Chapter 5 Tyler
TYLER
Now that we have somewhat of a plan, we all pile into Nolan’s office.
Tivon is already setting up the prison cameras and Kira is sitting in the corner, nervously chewing her lip.
Ignoring the big Russian presence that is her brother standing behind me, I walk over to her, grab her hand, and pull her from the chair.
I lead her to the back patio for some privacy, and urge her down into my lap.
She curls into my chest, clutching my shirt.
“When did it get so messed up?” Kira whispers. “I can’t lose—”
“You won’t. Keon is going to make a full recovery. We’ll get Ari and Jason, and everything will go back to normal.”
“None of the other stuff mattered.” It’s more like she’s talking to herself and not me.
She looks up, and her eyes lock on mine.
“All the time I spent worrying what you would think of me, that never mattered. I know now that you don’t care about the scars.
It seems so stupid now that I was holding myself back because of my own insecurities. ”
“We only care about you,” I confirm. “And it wasn’t stupid that you felt that way.”
“I don’t want to hold back anymore. I’ve seen everything that you would do for each other, and know you would do the same for me.”
“We would, Little warrior. I was afraid this would make you think you couldn’t trust us.”
Kira rubs her hand across my cheek. “Never. Growing up with the life I had, I know things can happen at the drop of a hat.”
“So, finding out about Ari doesn’t bother you?”
“Was it a shock to realize who his dad is? Yes. But it doesn’t change how I feel about him. There’s some secrets that you just need to keep.”
Kira lays her lips against mine with no hesitation.
I lick the seam of her lips and with a sigh, she lets me stroke her tongue with mine.
We’ve kissed before, but this one feels different.
She was serious about not holding back, and this kiss proves it.
It slams into me how much I feel for this woman.
Somewhere over the last several weeks, I started developing feelings.
Feelings that I’ve tried to keep suppressed, but there’s no holding them back now, and I don’t want to.
Kira pulls back and lays her forehead against mine. “I’m going to go in and see how things are going,” she says before she pecks my lips and goes back inside.
I sit there for a minute just staring off into the distance when I hear the chair scrape beside me. I look over and watch Gavin take a seat. The things I feel for him are another thing that I don’t want to hold back anymore.
“You know I love you, right?” I say, making him look at me in shock. I’m not one for big declarations of love, and I’m definitely not good with words. “I don’t know when it happened, probably a long time ago, but I’m not going to fight it. I love you, Gav.”
“Holy shit,” Gavin chokes out. My brows furrow in confusion when I realize that he’s fighting off a laugh. “I’ve been spending the last several months trying to hide my feelings for you, and you just come right out, spilling it.”
“I’m nothing if not unpredictable.” That’s not exactly what I was expecting, so I try to shove down the hurt. “I’m going inside.”
Gavin grabs my wrist, stopping me from standing.
“Look, you just shocked me, okay? If we’re being honest here, I fell for you while you were helping me rehab.
I fell even harder the moment you let me kiss you without pulling away.
You’re one of the most important people in the world to me. I love you, too.”
My heart expands in my chest and starts beating out of control. I jump from my chair and straddle him in his, wrapping my arms around his neck as I crush him to my chest, making him grunt. “You big, beautiful man.”
“You just had to ruin it,” he grumbles, his voice coming out muffled against my chest, but his arms wrap around my waist. “When you say shit like that it makes me question my sanity about getting involved with you.”
“You’re stuck with me now.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
A throat clearing has us pulling apart. I look over Gavin’s shoulder, and the curly haired guy that was with Kane is standing there with his hands in his pockets. “I didn’t mean to interrupt, I was just hoping I could talk to you guys for a second. I’m Jaxon, by the way.”
“Tyler,” I introduce, getting to my feet. I stick my hand out, and he shakes mine and then Gavin’s when he stands.
“Gavin.”
I sweep my arm out at the other chair and reluctantly sit in my own. “What’s up?”
Jaxon lowers himself into the chair and looks at us.
I know he’s trying to figure out what the fuck he just walked into but to his credit, he doesn’t say anything.
“I wanted to talk about Kane. I know you’ve already figured out that he’s protective over Kira, and he can come off as an asshole.
” Jaxon pauses and then laughs. “Well, he is an asshole, but he’s only looking out for her. ”
I sigh. “I know, and I feel like shit for implying that he had anything to do with what happened to Kira.”
“Kane still blames himself for that fire, so does Blaze. So you can understand why he’s reluctant to let her make her own decisions.”
“He has to at some point,” Gavin says softly. “We care about her.”
Jaxon nods. “I know, and deep down, he does too. I guess I’m just asking you to be patient with him.”
I shrug. “We can do that, as long as we don’t meet the sharp end of his machete first.”
Jaxon laughs and relaxes back in his chair. “I can’t promise that, but I’ll do what I can to stop him.” Jaxon’s blue eyes turn assessing, and I wait for the question. “So, what’s the deal? And I’m in no way judging, seeing as I have three husbands. I’m just curious.”
“It’s basically the same as you,” Gavin answers. “Except there’s a girl involved.”
“You guys are all together?”
“Yep,” I answer.
Jaxon sighs. “Look, if you ever repeat that I said this, I’ll deny every fucking word, but I knew.”
