Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Ramsey
"That was bullshit." Storm lowered his gun, but looked like he was ready to shoot the next person or thing that pissed him off.
Frost shook his head. He looked completely bewildered. "What the hell happened? Why would they do that us?"
"Because they're fucking pricks," Storm snarled. "I told you Atlas was an asshole. Right from the very fucking beginning, I told all of you. And you—" He pointed the gun at me.
"You wanted us to get along with each other. You too." He swivelled his upper body to aim the gun at Max. "Get along," he sneered. "Be a team. Look where that fucking got us."
Frost grabbed his wrist and pushed the gun down. "You're not going to shoot Coach or Ramsey."
"Give me one good reason why not." Storm jerked his arm away. "They let this happen. Ramsey let this fucking happen."
I gazed back at him evenly. Frost was right, he wasn't going to shoot me. If he tried, I was ready. Faster and more accurate than him. I didn't want to kill him, but I wasn't going to let him kill me because he let his anger get the better of him.
"I didn't let this happen," I said.
I was cool and calm on the outside, but on the inside I was as furious as Storm.
I should have stopped this from happening.
I should have known Jones would find us here.
He would have been having at least one of us followed, waiting for an opportunity like this.
We never should have brought Chelsea here, it made her vulnerable.
All of us got caught up making her feel better and now we were paying the price for that. She was paying the price.
"I'm not going to stand by while it does,” I added. “We need to get out of here and regroup. We need backup. Then we can go after her."
Mentally, I added, ‘and Dallas.’ I wasn't sure what game Atlas and Jay were playing, but Dallas couldn't look past his obsession with Chelsea. This wasn't about loyalty to Jones over us. This was about his feelings for her and his inability to comprehend being away from her.
To be honest, I could relate completely. I didn't want to be away from her either, but I had to be the one to take control now. To get us out of here and come up with a solid plan.
"Ice is going to be murderous," Frost said with barely contained glee.
It didn't take a genius to know he was picturing Jones in chains in Ice's workroom. Maybe in ours. Either scenario involved blood and pain. And the potential for war between the Crimson Vipers and the Brantley family.
Right now, I couldn't worry about that. My focus was on Chelsea and getting her back before Jones lay a hand on her. If he did, I’d cut it off for him.
"I'm fucking murderous," Storm muttered. "I'm going to start with Atlas fucking Underwood and go from there."
"I can't believe he was working with them all along." Frost tapped his gun against his thigh.
"I should have seen it," I said. "Jones didn't seem surprised to see Max alive and well."
Storm swore, the implication sinking in. "Atlas must have told him what we did."
"Asshole," Frost spat. "If I had a time machine, I'd go back and shoot him in the nuts."
"What now?" Max asked. He looked nervous, standing there in the moonlight beside the cottage with us.
I'd seen him proud, frustrated and angry, but never scared. The things he saw tonight, weren’t things he would have seen before. Unless he was also faking. I didn't think he was, though, to be honest. His fear looked genuine.
"First we take you somewhere else," I said. I squinted at my gun before carefully putting on the safety. "Now they know you're alive, they might decide to change that. Then the rest of us are going after our woman."
"Dibs on killing Jay," Frost said softly. "I thought he cared about me. He was just bullshitting, along with Atlas."
"Dibs on Atlas," Storm said darkly. "I want to look him right in the eye and kill his ass."
I was tempted to remind them to wait and see how things played out, because someone else might get to them first. Instead, I pursed my lips and let them have their moment. They had anger they needed to burn off, so let them burn it. They'd be more focused later.
I hoped.
Frost stared at Storm, then swore again. "That’s how he found us here, wasn't it? Atlas told him where to look."
"Motherfucker." Storm glared in the direction of the driveway leading out of the property, as though he might shoot lasers far enough to incinerate the inside centre.
"I'm going to kill him very, very slowly.
