Chapter 23
RAFE
“Calm down. It’s only been fifteen minutes. They’re family,” Shelton said with a shrug. “I’m sure they’ve got some catching up to do.”
Rather than justify that asinine comment with a response, I continued my pacing outside the cage. Shelton’s goons wouldn’t let me near that fucking door because they knew I’d bust my way through it.
But fuck if I didn’t take my eyes off it.
When it finally opened, and she stepped out, I was crawling out of my skin. I shoved two guys out of my way and went straight to her. “I’m so fucking pissed at you right now.”
“I’m fine.” She pointed at the door. “He said he’ll fight, but he needs a few minutes.” She wouldn’t meet my eyes, and that was the first clue something was wrong. The second was when Shelton tried the door and found it locked.
“Someone get me a key yesterday!”
Alex whirled, her eyes wide. “I must’ve locked it on my way out.”
I grabbed her shoulders, alarmed by her rattled tone. “Did he hurt you?”
She shook her head. “He told me some upsetting things. I’ll tell you later.”
Shelton stomped toward us. “While they’re taking care of this snafu, let’s get the show started. People are getting antsy.” He waved a hand in Alex’s direction. “Strip her and chain her up over there,” he ordered, pointing to a set of chains dangling a few feet from the cage.
“Excuse me?” I asked with a dangerous edge.
“You ain’t deaf. I said strip her. I want her on display.”
The dark cloud that passed over Alex’s face alarmed even me. She wrestled from my grasp and popped the buttons on her top before sliding the shirt down her shoulders, then she unzipped the skirt and let it pool around her feet.
“Is this good enough?” she asked Shelton. “Or do you expect me to get naked for your perverted friends?”
“It’s just business, honey.” Shelton’s mouth twitched into a grin. “She’s got spirit. I like her.” He walked away, muttering how this night was going to be a lesson in entertainment.
I trapped her arm in a painful grip and hauled her toward those fucking chains. “That was stupid.”
“I’m a human being, not an object. If he wants my skin on display, I can do it myself.”
“I meant going in to see Zach.”
We stepped onto a platform a few feet from the cage, and I positioned her underneath the chains. Her gaze settled on that damn door Zach hid behind. He must have known how this was going to end. With quick, jerky motions, I buckled her wrists into the cuffs and stretched her arms above her head.
My mouth was a hard line, my touch rough and unforgiving, but when our eyes met and held, the angry beast inside me went into hibernation.
She had me so fucking whipped. I slid my palms along her arms and brushed the sides of her heaving tits.
Her matching black and red bra and panties were made of lace, barely there—meant to entice and seduce.
Those scraps of fabric did a hell of a job tantalizing me, but I hated how every other fucker in here saw what I saw.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
I leaned close enough to taste her lips, and the steady racket of voices receded. Only Alex and I existed in that moment, standing on the precipice of simmering hell. I think we both knew it was coming. Unable to resist, I pressed my mouth to hers and breathed her in.
“Before you know it, we’ll be in my truck driving to God knows where. Maybe we won’t fucking stop, but at least it’ll be you and me together.” I inched back and stared into her eyes. “I meant what I said at your house.”
“What was that?”
“About marrying you. Eventually, we’ll make it there. We’ll find a space that’s ours where the only struggle we’ll face is keeping our hands off each other.” I couldn’t help but smile. “Though I think that’s a fight we’ll never win.”
Her worried eyes veered to that locked door again. “I don’t wanna lose you,” she whispered. “Zach can torture me every day for the rest of my life, and it won’t break me like losing you will.”
“I’m not going anywhere. Everything’s gonna be okay. Do you trust me?”
“Of course I do, but…” She drew in a jittery breath.
“What is it?”
“Please don’t hate me.”
A heavy sense of dread took root in my stomach. “What happened in there?”
“Something you’re not going to like.” She lifted her head just as Shelton and Nate approached the door, keys jingling. “Get me out of these cuffs!” she said with an alarming note of urgency.
Fuck. This did not sound good.
