Chapter 31 Kratos
The wind whips through my hair, blowing it all over the place, but I can’t bring myself to care as I push my bike faster down the road.
When Rick called, I knew something was wrong before he even told me. Rick isn’t one to show emotion, and the panic in his voice was clear after just a few words. I expected it to be something about Jade, but I wasn’t expecting her to be missing.
It shouldn’t be possible, or at the very least, it should have been very hard to catch her so off guard that someone could take her.
I want to think she knows what she’s doing, that if she's gone, she has a reason, but that does very little to settle my panic.
Panic that had me jump on my bike without a helmet. Not taking enough time to bother securing my hair to keep it out of my eyes as I drive as fast as my bike will allow back to Hoppers.
As I ride, I clench my jaw in anger and hold the handlebars tight enough that my knuckles turn white and my hands cramp.
I’m angry at so many things that I can’t stop to focus on just one.
What the fuck is she thinking?
What the fuck is he thinking?
Did he take her to Hoppers?
Why the fuck couldn’t I have gotten this call two hours ago when I was already at the club?
Most importantly, why the fuck did I choose to live so god damn far away?
The usual twenty-minute drive now feels like it’s taking a lifetime. I need to focus.
As I drive, I think of all the other places he might have taken her if not to Hoppers, but I come up blank. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad, though. Does that mean he’s for sure at Hoppers, or does that mean nobody will know where they are if they’re not there?
Fuck.
I’m two minutes out, and my thoughts continue to spiral out of control. What if it wasn’t Spencer who took her? Rick seemed pretty confident it was, and based on the issues they’ve had in the past, I can see him deciding to take things into his own hands.
That doesn’t mean I won’t be strangling him for it, but I can see how he would get to this point of desperation for answers.
What if it wasn’t Spencer, though?
Fuck!
The thought brings all kinds of terrible scenarios to mind. Thankfully, the view of the building interrupts them before I get lost in any of them.
I whip into the parking lot, bypassing the main club and pulling right up to the shed. If I were Spencer, this is where I would take her. Hopefully, I know him well enough to get this right. I could wait for Zander and Rick and see what they think, but the thought of waiting makes my stomach turn.
No, I can at least check, and if she’s not here, we can go from there.
I park my bike and hardly get the kickstand down before I run to the shed. I don’t slow as I pull open the hatch and start down the stairs.
I’m halfway down the steps when I hear something from down the hall, and I instinctively speed up. It could be anyone. Everyone in Vengeance knows about this gem, but nobody is supposed to use it without letting me know. I hope that rule has held for everyone but Spencer tonight.
I make it to the last door on the right and slam it open with much more force than I intended. It slams into the wall, and I hear the telltale sound of the wood splintering, but I can’t bring myself to care as my eyes search the room.
Four people stand inside, two of our lower members I don’t look at long enough to identify, and in front of them stand Jade and Spencer.
Everyone’s frozen in place, looking at me to see who just barreled into the room, not that I can blame them. I look at Spencer long enough for him to cower slightly before I dismiss him in favor of looking at Jade.
When our eyes meet, she gives me a huge smile before rushing toward me and throwing her arms around my neck. Without a second thought, I pull her close, pressing her to my chest and breathing her in, convincing myself that she’s here and safe.
I get to enjoy the feel of her for only a moment before the sound of feet pounding down the hall pulls our attention to the door. She pulls back slightly, not leaving my arms but enough that I feel the loss of her.
Rick’s the first one through the door, followed closely by Zander and…
Is that Trent?
Great, just what we need, more shit to pile on the ever-growing list of things to deal with.
I watch as the tension in Rick’s shoulders drops slightly the second he sees Jade, only for his eyes to harden as he takes in Spencer just a few paces behind us.
Trent looks around the room before his eyes settle on Jade as well.
I can’t say I blame him. He's a cop, so his first instinct is to secure the area. Most of our crew is trained the same way. The difference is that these guys know this place, so even if someone were hidden, they would know where to look and how to stay safe. Trent doesn’t.
The relief is clear in his eyes when he finally sees her.
I make a mental note to talk to Rick about him later. Trent might be a player on the board that I was unaware of.
