Chapter Twelve #2
Hayes whirled around, drawing his gun and shielding me as my body locked with fear.
No.
No, no, no, no. Marcus was here. Marcus told Gordon—
“We might have a possible Red Snake,” the voice growled before shouting my name again.
Wait—that wasn’t…
I poked my head around Hayes’ body just in time to watch Ash stepping into my apartment, gun at the ready. Hayes’ shoulders relaxed, some of the tension leaving him. “Doss.”
Ash swung his gun to us, blinking once the scene before him registered. “What the fuck?”
“Lower your weapon,” Hayes commanded.
“What the fuck?” he repeated, tucking his gun into the waistband of his cargo pants as Hayes did the same.
Then he stepped to the side, giving the retired SEAL the full view of my face.
Ash’s gaze darkened, and I could feel the temperature in the room dropping, having nothing to do with my nonexistent front door.
“Hi, Ash,” I mumbled, holding up a hand.
His dark eyes flicked to Hayes. “Again, for a third time: What. The. Fuck?”
“We have a situation,” Hayes told him, his voice monotone.
Ash looked at my front door, which was taking up the majority of my living room floor, and back to us. “That much is clear, and I’d like to get caught up.” He stared at Hayes, jaw tight. “Now.”
“When Margo is comfortable, I’ll loop everyone in.” I flinched, gawking at the back of Hayes’ blond head as he folded his arms over his chest.
When Margo is comfortable.
My lips parted as he continued giving orders, falling into his role so naturally, it was like breathing. “For now, I need you to stay here with Margo and prop the door up after I leave. I need to go to the hardware store. Shouldn’t take too long. When I return, you and I can get her door back on.”
“And after that?” he pushed, clearly wanting answers.
“You go back to Portland.”
“Mitchell—”
“The team will be looped in when Margo is comfortable, and not a second before. If I get word from any of the guys that you blabbed, I’ll rip your tongue out,” he clipped harshly, sending a chill down my spine.
“Hayes,” I hissed, putting my hand on his shoulder.
He turned, and I sucked in a breath, taking in the dark shadow looming over his features. I swallowed and gestured to Ash. “You aren’t supposed to threaten your friends, Top Gun. That’s rude.”
“Top Gun?” Ash parroted.
Hayes and I both ignored him, staring at each other, both of us begging for something we were unwilling to give.
“Hayes, get a move on. It’s getting cold.” Ash sighed, and my gaze snapped over to him. He ran a hand through his hair, muttering something about hell freezing over.
Hayes pulled out a set of keys and turned to me, cupping the good side of my face. “I’ll be back,” he promised, his eyes searching mine.
I nodded, my throat thick with uncertainty.
Then his lips found my forehead, pressing a hard kiss into it before he turned to Ash. “Help me lean this door up. That’ll help with the wind.”
Ash glanced at me. “Who kicked down the door, Mitchell?”
Hayes was standing in front of him now. “I did.” He turned his head to me. “I’ll be back in half an hour, okay?” he urged.
Again, I nodded.
Not even five minutes later, Ash and I were alone. He cleared his throat as he came into the kitchen, leaning a shoulder against the wall, folding his arms over his chest. I pressed my lips together and avoided his eyes.
“I know we’re going to be debriefed when you’re comfortable with Red Snake having that information, but I need you to answer one question for me before I lose my mind,” he stated, his voice warm but firm.
I nodded, staring at the row of half-empty cereal boxes on top of my fridge. I loved cereal. When I had super bad days, a bowl of cereal fixed everything. However, I didn’t think a fresh bowl of chocolate vampire cereal would fix this.
“And I need you to look at me when you do, Margo,” Ash continued.
I blinked back tears, biting the inside of my good cheek. “Okay,” I pushed out, meeting his eyes, my hands wrapping around the edge of the counter as I crossed my ankles. “Shoot.”
His eyes left mine, going to the bruise. “You have that when Rossy called me last night?”
A hot tear landed on my cheek against my will as I shook my head rapidly.
He tilted his head. “You promise?”
“If I had,” I asked, my voice cracking, “what difference would it have made?”
“Well, for one, Hayes wouldn’t have been the one who kicked your door in. Grayson would have.”
“It didn’t—” I swallowed the glass in my throat. “This didn’t happen when Rossy was with me.”
