Chapter 27
TWENTY-SEVEN
SILAS
From where I was in the paint booth, I tore off the respirator so I could inspect the first coat that I’d applied.
The sounds of the rest of the shop were subdued by the insulated partitions.
I examined my handiwork.
The black paint shined, gleaming and pristine on the old Ford Mustang that I was restoring.
Once left for dead after a crash, but the owner who’d plucked it out of a junkyard was trusting me to breathe it back to life.
Reforming mangled metal into something that in the end would eclipse the original.
Pride welled in my chest while my guts continued to be snarled and tangled.
All thanks to one fiery brunette who’d left me in shambles.
Swore to fuck, she was going to do me in.
Raze every restraint.
So fucking off-limits yet she’d begun to feel like the Holy Grail.
A tantalizing treasure I was never worthy of touching, but if I didn’t, it made me feel like I might be facing down death.
No matter what I did, I wasn’t going to win.
Blowing out a sigh, I studied the hood a little closer. Tracing the defined lines with my eyes.
Deciding I was happy with the results of the first coat, I tossed the mask aside, shucked off my gloves, then pulled open the door and strode out into the main part of the shop.
Heavy metal blared from the speakers, and five of my guys were head down and absorbed in their tasks, the sound of high-pitched power tools becoming one with the deafening beat.
Didn’t know what it was, but the guard I always wore sharpened.
Prickles that shot down my spine in spikes of awareness.
My heart started to thump.
Hard and manic.
My gaze jumped to the open bays, scanning quick. As quick as my boots carried me that way.
“Where’s Pearce?” I shouted as I tore through the shop.
Pearce was the prospect I’d put on guard at the lobby door.
Dice hiked a shoulder, his arms lifted above his head as he worked below a Toyota on a lift. “Dunno, Prez. Probably off somewhere stealing himself a piece of ass.”
That was all it took to have Trevan whirling around and tossing his drill, instantly picking up on the turmoil that whipped me into a squall.
I did my best to keep my cool. A wasted effort since I immediately felt like I was being burned at the stake.
That’s exactly what it felt like when I realized there was a car parked in front that hadn’t been there before.
A gold, metallic sedan.
The same car that had been in that lot.
Dread spiraled through the middle of me. A slick of alarm so thick that I nearly tripped on it.
“Fuck,” heaved out from my throat before I was shouting, “Trespasser!”
It was the one word that would have everyone within earshot on their feet and armed in a flash.
“Lobby, now!” I commanded as I whipped my gun from the holster hidden inside my coveralls, guts a riot as I edged for the interior door.
I wanted to go barreling in, but I needed to be prepared. Do this the right way. There was no room for mistakes.
Trevan was right behind me, his own gun drawn.
Aggression cracked on his clenched teeth, though he was giving me his steadying voice the way he always did. “Careful, Prez.”
I felt Phoenix move, a roil of darkness that coasted from the shop like a wraith, followed by Colby and Dice who ran out of a bay to head off the front door.
My men were trained like soldiers, knowing exactly what to do when evil came calling.
“Brinley’s in there.” It ground off my tongue.
I didn’t even realize I said it aloud until Trevan mumbled, “Know it, man. We’ll get her. Just keep your cool and don’t do anything rash.”
But there was no cool to be had.
Not when I felt myself splintering like an axe struck through a brittle piece of wood.
A dominating wave of possession sweeping through me that had no place, one that had been coming on ever since she’d run my sister and baby brother to safety.
A possession I had no right to feel.
But it was there.
Suffocating.
As thick as the fear that saturated my spirit.
I told her I’d protect her. I couldn’t fucking fail her the way I’d failed everyone else.
I gripped the butt of the gun in both hands, finger trembling on the trigger.
Sweat dripped down my back.
I cut my attention to the right. To where I knew Styx would be in position, in the line of sight between us and the guys at the front.
Our eyes and ears for both teams.
I watched as five Crows came hustling up from out of nowhere, three parting to the front door and two coming up behind me and Trevan.
I gave the count.
Three ticks of my chin.
Then Styx gave the signal to the guys at the front as soon as I did.
We all busted in at the same time, my crew piling into the office and poised for a fight.
My heart sank to the pit of my stomach when I took in the scene.
That motherfucker was in the middle of the room on this side of the counter.
Brinley’s back pinned to his chest and a knife to her throat.
My ribs squeezed around my hemorrhaging heart.
“Stay the fuck away or she’s done,” he snarled, spinning a fraction as he hauled her back in the direction of the door.