Zander lets out a huff of frustration, his reaction so unlike the others that it confuses me. I thought if anyone would be happy to see her alive and in one piece, it would be him.
Had I read that whole situation incorrectly?
My confusion only lasts a moment before he’s stalking towards us, shaking his head as he goes. When he reaches us, he all but tears Jade from my arms to wrap her up in his own, tucking her head beneath his chin and breathing her in.
Much like I just had.
My first instinct is to yell at him, but I can’t bring myself to do it.
I might be his superior here, but I also know how he feels.
Seeing her wasn't enough. I needed to make sure she was real. No, if I yelled at him right now, it would be purely out of jealousy because I didn’t want to have to let her go.
And I refuse to be that guy, especially not with the way she reacts to him.
Her arms wind around his back, her fingers curling into the fabric of his shirt the same way they did mine. She trusts him, and that's all it takes for my jealousy to melt away.
The soft smile that lit his face up when she melted into him disappears so quickly it was like it was never there. Before I can ask what’s wrong, he pushes her away from him, gripping her by her shoulders as he takes in every bit of her.
The frown on her face lets me know she's also confused, and I almost feel like yelling at him again. She’s been through enough today and doesn’t need any more shit. I don’t, though. It would just piss her off if I came to her defense like that.
She hates being treated like she’s fragile.
“What the fuck happened?” Zander’s angry yell finally breaks the silence, and I find myself looking her over to see what he could be referring to.
It only takes a moment before I see it.
There’s blood everywhere. It’s smeared on her hands and face, but the wound appears to be on her left leg. The longer I look at her, the more blood I notice, like the trail that goes down her throat from a shallow cut on her neck.
How the fuck had I not noticed that?
I pull my eyes away from her to look down at myself, finding her blood smeared on me the same way it is on Zander now.
My vision blurs as I think of all the blood on both of us and just how much more is on her.
Blood that’s still actively dripping down her leg.
I’m on Spencer without a thought, not giving him a moment to react before I grip him up and slam him back against the wall. He hits hard enough that the air leaves his lungs in a choked gasp, but I couldn’t care less right now.
“What the fuck did you do?” I demand, hardly able to push the words out through my anger. My voice comes out low and harsh as I speak through clenched teeth, but I know he hears me. The involuntary shiver he gives lets me know while also clueing me in on just how afraid of me these guys really are.
Before tonight, I would have said that it was ridiculous. Yes, I outrank them and could kill them pretty easily, but before now, I never had a reason to.
No, before tonight, these three were my top picks for everything. Now, I’m seriously contemplating taking them from three down to two.
It takes him a minute to pull himself together before he shakes his head back and forth.
“I know what it looks like, and it’s not like that,” he says, his eyes wide in fear.
Good, he should be afraid.
“Oh, is that so?” I lean into his space until I’m all he can see, “So you’re going to tell me you didn’t take Jade and bring her down into a torture room to get information out of her?” I ask because that’s precisely what it looks like to me.
I’ve had years of experience with torture, getting the intel I needed from every single person who wanted to cross me, to cross Vengeance. If he thinks I’m scary now, he doesn’t know what’s in store for him.
He hesitates for a moment before answering, as if trying to find the right words. “Okay, yes, I did do that, but—”
I don’t let him finish, slamming him back against the wall again as my anger gets the best of me. He cringes but pushes on, holding up his hands as if to calm me, but it does nothing. “That’s all I did, though! I know it looks like I did more, but I didn’t,” he gasps in a rushed, pleading voice.
I narrow my eyes at him before letting him go. His legs give, and he slides down the wall until he’s seated on the floor in a pathetic heap.
I look down at him for a moment, but he doesn’t so much as look back at me, his eyes fixed on someone else in the room.
I don’t need to look to know that it’s Jade, but I do anyway.
As if she can feel my eyes on her, she lifts her head to meet my gaze, her smile still in place, and that’s enough to settle some of my rage.
She’s a fucking sight to see.
Jade’s beautiful. She always has been, but these last few weeks, she has found pieces of herself that make her happy, taking it to a new level.
But right now, standing here covered in blood.
I would burn cities for her, though I know she could do that all on her own.