I'm going to tie his arms to one car and his legs to the other and we'll drive in opposite directions. "
"Three cars," Frost said. "The other one tied to his nuts."
While they burnt off steam discussing the ways they were going to torture and kill Atlas, I surveyed the area. The other two cars had left, taking all of the minions with them. As far as I could tell, there wasn't anyone waiting to jump out at us. If there was, we'd deal with them.
For now though, Jones thought he won. He thought he had his trophy and returned a couple of minions to the fold along the way. Let him enjoy the moment. I was about to rain hell down on his head.
Frost was right, Chelsea's brother would be furious when he found out what happened to her. Jones knew enough about her to know who she was related to. He must have known he was playing with fire, but he struck the match anyway.
Let the others fight over who was going to kill Atlas and Jay. I made myself a promise that I was going to personally take care of Carlos Jones.
"Let's get our stuff." Without waiting to see if they heard, I headed back into the cottage.
The moment I stepped foot back inside, the lights came back on, making me blink against the sudden glare.
Bowls of half-eaten soup and plates of barely touched bread rolls sat where they'd been abandoned.
Chelsea ate most of hers. Good girl. She was going to need her strength to get through the next few hours.
That was as long as her ordeal would last. No longer. By the time the sun set again, she'd be back with me. There were no two ways about that. What would happen if I couldn't pull that off? I didn't want to contemplate it.
Chances were, Jones would try to whisk her off to the other side of the planet. To a place we couldn't find her. Somewhere he could do whatever he wanted to her.
That was absolutely out of the question. She was far enough from me already. Out of my sight was too far.
I snatched up my bag and hers, pulled the zippers shut before swinging them both over one shoulder. I was halfway back to the car before I realised the others were right behind me.
"I'm going to have bad memories of this cottage now," Frost said. "This was always a nice place to come and hide out from the world. Now, I feel like the world has violated it." He let out a heavy, frustrated sigh.
"Don't use that word," Storm growled. He grabbed the bags one by one and threw them into the back of the SUV, right where Chelsea lay as we drove her here.
If I had a clue what was going to happen, I would have insisted not to doing that to her.
I wouldn't have brought her here in the first place.
I don't know where I would have taken her, but it wouldn't be here.
Frost was right, this place had bad memories now.
If I never stepped foot back in the place, that would be all right with me.
"Sorry," Frost said, dropping his face, so his chin almost touched his chest. "Yeah, wrong word. They better not…"
"Yeah, they better not," Storm agreed. "If they touch a hair on her head, or any part of her…" He shook his head and stomped over to the driver's seat, keys jangling in his hand.
"Wait a minute," I said.
I pulled out my phone, turned on the light and crouched down on the ground beside the vehicle. I turned the light towards the underside of the SUV, moved it slowly across the length of the car from front to back. Satisfied it was safe, I stood back up.
"Did you really just check for explosives?" Max asked, eyes wide. "I feel like I'm living in an action movie."
"That explains the popcorn craving," Frost said. Apparently his sense of humour was intact. Or rather, that was his way of coping with what was going on. I got that. Sometimes dark humour was the only thing that got people through the day or night. I, for one, wouldn't tell him to stop.
I turned off the light and reached for the handle to open the front passenger door.
"It pays to be careful. We don't know what they were up to when we were in the trees.
The vehicle was out of our sight." If it was me, I would have left a bomb.
The fact they hadn't was an oversight on their part.
One I was happy to take full advantage of.
"That's kinda badass," Frost said appreciatively. "Are you sure you're not bi?"
I patted him on the shoulder before I slipped into the vehicle. "Sorry, mate, but no. But if I was, I'd be into you."
"Hell yeah you would." He climbed in behind me. "I'm smokin' hot."
"Close the door," Storm snapped. "We've fucked around here for long enough."
Frost said something under his breath, but closed the door harder than was necessary.
"Don't break the—" Storm turned around to growl something at him when the cottage exploded with a loud bang and a burst of flames.