Every eye in the place flashed toward me, my crew looking to me for the next move.
Wondering how I wanted them to handle this.
Safe.
I just wanted her safe.
If it was only us, this would be a bloodbath.
But not when an innocent’s life was on the line.
An innocent whose face was so full of terror it knocked my fucking knees.
Bile climbed my throat as that protectiveness bound up my insides in a ball of aggression.
I wouldn’t allow anyone to hurt her.
I promised her.
Fucking promised her.
“I mean it!” he shouted. The tip of that gleaming blade dug deeper into the delicate flesh of Brinley’s throat.
A droplet of blood dripped from the wound.
“Everyone out of my fucking way, or she dies.”
Rage screamed, and my blood ran hot.
The group of my guys at the front wavered, never ones to stand down, before they split apart, unwilling to take the chance that he wouldn’t drive that knife deeper if they didn’t let him through.
The piece of shit grinned at me from over her shoulder.
Agony licked across my insides.
A howl of misery and determination.
“Drop the fucking knife,” I growled, swiveling a step farther into the room.
Dude was a fool for coming here like this.
A dead man walking.
No question, he was nothing but an expendable messenger.
Kent Ellison didn’t exactly have a reputation for cherishing the sanctity of life.
Which was why I couldn’t fucking wait to end his.
The lowlife in front of me paid no heed, just kept yanking Brinley backward toward the main door.
Every cell in my being writhed, the thirst for vengeance coating my tongue.
Brinley was stiff in his clutches, those eyes that were pinned on me a hurricane of desperation.
Pleading.
A stir of hate and obstinacy rolled through me, and I willed myself not to charge in their direction.
Instead trying to convey to her with my eyes that she was going to be okay.
I wouldn’t let anyone hurt her.
“Stop right there or you’re dead.” Violence was carved into my words.
He already was. The fuckwit had to know it.
But maybe he was stupid enough to think he was going to get away with this because he chuckled a low sound and pressed the knife deeper against her throat.
Blood trickled from the tiny gash.
I couldn’t fucking swallow, my pulse thundering, a fucking freight train of urgency that barreled through my veins.
“Nah. Don’t think so. I’m going to walk right out of here and you’re going to let me,” he sneered.
“And how do you suppose? You’re surrounded.” I said it casually. Like the result had already been exposed.
“Because I have what you want.”
I scoffed and tried to play it off. “And what’s that?”
“Her.”
He was right. Utterly, completely right. And for all the fucking wrong reasons.
“Let her go, and I might let you live.”
He smirked. “It’s funny that you think you’re the one in control here. The one calling the shots. Kent asked that I leave a little message for you.”
I huffed like I didn’t give a shit what that prick had to say, all while my finger itched on the trigger, waiting for a clear shot.
Ready to take it the second I had it.
“He wants you to know that you have one more chance.” Deviant sneered it. “He’ll forgive you for that little stunt you pulled with your sister, but when you come crawling back, you know you’re his and you bring Elena with you. He said to consider it part of your debt.”
Rage hit me so hard it was blinding.
Disgust and hate and the truth that I would never let anyone get to my sister again.
“I’m going to take this one with me as a little extra bonus.”
It was all I could take.
I snapped.
Surging forward with the intent of tearing the fucker apart with my bare hands, but Trevan grabbed me by the elbow and dragged me back just as the creep yanked Brinley all the way out the front door.
The two of them were swallowed by the swell of gleaming sun before the door swung shut behind them.
Fury combusted, a deafening roar in my ears.
Wildfire.
Wildfire.
“What the fuck?” I snarled, trying to break out of Trevan’s hold.
“Just wait,” he gritted.
I thrashed, and he tightened his hold. “Trust me, brother, wait.”
That was right when a single gunshot rang out, followed by an ear-splitting scream out of Brinley.
It pierced my chest like a flaming arrow.
That was right when Trevan released me, and I went barreling through the lobby, shoving through my guys and out into the glaring light.
Brinley was on the ground, her knees and hands scraping the gravel as she dragged herself back in my direction.
Juts of horror and disbelief hurled from her quivering, mortified mouth.
Locks of autumn-spun hair wild and disheveled around her stunning face.
An indecipherable emotion rose up in me as I watched the agony and determination rip through her distinct, unforgettable features.
Brinley Webber looked like she was crawling out of a pit.
Rising from the ashes.
Bastard was on the ground howling, holding onto his upper thigh where he’d clearly been hit.