Chapter 25 Lizzie
LIZZIE
A rumble in the distance made me tear toward the closest window.
The bedroom Doc had chosen for me—well, us—faced the backyard, so I rushed out of my room and down the hallway.
There was a window at the end of it that pointed a little bit more toward the front of the safehouse, and my heart leapt into my throat.
“Make way,” Anna muttered as she shimmied in beside me.
Please be Doc. Please be Doc. Please be Doc.
The rumble of the bikes grew louder. I was honestly shocked that none of the other women rushed out of their rooms. I chewed on my lower lip as I crossed my arms across my chest. They’d been gone for almost two hours.
While I busied myself in placing a few of my things around the room, just to make it a little more homey, I felt Doc’s missing presence like a lead weight that settled in my gut.
I felt less safe with him around.
“You think it’s them?” I asked as I looked over at Anna.
I never seen her so focused, her eyes locked out the window.
“Anna?” I asked.
Her head snapped in my direction. “Hmm?”
I furrowed my brow softly. “You okay?”
“Huh?” Then she nodded and went back to looking out the window. “Yeah, yeah. I’m good.”
I narrowed my eyes as I studied her. “Are you sure you’re—”
“Fuck, that’s not good.”
Her phrase snapped my attention back to the window and I felt the wind of her body rushing away from my side. My heart sank when I saw the motorcycles bursting through the horizon of trees. Red leather jackets, not black.
That was King’s crew.
Wait, why did Anna think that wasn’t good?
By the time I turned around, doors were being thrown open.
Jasmine rushed out of her room in a flurry of hair and the robe she always kept wrapped around her.
Ariel and Amanda were practically hand in hand while Amanda dragged her sister down the hallway.
Even Marla was hot on everyone’s heels, not even searching for people as she raced out of her room and toward the living room.
Guess they were watching, after all.
By the time we all emerged, heading for the front door, the guys with the red leather jackets were already pouring in.
They had bags of supplies, and I saw King standing off to the side, talking to his sister.
I watched them through the window while the women peppered the various men from King’s crew with all sorts of questions.
I stared at Anna hard, trying to read her lips, wishing that I had taken up that skill in the military instead of my stealth training.
But whenever King spoke, Anna’s frown deepened.
That definitely wasn’t good.
“Hey, Liz.”
Em’s voice got my attention and I turned from the window, only to find her holding a plastic bag up for me.
“Hey,” I said as I furrowed my brow and looked down at it. “What’s—?”
“I think this is for you,” Em said as she handed the bag to me. “It’s got your medications in it, along with a few other things like snacks and the like. There’s also a note.”
“A note?”
She nodded. “I had a bag from Ranger and there was a note in it, so I’m assuming it’s—”
I snatched the bag from her and opened it up. I shoved my hand inside, rooting around until I felt the piece of paper slide across my fingers. I plucked it out, only to see that it was a receipt, and I groaned before I practically shoved my face into the bag.
Only to pull out an envelope with my name on it.
“Daniel,” I whispered softly.
“Is that his name?” Em asked.
I had forgotten she was there. I whipped my gaze up to hers. “I don’t think he likes being called that, but yes.”
She grinned. “He only likes it when you say it?”
I searched her gaze. “Something like that.”
She giggled. “Don’t worry, Ranger’s the same way.”
The front door slammed open, and Anna tore through the throng of us.
I looked around to see if anyone would hand her a bag, but no one seemed to offer one up.
I watched as she strode through the living room, ignoring the girls who called out for her.
Ignoring the men who tried to stop her. Ignoring her brother who called out for her.
“Anna, come on!” King called out with his hands cupped over his mouth.
The only answer he got, however, was a slammed door in the distance.
I asked the only thing I could. “What’s happened to our men?”
The room stilled as King turned to face me. “Nothing. We’re bringing back supplies for you guys that they have picked up.”
“And why aren’t they bringing them to us?” Jasmine asked as she came to stand beside me with her own bag of things.
King didn’t hesitate. “Because they are preparing things for the next phase, and to do that they have to be in familiar territory. They can’t do any of that here. No privacy, too cramped.”
I narrowed my eyes as I looked up at him. “You’re holding something back.”
He stared down at me. “I’m always holding something back.”
Amanda walked up to my other side. “What are you not telling us?”
“Yeah,” Ariel said as she stood behind me. “Something’s wrong. We can feel it.”
“Might as well rip the Band-Aid off now,” Em said as I heard her behind me as well.
King groaned as he ran his hands down his face. “Girls, everything is okay and being taken care of. The best thing you guys can do is lay low here, and when Cap and his guys are done, they’re coming back here. But they don’t have any room to do anything here—”
“Anna!” I barked as I turned away from him.
He clearly rehearsed his answers.
