devil and taking Saraya and for handing her back to Devil. Any man worth his salt could see exactly what Devil was, and yet that cop, that pig, had handed my girl to the man who wanted to kill her. He’d stuffed her into the back of his car, done who knew what to her, and then handed her back to Devil.

And I wanted him dead.

Remy didn’t even bat an eye. “You got it. Cars are getting awfully explosive these days.”