Chapter 25
TWENTY-FIVE
You know that old saying ‘when it rains, it pours’? Well, some bastard is out there with a fire hose aimed right fucking at me.
The shrill sound of Avery’s phone wakes me in the early hours of the morning.
She mumbles out a string of curses as she answers it and a quick check of my own phone tells me it’s two am.
We’ve barely managed to get an hour of sleep.
Fuck. I flick the light on and glance over at Avery.
She has her Joey face on. Fucking great. I get up and start throwing clothes on.
“We’ll be there shortly. Keep a set of eyes on him until then.” She hangs up, immediately starts a new call, and slides out of bed with the phone pressed to her ear.
When she speaks again she looks at me. “Joey’s at the bar in Haven. Ria said he’s tweaking, we’ve got to go now.”
I nod as I slip my knife into my pocket and fumble around for my Docs. “Ash coming?”
Avery slips an elegant, tailored coat over her lacy nightgown and instantly looks like she’s dressed to meet some high-profile politician. I roll my eyes at her in absolute jealousy and she smirks back at me. “Blaise and Harley are back, too. Blaise will drive us there.”
I throw my hair into a messy high pony and then we’re out the door.
The guys arrive at the stairs as we do and, surprisingly, Ash gives me a respecting nod. I’m thrown a little. He tucks Avery under his arm as we head out to the staff parking lot where Blaise’s Maserati is sitting. “Fucking rich kids,” I mumble, and Avery cackles at me.
I end up in the back seat between Ash and Harley, trying my best not to touch either of them. Blaise makes the trip in half the time the school’s town cars do, thank God, and we pull up outside the quaint town’s only bar.
“Park around the back, Ria will let us in the service entrance. She lost sight of him, but we need to get in and out fast,” Avery says with her phone to her ear. I think I’m going to suggest getting her a Bluetooth earpiece at some point because her brothers ensure she’s glued to the damn thing.
Once Blaise parks, we pile out and wait by the door. A heavily tattooed woman in her forties opens it and scowls at us all. “Is it really gonna take five o’ you to get him outta here?”
I raise my eyebrows and expect some fire to spill out of the twins, but then Blaise swaggers forward and I nearly choke on my tongue at the smooth, honey tone of his voice. “When have we ever turned down the chance to spend the evening with you, Ria?”
I cast a sidelong look at Harley to find him rolling his eyes so hard the action could be mistaken for a stroke.
The woman sputters and then moves to let us all inside.
We have to walk through a teeming stock room with boxes of booze precariously stacked floor to ceiling, then through a bustling kitchen where a single chef is pumping out wings and barking orders at the glassy-eyed waitresses.
When we get through to the bar area my eyes have to adjust to the darkness of the room, lit only by fairy lights strung up here and there.
During the day, it would probably look as charming as the rest of the town but now, in the early morning hours, it’s a workplace hazard if I’ve ever seen one.
There are people everywhere and most of them are already wasted.
We have to move in single file. Harley takes the lead, and Ash pushes Avery in front of him so she’s caged in by them both.
I find Blaise doing the same to me, and I give him a quick look over my shoulder as we start moving through the hazy room.
I feel Blaise’s breath on my neck as he speaks right into my ear. “Two Hannaford girls were assaulted here last year.”
Great. I guess it just proves it doesn’t matter where the hell you are, there’s always some disgusting predator looking for the opportunity to destroy someone’s life.
We search the ground floor and then head upstairs.
The music is louder up here and there are less people, but they’re dancing and making it even harder to stick together.
Blaise wraps an arm around my waist and hauls me in tight to his body.
Thank fuck it’s dark and he can’t see the exact shade my cheeks have turned.
He’s a wall of solid muscle. I try not to melt into him.
We lose Harley for five minutes and I start to panic that Joey’s stabbed him or something.
Then Ash gestures us over to the restrooms and Blaise finally lets me go.
Avery grabs my hand to give it a squeeze, and I squeeze back to reassure her.
Ash is glaring out at the room of writhing bodies when the door to the handicap bathroom opens and Harley’s head pops out.
“Mounty, I need you to look at this,” he snaps and I rush forward, ducking behind him before he starts to argue with Avery as he blocks the others from following me.