I wanted the information.
I stormed away from the girls, clutching my plastic bag, still not having read Doc’s letter.
I’d read it once I had the information sorted out, but I didn’t like having things withheld from me.
If we were in danger, we all deserved to know what was lurking about and what was being done about it, and I’d die on that fucking hill.
“Annaliese!” I barked as I marched down the hallway.
The door down the hallway whipped open and she stepped out. “What?”
I marched right up to her. “What did your brother tell you?”
She shot me a look. “Nothing, that’s what’s pissing me off.”
“I want to know, word for word, what he said to you,” I said as I stopped in front of her. “What were you two talking about on the porch?”
She leaned against the doorframe and folded her arms across her chest. “I asked what they were going to do. They didn’t show up on their bikes, they showed up on your men’s bikes. They took the van, which means whatever they’re doing, they’re doing as a group.”
My heart fell into my stomach. “I didn’t realize that. I was too busy—”
“Which means my brother and his guys will be here for a while, at least until your guys get back and they can switch back out. But if my brother and his airheaded Barbie posse are here without their own bikes, it means they’re having to perch here and stay.
Which means whatever the guys are doing, they’re at least assuming they might kick something up. ”
I finally got what she was throwing down. “You think they’re here to stave off another attack.”
“If something goes wrong, yes,” Anna said with a head nod. “But the guys and their little secret clubs? They take that shit seriously. I won’t be able to get my brother to say anything, but I’ve hung around them long enough to be able to read between the muted lines of their faces.”
“You should teach me how to do that,” I muttered as I looked around, only to find the girls standing behind me.
Silently.
Listening to us speak.
“We’re going to be okay, girls,” Anna said to them over my shoulder.
“Do we know when they’re gonna be back?” Em asked softly.
Anna just shook her head in defeat. I could tell that the motion killed her to even execute.
I wondered if she was worried about Brutus.
“This is so fucking stupid,” Amanda said as she finally approached us.
Ariel was hot on her sister’s heels. “Fuck them if they feel like they can’t give us answers. What the hell are we gonna do about it? Follow them? We don’t even have that capability!”
“She’s right,” Jasmine said as she approached the fold, “I don’t like this ‘keeping stuff from us’ thing. I mean, we’re the ones in danger, right? Shouldn’t we also know the stuff that’s happening, in case it puts us in more danger?”
Anna held out her hand. “That’s exactly what I tried to convince my brother of, the stupid, hardheaded asshat.
If we’re the ones in trouble, we deserve to know what’s going on.
Keeping us in the dark doesn’t help us, it makes us spin our wheels and then if something does happen, we’re too damn tired from not sleeping over our brains spinning that it won’t make a fucking bit of difference. ”
The tension was growing and that wasn’t good.
We had to settle down before there was a damn mutiny on our hands.
I was frustrated because I missed Doc, sure, but my time with the military taught me how to deal with commanders and officers that sparsed out information like that for the betterment of the detachment.
I held up my hand. “What do you guys say to a movie marathon?”
The girls all paused and slowly looked my way.
“What?” Anna asked.
I shrugged. “Look, it sucks, the situation we’re in, but it’s not going to change.
We have to trust that the guys have this all under control.
We all got out of Doc’s place alive because of the men they are and the way they have prepared for every angle.
We’ve got proof that it’ll only be the same way here, too. ”
Em’s shoulders deflated a little bit. “She’s got a point.”
“Plus,” I said as I held up my finger, “I think all of us have snacks and letters in these bags to read. I think the best thing to backdrop all of this would be a nice Harry Potter marathon.”
That immediately captured Jasmine’s attention. “Could we watch all of them? In succession?”
“What if we fall asleep?” Ariel asked. “Will we pause the movie?”
“I’m sure there are sodas in the kitchen,” Amanda said as she started down the hall, “let me go see what we’ve got stocked.”
“I love movie marathons,” Jasmine said as she peeked back into her bag, “and I’m eating all of this fucking chocolate. I don’t care what anyone says.”
“I’m still pissed,” Anna said as she looked away from us. “All of this is fucking stupid.”
It didn’t take a genius to spot the fact that she was the only one without a bag.
“You stay with her,” Amanda muttered in my ear as she patted my shoulder, “I’ll get her a bag of goodies made up and bring it with me.”
I looked at her and nodded my thanks before the girls backtracked, leaving me with Anna.
Who was still just staring off at the window down the hallway where we were perched not too long ago.
“Wanna help me set up the living room for our movie marathon?” I asked as I offered her my arm.
She sighed heavily before she slid her arm lazily through mine. “Sure, let’s go.”
I could only hope that the distraction of the movie marathon gave the guys enough time to get back from whatever it was they were doing.
Unharmed, preferably.