Chapter 32
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
WREN
"Stop that." I swatted away Bray's hand after he pinched my ass.
He pressed the front of his body against my back and leaned down to say, "Hurry up then."
I glanced at him over my shoulder. "In case you haven't noticed, we're on a plane full of people and everyone is trying to get off."
Tiger and Lex were right in front of me, half the team still in front of them. All dressed in suits, in case the press appeared to take photos or ask questions about what happened in Melbourne. Couldn't have them looking their usual, scruffy selves when they were representing the team.
"I can't argue with that." He pressed his groin into my hip.
I pushed back, making his cock respond. "Not that kind of getting off, dickhead. Everyone is trying to disembark."
"That's a big word, stepsister dear," he teased. "Do you know how to spell it?"
I half turned around and grinned. "I…T."
He snorted a laugh. "Always the smartass."
"Better than being a dumbass." I reached the steps and followed Tiger and Lex down to the tarmac.
Both of them stopped until I was clear of the plane, then all three guys herded me to the waiting bus.
The same one, with the same driver, who picked up Sinclair and I from the side of the road after our abductors let us go.
I suppressed a shiver while I stepped on board and gave the driver a warm smile.
I had to give him some credit for helping to find me as fast as they had.
“Hey, Fred,” I said cheerfully.
He nodded politely. “Wren.” As far as I could tell, Fred was a man of few words at the best of times.
I hurried down the bus aisle and flopped into a seat covered in faded, slightly worn blue and red fabric. It looked a little tired, indented from years of ass cheeks, but it was comfortable.
Bray slipped in beside me. Tiger and Lex right behind us.
"It'll be nice to be home," Lex said.
"Been too long," Tiger said with a grunt. He leaned forward and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Got a surprise for you when we get there."
"She's already seen your cock," Bray said.
Tiger smirked at him. "My cock is worth seeing again and again. That's not the surprise."
"She's seen your balls too." Bray grinned.
"You want me to tell the driver to drop you off halfway there?" Tiger narrowed his eyes at Bray.
"You wouldn't do that." Bray placed his hands in his lap, one over the other.
"He might not, but I would," Lex said. "Just for a laugh."
"No one is telling the driver to drop anyone off," I said. "You three behave yourselves or I'll have to spank all of you."
"I think you just said, ‘Please keep giving each other shit so you have an excuse to spank us,’" Bray said. He gave me a knowing look.
"Don't pretend you wouldn't enjoy it," I told him.
He cocked his head and one side of his mouth drew up. "Bring it on," he drawled.
"Count on it." I leaned against him as the driver pulled the bus away from the plane and towards the exit. We passed through a boom gate beside a security booth and out onto the highway that led into Dusk Bay.
"If you're not careful you're going to—"
My words were interrupted by the squeal of brakes.
The bus skidded sideways down the road. The vehicle listed heavily to the right before straightening up with a thump and going on sliding.
I grabbed onto the seat in front of me, while Bray held on to me.
"Duck your head," he said. He placed a hand on the back of my neck and pushed my face down towards my knees. At the same time, he doubled over, pulling me close.
I screwed my eyes shut while the bus continued to skid.
It seemed to slide on for days. A million thoughts passed through my mind.
They began with— What the hell? It was too early in the winter for ice on the road, wasn't it? If not that, then what?
That was followed by— Had I told my father and Jenny I loved them? Had I told my guys? If I had, had I told them enough?
"I love you," I managed to grind out before the bus slammed into something hard.
Metal shrieked and groaned. People screamed.
After a moment, I realised one of those people was me. The sound was wrenched painfully out of my mouth, leaving my throat raw.
After an eternity, the bus finally came to a complete stop.
I slumped further forward as the silence hung heavier than a thundercloud.
"Wren?" Bray broke the silence. "Fucking hell. Are you okay?" He sounded pained.
I managed to force my eyes open. I moved my shoulders, wriggled my fingers and toes. "Yeah, I'm okay. You?"
