Chapter 23 Brutus
brUTUS
As we all stood in the hallway, I couldn’t help but peek through the crack in the door that Doc left before he made his way back down the hallway with his doctor’s bag. It didn’t shock me that he gave up on trying to tend to Charise today.
It was clear she wasn’t in the mood for such things.
“My God,” I growled as I raked my hands down my face.
Anna shook her head as she stood there, peering shamelessly through the cracked door. “We have to do something. We have to get this on record for the DOJ or some shit.”
“You think she’d allow that?” Marla asked.
To be honest, I didn’t even realize Marla was still with us. “Worth a shot.”
“Here,” Ranger said as he came from out of nowhere, “use this phone if you can get it on video.”
I nodded as I took it from him. “Thanks.”
I drew in a deep breath.
Anna slipped the phone from me.
“No offense,” she said as she eased the door open, “but being surrounded by men probably isn’t what she wants right now.”
I stared down into the determined gaze of the woman who held my heart in her tiny, plump little hand. As much as I wanted to help, I had to come to terms with the fact that sometimes me helping was just standing off to the side and becoming the protective shadow.
I was good at it, too.
“Be safe,” I said with a nod down to her. “I’ll be out here if you need me.”
“Me, too,” Marla said, not budging from her spot.
Anna nodded at both of us before she drew in a deep breath and slipped into the room.
It wasn’t lost on me how she left the door more than a little cracked for us.
“Hey there,” she said, her voice changing to something soft and airy. “Is it okay if I come in, Char?”
Her hiccupped voice responded. “My-my-my—Pawpaw—called me that.”
“Is it okay if I call you that?” she asked as I watched her crouch down beside her brother.
“Uh-uh-uh—huh,” Charise managed to stammer out as she nodded her head.
“All right, Char,” Anna said softly as she held up the phone. “We have the DOJ looking into all this, has my brother told you that?”
“Anna,” King warned.
“Sh,” Anna said, her eyes not moving from Charise. “Has he told you that?”
Charise sniffled and shook her head.
Anna smiled. “Well, let me be the first to tell you then that we’ve gathered evidence on this trafficking ring that has done this to you, and the DOJ has enough evidence that they’re sending a team down to wrap it up.”
Her voice was so small. “Really?”
Anna nodded. “Yes, really. I’d like to get your testimony on camera, if that’s okay. It proves that what this ring is doing is using a ruse while they travel around towns, taking unsuspecting women who are just trying to help someone else they think is in danger.”
Charise started bawling again. “I just wanted to heeeeelp.”
I saw Anna tap on the screen before she nodded. “I know you were. I know. Just… tell us what happened. Anything you can remember about your kidnapping.”
While Charise blubbered her story out, my eyes volleyed between Anna and her brother.
With every word that came from Char’s mouth, King looked like he was ready to burn the fucking world.
The anger that swan behind his gaze had nothing on the way he embraced her protectively, pulling her against him until I was honestly shocked she could fucking breathe.
And Anna was so kind to her the entire time, keeping her voice low.
Even. Soft, despite the hysteria growing in Char’s voice.
My Anna-mine was such a sunshine to the dark caverns of this world. She was smart, compared to the bluntness of her own mind.
It was hard for me to take my attention off her, even though sometimes I needed to. Even though sometimes crew business trumped what I wanted to be doing, which was staring into her eyes as the sun rose just so I could see her smile at me first thing in the morning.
I just couldn’t.
She was the sun, and I wanted to blind myself to her.
“All right, that’s enough,” King said as he swept Charise off the floor and into his arms.
“That’s okay, we’ve got what we need anyway,” Anna said as she stood. “Range?”
“Here,” he said as he slipped past me and into the room. “I’ll get this sent off to our DOJ contact. They’ll love this.”
Anna lowered her voice as her and Ranger made their way back to me. “Can we make sure to keep her out of interrogation? Maybe with this video, they won’t need to go as hard at her.”