Joey is unconscious on the dirty floor, surrounded by his own vomit. He’s foaming at the mouth and he’s going to choke to death on his back like that.
I’m so fucking tempted to leave him.
“Don’t judge me for asking this, but am I supposed to try and save him or are we waiting this out then calling it in for a cleanup?”
Harley grunts as Ash punches him in the gut and shoves his way into the room. He’s wild-eyed and pale as he looks down at Joey then back to me.
“I die if he does,” he croaks, and my body starts moving before my mind does, practically diving at Joey and getting to work.
I know for sure that Ash doesn’t mean he’d be torn up or furious if his brother died. He loathes him. This is the real reason Avery guards Joey’s life with such intensity. Someone is threatening Ash. Christ.
I roll Joey to his side and wince as I clear out his mouth. His hacking breaths start to even out and I prop his head up to help steady his breathing.
“I can call a doctor. What does he need to reverse this?” Avery asks, and I hear the door close and lock behind them.
Harley kneels down next to me, right in a puddle of puke, and helps support Joey’s twitching body.
Ash starts rummaging through Joey’s pockets and finds the little clear baggies.
They’re so damn familiar to me with grinning Jackal stamps on them, a little of the white powder residue still visible.
“There is no drug to reverse a cocaine overdose. They just treat the symptoms.”
“Fuck. Okay.” Avery is starting to panic and I look up to meet her eyes.
“He needs around-the-clock care until he pulls through this. Look, it’s not too bad,” I lie.
I feel his pulse and it’s not great, but Avery’s eyes are like saucers and I can’t bear to stress her out anymore.
The bubbling around his mouth and the jerking of his muscles also makes me wonder if he was having a seizure before we arrived.
Harley meets my eyes and he reads me better than Avery can in her state.
“Is there anything we can do while we wait?” His voice is low and calm.
“Recovery position and we need to make sure he doesn’t choke on his own tongue. That’s it about all we can do in this restroom. We should call an ambulance.”
Avery and Ash stare at each other and I start to believe they have some mystical twin connection that lets their minds talk. I can feel their conversation hanging in the air around us. If Ash’s life is in danger then we can’t sweep this under the rug, we need a professional.
“I’m not waiting for an ambulance, we need to move him now.
” I cut a look at Harley and gesture for him to follow me out of the bathroom.
Ash and Blaise kneel to take our places beside Joey to keep him where he needs to be.
Harley doesn’t speak as we descend the stairs, his protective arm around me, and it’s not until I point to the black van on the curb out front that he raises an eyebrow at me.
“Boost it. We’ll drive him in and dump it at the hospital.” I text Avery to get them moving down to us.
“And why do you think I know how to do that?”
I grin at him and wag my finger in his face. “I was at your court hearing last year, remember? You’re quite proficient in the ol’ grand theft auto. Come on, Arbour, impress me.”
My challenge lights a flame in his eyes.
His grin is savage and beautiful and he has the van unlocked, motor running, and ready to move in less than a minute.
It’s like watching a pro and I must be seriously damaged because it excites me more than sweet words would.
Avery slides into the front seat with him, and I help the other two load Joey into the back.
Ash drops him with such disgust that I think he’ll have a concussion, but that will be the least of his concerns if he ever wakes up.
We arrange his body so he won’t suffocate on his own tongue and then sit around him.
“So, we’re criminals now? We just take things whenever we want them? I’m not sure I have enough black in my wardrobe for this. Someone should have warned me,” drawls Blaise as he wipes his hands on his jeans.
“We were always a little criminal, Morrison,” says Ash, and I try to ignore their banter. I don’t need their input right now.
“Lips, if we can’t take him to the hospital, is there somewhere else we can take him?” Avery asks, her voice finally losing the authoritative tone. She actually sounds like the scared seventeen-year-old girl she really is.
“How the fuck would she know?” Ash snaps, and we both ignore him.
I glance down at Joey. His condition hasn’t gotten any worse. I think he’ll make it to Mounts Bay.
“Yeah. Head to the Bay. I’ll give you directions once we hit the city.”
Harley nods and then we all fall silent.