Chapter 21
Ididn’t know fear, but the moment I knew Clint Randall had Riley, I understood fear like it was a close friend. It raked through me, piercing my chest with a pain that pounded through it. And with every passing minute, it increased, closing in on me like a snake constricting my lungs.
I was driving too fast, but I didn’t care. My need to get to Riley had taken over all others. I glanced at my phone as I ran another red light. The mark that signified her location had stopped moving, and my heart jumped to my throat. There were only two reasons the location would be static: Randall had found the phone, or he was getting ready to kill her. I was so close to the location, but I was still too far, and my chest was so tight it was difficult to breathe. I clutched the steering wheel, running every red light.
My phone rang, Riley’s number coming up, and fear gripped me further.
“Riley!”
“Help me. He’s going to kill me.” The terror in her voice crushed me, and I bit back the emotion.
“Fuck. I’m on my way.”
There was silence, and my fear twisted like a knife blade.
“Riley!”
“Greyson Tides.” Clint Randall’s voice was calm. He had the power, and he knew it.
“You touch a fucking hair on her head, and I will ensure your death is slow and painful.”
A slew of vile words came at me, shredding my calm, and I roared, “I will hunt you down like the piece of shit you are, Randall. Walk away now or you’ll be begging me for mercy!”
He didn’t respond. Instead, he threatened Riley, my blood boiling more with each word he spewed. I heard her whimper and my heart wrenched. I was so close to the west end of town where they were.
“Grey—” Riley’s voice came through the phone again, further eviscerating my heart with its desperation.
I tried to reassure her, promising that I would kill him, but Randall must have snatched the phone from her again. His smug words twisted at my need to slaughter him, his last statement like the venomous strike of a cobra.
The phone disconnected, and I punched the steering wheel. My brother. The head of the Bad Omens. The thorn in my thigh. We’d stayed away from each other, kept in our territories for decades after our falling out, but now he’d crossed the line. First by having Clint Randall infiltrate Mason, then when Randall stumbled into my territory following Riley. And now the prick had leverage on me—he had Riley, and if Randall had been watching her this entire time, he’d know she was mine. But my brother was too much like me, and there was no way he would kill Riley if he knew she belonged to me. He would have Randall deliver her to him. He’d use her and crush her even further. If he decided not to keep her, he’d sell her to the highest bidder and send me the receipt before he made his move to take me down. That meant Randall was either a good bullshitter or a deserter who was turning on my brother. Someone that foolish was an even greater risk than I had anticipated because it meant he was unhinged and untethered to any laws of his family.
I turned past a car that had slammed into the jewelry store where my shop was. But Riley wasn’t there. The phone was showing her around the corner, and I knew she must have run from him when they crashed.
“That’s my girl,” I mumbled as I tore around the corner, screeching to a halt and jumping from the car. Randall jerked Riley to him, his gun to her head.
She was bloody and looked exhausted. Seeing her like that was devastating, and it took every ounce of strength not to let the pain of it show. What was even more devastating was the hurt in her eyes.
Clint spewed his macho words, but the ones that hit their mark were the ones about how he’d told her everything. And I could see it in her eyes, the anguish in them wrecking me completely. I had wanted to explain it all to her. I had planned to once I eliminated the threat, but he’d beaten me to it, using the truth to hurt her more than the wounds had.
As he rambled, I saw my opening and took it, shooting him in the head. Riley’s scream cut me as his body fell to the ground. I’d wanted to torture the son of a bitch more now than I ever had, but I needed Riley safe. I stepped toward her, but she backed away, fracturing me with the fear and distrust that lined her eyes.
“Riley, I?—”
“Is it true?” she asked, her voice quivering. “Is everything true? Did you lure me here? Use me to get back at Mason?”
“I…”
“No more lies, Greyson.”
I didn’t want to talk about this. I needed to get her to a hospital to have the wound on her head looked at, and the cuts and bruises soothed.
“Dammit, Greyson, tell me.”
“Yes, but only at first.”
Her face dropped.
“Riley, I need?—”
“You need? Why is it the men in my life always need something without ever thinking of what I need? I needed the truth, Greyson. I needed…” Her lips trembled, and the sight left my heart riven. The sob she stifled shredded me. “I needed you to be something else, something different. But you’re not. You’re just like them.”
Tires screeched, and a car rounded the corner, its speed too fast. I rushed to Riley and threw her behind me against her complaints. Drawing my gun, I readied myself to protect her, cursing myself for fleeing without my men. I’d hear an earful from Den when this was over, after I finished chewing him out about the mark.
“Step away from my sister!” Mason screamed, jumping from the car, guns drawn. Tyson hopped from the passenger seat, his gun out. “Get away from her, Tides!” Mason ordered me. The flippant little shit. I should have shot him. I’d let him into my city, but he’d been in my territory before I’d called him. That gave me every right to splatter the ground with his blood, regardless of our agreement. I would have killed both him and Tyson, if not for Riley. “Riley, come here, now.”
She stepped from behind me, pushing my arm from her. Mason glanced down at Clint Randall’s body, then back at me.
“I told you I’d give you his dead body, Brinks,” I said, my eyes dropping to Riley. “I won’t hurt her.”
“No? You fucking knew she was in your city this entire time, didn’t you? And you didn’t bother telling me? I knew I couldn’t trust you, fucking lying to me this entire time. Get the fuck over here, Riley, and away from him. You think I’m bad? Tides takes the crown on bad.”
Her eyes met mine, the doubt sealed with those words.
“Riley, please,” I said, hating that it sounded like I was begging. Because I was. The thought of being away from her was devastating. It was like drowning with no way back to the surface.
“You hurt me, Greyson. You lied to me…you…”
“Did you touch my sister, Tides?”
“Fuck off, Brinks. This isn’t your business.”
Tyson shifted closer. “Not our business? She’s covered in blood!” he said.
“From the asshole you let in your ranks, then let close to her. That shit wouldn’t have happened on my watch.”
“No? Looks like he got to her after we made our deal and while you were on watch,” Mason said. “Riley.” He held his hand out, and she walked to him, taking it. Mason gestured to Tyson to drive and opened the door for her, his gun still on me.
“Riley, don’t do this,” I said, my chest berated with pain like I’d never experienced. I lowered my gun as Mason climbed into the seat next to her. She leaned into him, and Tyson tore from the lot. I stood there, feeling as if part of my soul had been gauged from my body. The ache in my chest was almost too much to handle.
I didn’t know how long I stood there, my eyes on the spot where she had been, before I finally put my gun away and took my phone out. Hardening myself to the pain, I called Den.
“I need clean up behind Frank’s, and there’s a car through his window. Take care of it and get someone to fix the damage.”
I hung up before he could respond and walked back to my car, knowing there was nothing to do but bury myself back in my work, pretending Riley Brinks had never entered my city or my life. Removing the traces of her until she faded from my heart like the essence of a spirit long gone. I didn’t know if that was possible, but I had no choice but to believe it was. Thinking otherwise would be akin to dying. Although I felt like I’d died, my heart ripped from my chest and riddled with a thousand bullets.