He was silent.
“Rossy wouldn’t let anything happen to me.”
“I know that.”
My brows snapped together. “You do?”
His lips twitched, and I started to relax, thankful that goofy Ash was still in there somewhere.
I concluded that angry Ash was a force to be reckoned with.
“Rossy served in the British military for twenty years, leading special missions. He may not look like it now, but according to his record, the man was a force of nature. It’s not a surprise to any of us that he protects his girls so fiercely. ”
I stared at him, my mainframe short-circuiting as it tried to process this information. “Rossy?”
“When you tell Hayes and he gives us a name,” he began, his voice cold once more, “you need to let him do what he needs to do.”
“I—”
“Red Snake will be there to back him up, but Hayes will lead this,” he said, ignoring me. “We protect our own.”
“I’m not—I’m not a part of Red Snake, Ash. I’m just Carrie’s coworker.”
He pushed off the wall and came to me, stopping a foot away.
He was a few inches taller than Hayes, which meant I had to lean back slightly to keep eye contact with him.
“No, Margo.” His words a dark whisper. “You’re family, and now that Mitchell has claimed you, you’ll always be protected. Always.”
“C-claimed me?” I sputtered, my chest starting to heave. No, he didn’t claim me…he left me…he didn’t want me.
I’m a mess and he’s perfect. The two don’t mix.
Ash was quiet but gave me a single nod.
“No, you don’t—”
“I saw the way he looked at you just now, babe. Never in the decade that I’ve known him has he looked at a woman like that.”
I was afraid to ask, my pulse jumping as my heart perked her head up, but still, I asked. “Like what?”
A tender smile found his hard features then. “Like you’re the reason he gets up every morning.” He turned, leaving me with that as he asked, “Where’s your broom? I’ll get your floor cleaned up.”
“Ash, I can—” I swallowed my words when he turned around, his gaze hard. “In the closet at the end of the hall,” I answered. There was no point in arguing. Suddenly, Carrie’s words from last Christmas hit me.
Red Snake men always get their way in the end.
Goose bumps spread down my arms like wildfire. I couldn’t just sit here until Hayes got back. I needed to do something; I needed my hands to be busy so I could shut my mind off. At least for a little while.
Thirty minutes later, when, as promised, Hayes returned, I was knee-deep in spice organization.
I looked over my shoulder to find him standing in the doorway talking to Ash, their expressions serious.
Those green eyes slid over to me, and my entire body heated to a point where the pain in my face seemed to fade.
He left the new trim, door, and hinges outside.
Hayes’ eyes dropped from my face to the spices surrounding my crisscross applesauce position on my kitchen table. “Give us a sec, Doss,” he said, not taking his eyes from me.
Ash shot me a wink before heading outside to put the new trim on, and I returned to my mission: checking the expiration dates on every bottle.
I heard Hayes move, the old floorboard creaking under his weight.
When the loudest creak sounded, I knew he was at the mouth of the kitchen by the phone.
I could feel his eyes on me, but I didn’t have the strength to look up. Instead, I started rambling.
“I have a really bad habit of wandering down the spice aisle every time I go shopping because I live with an irrational fear that I’m going to want to make something but not have the right spice.
For some reason, I’ve convinced myself that I’m always out of an essential—like cinnamon.
” I gestured to the small collection of cinnamon in several brands to my left.
“I have enough to last me the next three pumpkin spice seasons and then I’ll still have enough left over to make twelve batches of snickerdoodles.
Still, I can’t stop myself from impulsively grabbing it—or garlic salt. ”
He moved again and I felt his body heat on my right side. I kept my eyes to the table, my heart skipping a beat when his hands appeared by my knee as he leaned over me. Still, he said nothing.
“When my life is going to shit or something bad is happening, I try not to sit still,” I whispered, my vision going blurry. “If I sit still, I’ll freeze, and if I freeze, then I can’t pull myself out of the hole. So I organize shit when I’m scared. That’s just what I do, Mr. Perfect. I’m weird.”
I felt his lips brush against my temple then, and my eyelids fluttered closed. “That’s fine with me, Temper,” he whispered back, kissing me there. “But if you need to freeze, beautiful, then freeze. You’ll never be in that hole again. I’ll make damn sure of that.”
Then he went to help Ash install my new front door.