Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
Pen
I lead Callum along the trail to the gravel drive, which is about a click away from the house. Fig and the guys meet up with us, and I tell them what happened to Callum. Then we quickly decide to dispatch men in different directions to find Jordan.
When I get my hands on him, we aren’t just having words. Before I kick his sorry untrustworthy ass off our team, we are going rounds for endangering Callum.
I remain with Callum as we head to the house, even though I can already see that he’s distancing himself from me. There’s a gap between us—it’s small, but it could be the Grand Canyon for all the space and silence he’s keeping.
Maybe this is for the better. Since I’m done with Dom, I don’t feel right continuing on with Callum. The way he’s avoiding eye contact, he appears to be thinking the same thing.
Even so, all this could have been avoided if I had stayed put and not run away to lick my wounds.
I decide that I can’t worry about what’s going through Callum’s head right now. His safety is what’s most important.
“Pen,” Callum says as we enter the house, but I keep quiet. “Where are you?”
“Thinking.”
“About what?” I don’t respond. He grips my shoulder, and turns me toward him and repeats his question. “About what?”
I glance his way, but I can’t really look at him—not with those scratches still marring his skin, yellow-green and fading, reminders of how close I came to losing him. “You’ve already been through enough, and if I hadn’t taken off on you, you wouldn’t have left the house.”
His grip on my shoulder tightens and he gets in my face.
“Now you listen to me. This is not your fault. Do you hear me?” He peers into my eyes and I see so much strength in them.
I want to wrap my arms around this man and protect him from the world.
But I can see he wouldn’t want that. He gives me a little shake. “Answer me, asshole.”
“Yes,” I chuckle, even though I don’t feel any happiness—not like I did last night.
“Usually, I’m more than capable of taking care of myself, but apparently, right now I’m not. So, I propose, once this whole thing is cleared up, you teach me some moves to protect myself. What do you think?”
“Yes, I can do that,” I agree, if only to cement his sense of purpose. Whether or not I stick around once we find the bastard who’s behind this… well, we’ll deal with that later.
“I’m going to clean up. I want to be part of the conversation you have with the team once they get back.”
“Take your time and don’t rush.” I watch Callum go into his bedroom and close the door. I’m not sure if I want him involved in this conversation with the team. But the only people here that I currently trust are Fig. I need to talk to him now.
I step outside and find all but one man pulling up near the front door. “Did you locate Jordan?”
“We couldn’t find him,” Joel says. His brows are furrowed tight and he’s frowning just like the rest of the group. “Jordan’s absence is suspect to me.”
Me too.
Fig arrives with George by his side; both are shaking their heads. “Couldn’t track him,” Fig admits.
I turn to Dean’s men. “How well do you know Jordan?” I’m nowhere near calm.
“We don’t know him at all,” Patch says.
“I met him in Colorado, when Dean sent us there,” Pete adds, with an equal amount of confusion across his face.
“We thought he was part of your crew,” Joel says confidently. “He told us back in Evergreen that he’s been a part of your group for a year.”
“That’s true,” Fig adds. “He did start with us when all that crap happened with Connor’s uncle.”
A chill runs down my spine. “I only met him when he was assigned to Warrior Black,” I explain, then pull out my phone and quickly dial Tobias’s number.
“Pen.”
“How did Jordan come to us?” I ask, putting my phone on speaker and turning up the volume so everyone can hear.
Right then, Callum comes out, stands by me and listens attentively to Tobias. “He came to us from Dean Harper’s crew last year. Why?”
“Dean’s men confirm that they never met Jordan until they got to Colorado,” I state, gripping the phone tight.
“Fuck,” Tobias hisses. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. And there’s more.”
“What?” he clips out, an edge of ire coating the word.
“Callum was spooked in the woods. He thought he heard the same man who attacked him in Evergreen call out his name here. Then he got knocked out. He has a large lump on the back of his head.”
“I need to call Dean. Wait for my call back.”
“Wait,” I begin to say, but he hangs up. I wanted to ask if he had heard from Dom.
“What do we do in the mean time?” Fig asks, as he looks to me.
I glance at Callum, and the storm of emotions across his face gives me no choice but to propose that we get the hell out of here. “Since this place isn’t any safer than Colorado, we are heading to San Francisco. And you, Callum Fitz, will be under lock and key until all this is over.”