Ranger shrugged as they both slipped past me. “I make no promises, but I’ll urge that in the email I send with this attached.”
“Thanks.”
Ranger nodded as he typd away on the phone. “No thanks needed.”
“Shut the door,” King demanded.
Charise’s crying was the last thing we heard as Anna closed the door behind them. Marla just stared at the closed door, worrying her lower lip between her teeth.
Ranger doubled back for her, taking her hand in his. “Come on, beautiful, let’s give them some space.”
Marla’s gaze was watery as he led her down the hallway. “But what if she needs—”
“I told King to come get us if she needs someone who understands, I promise,” Ranger said.
Marla sniffled as she curled beneath his arm. “Okay.”
He kissed the top of her head. “Have you eaten this morning?”
“Breakfast,” Anna muttered as she took off back to the bedroom she occupied.
I moved behind her, a steady shadow in the presence of the light she gave off so effortlessly. We made it back to her room and got the door closed behind us, but I wasn’t letting her get away that easily.
I grabbed her wrist and twirled her into me, banding my arm around her back.
“Bee,” she said breathlessly, that beautiful hair of hers twirling about her head.
I cupped her cheek with my free hand. “You are the most incredible person I’ve ever met.”
That sad look in her eye alleviated, much to my pleasure, as a soft smile crossed those kissable lips of hers. “You’re just saying that.”
I shook my head. “No I’m not. Every single day, you blow me away with the person you are. I need you to know that.”
Her smile faded slowly. “Why is this happening to our hometowns?”
My hand moved from her cheek and threaded through her hair. “I don’t know, beautiful. But we will push them out. Your home will be safe again. I’m going to make sure of it.”
Her lower lip quivered. My poor Anna-mine. “Do you think they’re onto us? Maybe that’s why they’re staging the kidnappings in our area now?”
“Most likely,” Cap said through the closed door.
I wanted to growl at him, but I reminded myself of who the hell was at the door. We turned just as he eased the door open, and he leaned against the doorframe. Arms crossed over his chest. Face devoid of anything but determination.
“It isn’t a coincidence that they’re pulling this shit around the time we moved everyone here,” he said. “My guess is that they’re trying to draw both crews out for an attack.”
“Especially given the fact that me and Ghost tracked one of those fucking blacked-out logo cars through Redd Valley.”
“They’re about to get a hell of a shocker, though,” Cap said as that signature grin of his finally made an appearance.
“What do you mean?” Anna asked.
I held out my hand in a fist and Cap bumped it. We couldn’t tell them about that part of the plan. There were some things that crews were simply sworn to secrecy on. But it was coming.
“He means, it’s almost over,” I said as I dropped a kiss to the top of her head. “They don’t have a clue what kind of information we’ve been able to gather on them.”
“Especially with the cameras and microphones we were able to set up in that one house,” Cap said.
“Oh,” Anna said softly.
And when she didn’t question further, I shot a look at Cap that said, enough. I knew my Anna-mine well. There was still much to know, but that didn’t mean I didn’t know her at all. And if she latched onto the fact that there was anything we were hiding, we were done for until she got her answers.
Cap nodded as he pushed off the doorframe, reaching for the knob. “You two get some rest. The saga’s almost over. Just one more leg in this race, and then we can all go back to our lives.”
I should have known it wouldn’t have been that easy with my Anna, however. Because the instant his footsteps faded down the hallway into nothing, I felt her gaze on me.
I didn’t even have to look at her to know what she wanted to ask.
“If I could tell you, I would,” I said as I turned and looked down at her.
She huffed and rolled her eyes. “Stupid church rules. It’s like one big secret ballsack club.”
I couldn’t help the raucous laughter that bounced up from my chest as we made our way back to the lukewarm food. I didn’t care that breakfast was cold. I didn’t care that the coffee was no longer steaming.
I only cared that I shared it with Anna.
Because all I wanted to do was share everything with her until the day we died.