Chapter Twenty-Eight
Two months after that…
“ I still don’t like the idea of you coming along.” Wrath scowled at him from the driver’s seat as they barreled down Interstate 5 to catch the 14 to Lancaster.
“I can’t sit still. Not for this,” Rogue returned right back.
This wasn’t the first disagreement they’d had over the past eight weeks, so he wasn’t concerned with any fallout. They did tend to banter a lot, and Rogue enjoyed the hell out of it.
“I know. I’m going to clock Rebel when we get there though.” Wrath squeezed the wheel.
“No, you won’t.” Rogue smirked because he knew his man, and he knew that Wrath would never raise a hand to any of the young assassins. Unless they were sparring—then Wrath would hand their asses to them.
“I might. He fucking took Boston with him.”
“Yeah. I figure Boston needs to pay back Smalls.”
They were still baffled at how Rebel had found Smalls after the fucker had been MIA since the shootout in the barn. Yet, of all the people in California, Rebel had done the impossible. Hell, even Erebus hadn’t been able to locate Smalls.
“Payback’s okay.” Wrath released a heavy sigh. “I’m just glad Azrael didn’t go with him.”
“I wonder why?” Rogue said.
“What?”
“Why didn’t Azrael go with them? I know they are all close.”
“Az has been missing a lot lately,” Wrath said.
Rogue had heard that too and he knew it drove Real crazy. “Maybe Savage has him doing jobs.”
“Maybe,” Wrath agreed.
Whatever it was, Real was a fucking bear right now and they all avoided him.
“So…when are you going to move from your apartment into my house? You said we’d talk about it come Spring. It’s now June,” Wrath said, taking the interchange to the 14 when it came up.
“I dunno.” He glanced out the window. What they had right now was pretty damned good, and he didn’t want to do anything to rock the boat.
“Then I’m going to sell the house,” Wrath murmured.
“What? Don’t do that!” Rogue couldn’t help if he sounded indignant and his mouth hung open.
Wrath’s house was fantastic.
That place was his sanctuary.
“Why keep it if I don’t have anyone to make it a home with?”
“Wrath…” Rogue swallowed around the knot in his throat.
“Then tell me why,” Wrath said.
Silence filled the vehicle. Fuck it, Rogue thought. He’d tell Wrath the truth and let the chips fall where they may.
“I just don’t want to burden you,” he said roughly.
“Are you talking about your sleep patterns?”
“Yeah,” he rasped.
“I have spare rooms, you know.”
When Wrath rolled his eyes at him, Rogue laughed. He couldn’t help it. He suddenly felt lighter than he had in a while, and he loved it.
Plus, he loved the man at his side. He couldn’t pinpoint when he had fallen in love with Wrath, but it had to be sometime over the past several months…or maybe, it had been over the past two years.
Whatever the case may be, he wanted to be with Wrath and if the man was willing to put up with his fucked-upness, then he would take the plunge.
“I’ll pack my stuff when we get home.”
Rather than respond verbally, Wrath grabbed his hand. Keeping his eye on the road, Wrath brought his fingers to his lips.
Rogue couldn’t stop the smile on his lips to save his life.
Wrath shook his head at the smile, but he was too fucking happy to bitch about Rogue suddenly caving after weeks of being stubborn.
He reminded himself that Rogue had almost lost his life that day in the barn. The man had flatlined once at the hospital before the doctors were able to bring him back.
With Rogue’s lung quickly repaired beneath the surgeon’s skillful hands, Rogue had been ventilated and moved into critical care.
That had been the worst time in his entire life, minus losing his youngest brother, Rip.
The bullet that had entered Rogue’s side had been a through and through, not hitting any major organs, and as fucked up as that had been, it had also been a blessing.
So, he was a bit over-protective, but almost losing Rogue still kept him up some nights.
During the whole drive, Wrath kept a constant eye on Rogue.
From all the flashing red lights, it was easy to spot the place Smalls had been holed up in even though they had the address.
Police and emergency vehicles were lined up and down the block in front of the apartment building and he and Rogue had to hoof it in from a block away.
They didn’t need to worry about getting in because Wrath spotted Crow and Winter beyond the roped-off and police-guarded section.