“Knew what?” I ask.
“About you guys and her. Kira needed someone to talk to, and called me one day. I had no idea what was going to come out of her mouth when she just word vomited it everywhere. She swore me to secrecy, so I agreed because I wanted to be there for her. Do I think you’re good enough for her?
No, but it’s nothing against you. It’s because no one will ever be good enough for a woman like Kira. ”
Gavin and I both nod, because we know that. “I agree, but that’s not going to stop us from making her the most cherished woman in the world,” I reply.
“That’s all that I can ask for.” Jaxon gets to his feet, shoving his hands in his pockets. “I think they’re ready to get moving soon.”
It’s time to get this family back together.
After Gavin and I tell Kira goodbye, Axel drives us to get the tanks. No matter how serious the situation is, I can’t help but be excited about the prospect of plowing down the walls with this thing. I just wish Keon was here to see it.
I settle inside the tank for the long drive to the prison by backroads, and laugh when I try to think of ways to explain this to a cop if we run into one.
“I’m so jealous right now,” Keon’s voice crackles through comms, and I smile.
“Hey, man. Didn’t know you were coming with us on this mission,” I answer.
“Cole brought me an earpiece so I could listen.”
“How are you feeling?” Gavin asks.
“Sore and high as hell on pain meds. Doc said everything looks good. I got shot three goddamn times, a roof fell on me, and I almost got taken out by fucking rebar.” Apparently when Keon tried to dive out of the way, a piece of rebar from the roof was sticking out and went straight through his vest. It missed any vital organs, but part of it came through his stomach.
The vest was putting pressure on it, but when we stood him up, he started losing a lot more blood.
“I heard that you met Kane. Can’t say that I’m sad I missed that shitshow. ”
“He’s coming with us,” I reply. “Probably so he can catch one of us in the back with a bullet and say it was an accident, but he’s helping at least.”
Keon laughs quietly. “That’s his little sister, man. One that, until recently, was under his watchful eye. I can’t say that I blame him for wanting to protect her.”
“Nah, I get it,” Gavin agrees. “Do I like how he handled it? No. But I can’t say that I wouldn’t have reacted the same way.”
I know Gavin still has a lot of mixed emotions about his own sister, but he did everything in his power for her.
Only for her to turn around and blame everything on him and Ghost. I think that’s what hurt Gavin the most, is that she blamed Ghost for how it all started, just because he got away.
The only time Gavin went to see her is the only time I’ve ever seen him cry openly and without restraint.
She broke his heart that day, and it took everything in me not to sneak into the facility she’s locked up in and strangle the bitch.
We spent the rest of the long ride to the prison talking about safer topics, mostly as a distraction to the fact that this could get bad really fast. The walls of the prison finally come into view, and all conversation stops. We change the channel on the comms to talk to the rest of the team.
“We’re in place,” Axel reports, and everyone else starts chiming in. One voice rings out above the others and it makes me smile.
“Hey, Les,” I greet. “Didn’t know you’d be here.”
Les snorts. “You think I’d miss this? Took you long enough to get here.”
“The tanks are fucking slow,” I grouch, making her laugh.
“Yeah, yeah. Sounds like an excuse to me. In all seriousness, though, I’d do anything for you guys and Kira. Now, let’s show these assholes who run this show.”
“Gavin and Tyler,” Axel says, pulling our attention back to him, “take the walls down on each side of the guard tower. As soon as you breach, we’ll move.”
These motherfuckers have no idea what they’ve done, messing with Ari and Jason. Gavin and I line the tanks up, bracing ourselves for impact. The guard in the tower fires off rounds, even though it’s useless. They bounce off the outside of the tank, and I jerk in the seat when I smash into the wall.
“Woooooooo!” I howl, watching the wall crumble under me.
The tank crawls over it without an issue, and I stop right on the other side.
I open the hatch on the top and pull myself out.
When my feet touch the ground, I feel the team surrounding me.
It takes us two steps before pandemonium erupts, and we’re taking shots from all sides.
We move as one, taking them down one at a time.
Tivon made sure we had the right ammunition for their armor, and it slices through like a knife through butter.
I still have no idea what to think of him, but so far, he’s helped us by getting us in here.
I can even be thankful that he saved Kira, but that doesn’t mean I have to like him.
There’s something weird about the way he talks about Ari, and I can’t put my finger on it, because too many other things have been going on.
“On your right, Tyler,” Nolan says in my ear, and I swing around without question, pulling the trigger.
“Thank you, my adorable little computer nerd.”
“Fuck off,” Nolan laughs. “On your left, Gav.”
It goes like that until we finally breach the building, but something already feels off.
It’s entirely too quiet as we creep into the main lobby.
Axel produces a keycard that he must have swiped from a dead guard and swipes it across the card reader.
The light flashes green and when we open the door, I realize why it was so quiet in the lobby.
They were all waiting for us. We all open fire, dodging out of the way when they shoot back.
“Goddamnit,” Kai hisses. “That was close.”
“Tyler,” Nolan says. “Ari and Jason are in the last cell on the left.” We caught the end of the struggle with Ari and the guards on the cameras. I know for a fact that Ari isn’t going down without a fight.
I just need them to hold on for a few more minutes.