As they went through the various keys on that ring, I unbuckled Alex’s wrists, and we stepped down from the platform. They kicked the door wide open, and obscenities filled the air. I pushed Alex behind me as they marched in our direction.
“Where is he?” Shelton demanded, his mouth a thin, dangerous line. This was the most pissed off I’d seen him.
Acting fast, and on pure instinct, I grabbed Alex, one hand clamped around her chin, the other gouging her shoulder, and forced her to her knees. My hand slid from her chin and wrapped around her neck. “What the fuck did you do?”
The crowd spoke in hushed, excited whispers. Maybe, just fucking maybe, if I could give them a show and convince Shelton I’d had nothing to do with Zach’s disappearance—which was too fucking true to be funny—we could get out of here in one piece.
“I asked you a question!”
“I let him go!” she said.
Shelton punched a crate, and everyone within ten feet of him jumped. Including me.
“Find him. Now!” he ordered his guys, voice an echoing thunder through the warehouse.
He glowered at Alex, his stature towering over her.
Every muscle in my body was poised to protect her from him, but I held my ground, straddling the line between furious boyfriend and loyal fighter who was on his side in this.
I lugged her to her feet by the hair, eliciting a sharp cry of pain. “I’ll deal with her,” I told Shelton. “Just find that fucking bastard, and tell me the instant you do.”
Shelton took a deep breath and nodded. I led Alex to a corner of the room that wasn’t as crowded and forced her ass into a chair. Fingers curling around the hem of my sweatshirt, I yanked it up my torso and over my head, then tossed it to her.
“Why’d you do it?”
She pushed her arms through the sleeves before tugging the material over her face. “I couldn’t watch you kill him.”
“You still have feelings for him.” I bunched my hands and barely kept myself from trying to plow through the wall of cement at her back. Probably not the best outlet for my rage.
“Not in the way you’re thinking. He’s my brother, Rafe, or at least he was…at some point.”
“He’s the fucker who raped you,” I growled.
“I know!” She jumped to her feet and met me head on.
“And you’re the fucker I’m in love with.
You’re the fucker who’s not gonna kill ever again.
” She grabbed my face, her fingers tight around my jaw.
If the wild look in her eyes hadn’t entranced me—if we weren’t surrounded by a bunch of people—I would have stripped her scant panties from her ass and fucked it.
Hard.
Until she cried from the pain then begged to come.
As it was, I stood my ground and let her have this moment.
“You promised we were getting out of this, Rafe. So do it. Keep your promise this time. Zach is gone. He’s not coming back.”
“How can you be so sure about that?”
“Because I swore on your life I’d kill him myself if he did. He’s not coming back.”
Her words fucking pummeled me. She’d do anything for me. That much was true. If she’d used my life as a device to swear on, then she was dead serious. “God, I fucking love you right now.”
She furrowed her adorable brows. “Because I let him go?”
“Because you’re willing to kill him yourself if he comes back.”
Shelton and Nate approached, and Alex and I cooled the frantic fuck-each-other vibes traveling between us.
“Did you find him?” I asked.
“‘Fraid not,” Shelton said. “I know you wanted a shot at him.” He sent a nasty glare toward Alex. “Get your woman in line, Mason. I’ll call you when I find him. This ain’t over.”
“Fuck no, it’s not. I told you I can’t risk him on the loose.”
He turned toward the people still waiting for a fight.
“Listen up, everyone!” His voice bellowed through the warehouse.
“We got a little situation, so we’ll have to do this another night.
” A collective groan traveled through the room.
Shelton raised his hands. “Hey, all bets stand. The fight will happen. I’ll send texts out when it’s time. ”
As the crowd grudgingly began to disperse, Shelton slapped me on the back. “Nate and…what’s-his-name will drive you back to the boat. They won’t be happy to deal with the shitty weather for another day or so, but I won’t let you be sitting ducks. Until we find Zach, you’ll have protection 24/7.”
He meant we’ll be watching you 24/7. I was unarmed since Shelton had confiscated my gun while Alex was inside that damn room with Zach. How the fuck were we going to get out of here?