19. Dax #2
“While we might be working on becoming friends, if I told you that kind of information, I’d be setting myself up for trouble.
If the other three found out I gave you insider knowledge like that, I’d be lucky to keep my hand, let alone my head,” Betta shared, rubbing her left hand like she was worried she might lose it.
“Damn, they play by those rules,” I muttered. “Can’t blame you for not sharing.”
“Yes,” she agreed. “They are progressive enough to allow a woman into the mix, but they won’t go easy on me if I fuck up.
I told them I was going to tell you who I really was and my connection, but to give you more than that wasn’t agreed upon.
” She paused at a door that swung slightly off its hinges.
“This is the locker room with the showers. I figured you’d want to go in on your own.
There should be a towel or two left. We had some fights over the weekend, and it's not restocked.”
I gave her a two-finger salute and headed in, the guys following after.
Sprocket stayed by the door as the rest of us ventured through the rows of lockers until we found the open shower area.
I tugged off my shirt, chucking it in the trash can I spotted.
Not like I was going to be able to save it.
The showers were those lame kinds where you had to hit the nozzle and it only ran for a few minutes before turning off.
It wasn’t like I was planning on indulging in a long shower, but it just pissed me off to keep whacking it.
The soap was in a dispenser on the wall, which I was grateful to have since dried blood was a bitch to scrub off without it.
Feeling like I was as clean as I was gonna get, I gestured to Cam.
“Come here. I want to take a look at your arm. I feel like we need to at least wash it and wrap it before we head back to the hotel.”
Cam unbuttoned his shirt and peeled out of it, flinching as it pulled on the wound.
Thankfully, he’d been wearing black on black, so you couldn’t spot it was blood making his shirt damp.
Grabbing his forearm, I moved and twisted him around until I could see the damage I’d done.
Fortunately, it didn’t seem too deep, but it would absolutely need stitches.
The blade was two inches wide, and I’d gotten him deep enough it cut the widest part.
Blood slowly oozed out of it from my poking, but I was pretty confident I hadn’t hit any major blood vessels or arteries.
“Sprocket, you feel like playing doctor tonight and stitching him up?” I called.
A moment later, he appeared, and Cognac went to take his place by the door.
My guys weren’t fucking around when it came to my safety.
We might be talking about friendship, but that didn’t mean trust came guaranteed.
Sprocket took my spot to see in the best light this dinghy locker room could provide.
“That should be easy enough. It’s a clean cut with no rough edges, so that’s good.
The only thing I’d be worried about is whatever that other guy might have since it still had his blood on it,” Sprocket pointed out.
“Might be worth stopping by the hospital so he can get a shot of antibiotics or something. Is it worth seeing if our new friends have any suggestions?”
“I think I might rather call Magnus to see if they have a safe option for us to go to. Hospitals get all weird about unexplained knife wounds,” I grumbled. “If only I hadn’t lost my shit like that, this never would have happened.”
Cam reached out and caught my chin with his hand. “Beautiful, I knew the risks going in to stop you. That’s actually why I volunteered. Void couldn’t have anything happen to him and Eagle has just recovered. The last thing we need is one of the major players getting wounded.”
“You’re a major player,” I countered, not liking he didn’t see his value in all this.
He smiled and pulled me in for a quick kiss. “Thank you, but you know what I mean. Coordinating with the FBI doesn’t require me to be in peak condition. Besides, it needed to be me in there. I had to be there for you this time no matter what.”
My eyes burned with tears I refused to shed right now. “Yeah, I get it.” Stepping back and clearing my throat, I looked around. “Did we find any towels?”
Sprocket grabbed one off a bench that Cognac must have found.
I dried off the best I could and headed back out to the main area.
The bralette was black, so if I didn’t get all the blood off it, no one would see, not to mention the jacket over it.
Leather pants on damp skin with wet undies were a bitch, but we all had to suffer in our own way.
“Wes, can I borrow your cell?” I asked. “Gonna call Magnus and see if we can’t find an option for Cam’s arm to get looked at.”
“You don’t have to do that. We’ve got a guy on call,” Tommaso offered. “We can even send him to your hotel if you prefer.”
I eyed him suspiciously but looked to the guys for their thoughts. Eagle rubbed at his chin, thinking for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, it would be better to get it taken care of quickly. I assume we don’t need to tell you where we’re staying?”
Tommaso had the courtesy to look apologetic as he rubbed the back of his neck. “No, I've got that information. He should meet you there or arrive shortly after our driver gets you back there.”
Eagle grunted and turned to head out the door.
Once more, we all climbed into the limo, only this time, Eagle snagged me and plopped me right between him and Void.
Both of them cuddled up against me offering their support physically and emotionally without a word.
The drive back to the hotel was much faster, making me think the driver had been stalling for time on the way to the warehouse.
“What do you think?” Eagle asked in a low voice. “Is it worth taking the risk to trust them?”
Void grumbled something under his breath only to settle my legs over his lap, so I leaned more on Eagle. “If he’s willing to betray his own father and their Don, what makes you think he won’t do the same to us? A traitor is always a traitor.”
“Not that I don’t feel the same way, but would you say the same thing about Demitri? He’s betrayed us countless times, but yet you still seem to trust him?” I countered.
Void seemed to chew on that for a moment. “I think I trust him because the motivation was to protect someone else, not for his own gain, if that makes sense.”
I nodded. “That makes sense, but you have to admit the fact that he gave us this whole plan in writing means he’s putting trust in us that we won’t turn on him and sell him out to Valter.”
“She makes a good point,” Eagle agreed. “If we took that and gave it to Valter, he would know exactly what was going down and how to stop it.”
“What if it’s another game? They could be testing us to see if we would support a coup,” Picasso interjected.
“Yeah, he said no games, but who the fuck is willing to believe that? He also said that guy was the one who got the information from Diego and his men. There’s no way to check that out since he was already dead. ”
“Wes,” I called over to where he was absorbed in reading over the contract again. “You mind calling our best buddy, Magnus, for me when we get back? I’d really like to check in and see how things are going for them.”
It had been a while since I had to speak in the code we’d made up for texting so no one would pick up on what we were really saying.
He gave me a thumbs up and went back to his reading like it wasn’t all that important.
What I’d really asked him to do is see if Magnus had the four-one-one on our new friends.
If they could tell us that this fighter was one of Diego’s pet fighters, that would help further the proof they were being honest. Right now, going back to California wasn’t an option for us.
So instead, I felt like it was time to pay a visit to my bestie and her new boos.
When we got to the hotel, the doctor was already waiting for us in the lobby.
He made quick work of stitching Cam up, giving him some meds I made him inject into himself first. If it was antibiotics and a slight pain killer, it shouldn’t cause any harm, right?
Wes reached out to Magnus and was told he’d get a call back when they had information to share.
I took a much longer shower in scalding hot water scrubbing from head to toe, making sure all the blood was gone.
If I was going to try and get some sleep, I needed to know I was clean before curling up with Cognac and Picasso.
My sins couldn’t taint them. That was the last thing I wanted.
I’d been afraid nightmares might start to plague me after reliving that moment again, but thankfully, I slept the sleep of the dead.
When I got up the following morning, I was informed we were going to New York to stay with Harper and the Wright brothers.
My men decided it was best to hash out this offer not being in their territory.
This ought to be fun. It was the first time all my guys would meet them. I knew I should’ve brought Dani along on this trip.