Wrath sent Crow a text and the next moment, the man came striding over. The cops let him and Rogue in.
“How’d you get here so fast?” Wrath asked Crow as they walked toward Winter.
“Helicopter,” Crow replied. “We just happened to be in the air.”
Both Rebel and Boston were sitting in the back of an emergency vehicle, legs dangling, both boys drinking ice water from plastic bottles as if they didn’t have a care in the fucking world. Natural born killers, only there wasn’t anything natural about how they’d come to be killers.
“Did they get him?” Rogue asked Winter.
“Yeah,” the man said. “They got him good.”
“Are they going to arrest them?” Wrath asked.
It wasn’t uncommon to be arrested and then need to wait until the red tape was cut to get out.
“Stone and Real are on their way with the mayor,” Winter said. “I doubt they’ll take them in, but we have to jump through some hoops.”
Another dark SUV pulled up and Savage got out along with his right-hand man, Thane. The pair ducked under the taped-off section and walked toward them.
“How are you doing, man?” Savage asked Rogue when they got to them.
“Good, much better,” Rogue said.
“You going to take me up on my offer?” Savage asked.
“You should come work for Genesis,” Winter told Rogue.
“Don’t be poaching my guy,” Savage scowled.
“It’s a free world,” Winter smirked.
“I thought Genesis only takes ex-military,” Rogue said, looking puzzled.
“They would make an exception for you,” Winter assured him.
“Have you made an exception in the past?” Rogue chuckled.
“We have,” Winter said.
“Thank you for the offer,” Rogue said and reached to slide an arm around Wrath’s shoulders. “But I’m going back to Erebus as soon as my doctor clears me for work.”
“Hooah,” Savage said with a fist-pump.
“You suck,” Winter teased Rogue with a slight smile.
Wrath pulled Rogue with him and walked over to Rebel and Boston still sitting on the back end of the emergency vehicle.
“You two are…” Wrath began and suddenly was at a loss for words.
“Certifiable?” Rebel grinned.
“Outrageous?” Boston added.
“Are in big trouble,” he finished, but it came out deflated like a balloon that had lost its air.
Both boys laughed and Wrath shook his head.
“That was stupid, though, you needed backup,” Rogue said.
“Yeah, we could have used a little bit of backup in there, but we had Azrael show up at the last minute,” Rebel said.
“What?” Wrath and Rogue said at the same time.
“What?” Rebel asked, eyes going wide. “Azrael was here, I swear.”
Both Boston and Rebel glanced around.
“Guess he left,” Boston mumbled.
“He probably had things to do.” Rebel shrugged.
Yeah, like not getting caught by Real, Wrath thought and exchanged a long look with Rogue.
No way in hell was he saying a word to Real about Azrael being there and by the look on Rogue’s face, neither was his man.
A commotion happened near the police holding back the crowd and they watched as Stone and Real arrived along with a sweaty man in a suit.
Yep, it was probably best that Azrael was long gone.
“Hey, are you guys still going to Nevada?” Rebel asked.
“Yes, we are,” Rogue said, turning back to the boys.
“Can I still come?”
Rebel gazed at Rogue.
“What do you think?” Rogue tipped a glance toward him.
“Hell yes,” Wrath said and winked.
“Can I come?” Boston asked, eyes wide.
“Of course,” Rebel answered and shot Rogue an expectant look. “Right?”
“What about school?” Wrath gazed at Boston. “Don’t you have courses to make up?”
“No, I finished what I wanted. I’m taking a break. It’s summer anyway,” Boston said with a shrug.
“I don’t mind if he comes along,” Rogue said.
“Okay then,” Wrath agreed.
EMTs interrupted at that point and the boys were cleared from going to the hospital.
Wrath and Rogue stepped aside when Stone and Real arrived with the mayor.
The explanation was quick. Rebel had tracked a known gang leader to the dumpy apartment building. When Rebel had encountered Smalls, the man attacked him. Wrath didn’t know if the mayor bought the story or not, but it was the only version the guy was going to get.
“Stay out of my city.” The mayor scowled at the pair. The boys quickly nodded under the stern gazes of Stone and Real.
All in all, it had been a good night. A sick fuck had been rid from the earth and everyone had lived to breathe another day.
In Wrath’s book that constituted a very good day.