"I seem to be more or less intact."
His tone made me turn my face and look at him. Blood trickled from a gash on his forehead.
"You're bleeding." I straightened up a little more. “Are you—”
Bray pressed his palm to his forehead for a few moments. He lowered his hand and glanced down at the smear of red on his fingers. "It's just a scratch. Nothing is broken. You'll be relieved to hear my cock and balls are still intact."
"Yeah, you're fine all right," I said dryly. "Priorities still in place."
The brief smile that flashed across his face looked forced. He was trying to lighten the mood. Neither of us was fooled.
I grabbed hold of the seat in front of me and levered myself to my feet. On wobbly legs, I turned around.
"Tiger? Lex?" I tentatively peered behind my seat.
Like Bray and me, Tiger and Lex were just straightening up, their arms around each other, heads down.
Tiger shook his head and grimaced. "I'm fine. Takes more than a bus crash to slow me down."
Lex was a little slower to respond. "I think my wrist is broken."
He held up his arm, his wrist bent at an angle wrists don't usually go. "Otherwise, I’m just fine." His face was paler than usual, expression drawn, brows furrowed. He was clearly in pain.
"We need to get off this bus," Tiger said.
All around us, people were stirring.
"Stay in your seats!" Aidan called out.
I glanced back to see him and Finley head towards the rear of the bus, where a locker sat in place of a row of seats.
Tiger looked like he was about to argue, but Lex curled his good hand around his shoulder. "This isn't an accident."
I knew that. We all did. Until now, I hadn't let myself acknowledge that fact.
I sat back down in a hurry, looking out the window into the darkness.
I could have imagined it, but I was sure I saw a shadow pass by the side of the bus.
My trembling hadn't stopped, but now it increased twofold. Someone was out there. Most likely several someones.
People who wanted us dead.
Aidan and Finley moved through the bus, tossing guns to anyone able to use one.
I caught a glimpse of Elenna and Sinclair each with a gun in her hand. Both appeared unhurt.
A couple of players had broken bones, or gashes to their heads. I didn't know what the bus struck, but where it struck… There was no way the guys sitting there survived.
I thought back, trying to remember who it was. Fuck. A few second line players, a rookie or two and one of the coaching staff.
Someone would have to tell their families, but that was something we'd have to worry about later. Right now, we had to focus on the rest of us not joining them.
I looked through the gap between my seat and Bray's as Tiger pulled off his suit jacket and shirt. He ripped it at the seams and made a sling for Lex's wrist.
"Try to keep it still." His tone was a mixture of worry, fury and determination. If he had to, he'd kill everyone who did this to us, all by himself. Even if he was killed in the process.
"Thanks." Lex leaned over to kiss Tiger's mouth. "I love you."
Tiger looked gruff. "Love you too. Let's deal with these assholes."
"Everyone move to the centre aisle," Aidan called out. "Keep down low. Those who can, make your way to the front of the bus. Those who can't, stay where you are. Elenna—"
"I'm coming with you," she said firmly.
"Me too," Sinclair called out.
"Me three," I added.
There was no way I was being left behind.
Aidan sighed. "Fine." He moved through the bus, his expression grim. "We have some idea what we're up against. Nothing we can't handle."
A bullet slammed into the window a couple of metres from him. He turned and regarded it with what almost looked like amusement.
Bray snorted. "As if the Demons wouldn't travel in a bulletproof bus."
The windows were tinted so the shooter wouldn't even know what or who they were aiming at. If it wasn't for the sound of voices and movement, they might have assumed we were all dead.
As it was, they had no idea how many of us were left alive. A factor Aidan no doubt kept in mind.
"Coast, Orion, Finley, Tiger, Phoenix and I are going out first," he said. "Lex will decide when the rest of you will step off." He and Lex exchanged glances before all five men were moving towards the front of the bus. Aidan nodded to Fred, who seemed shaken but not injured.
Fred leaned over to press a button and the doors opened slowly and with protest.
The guys stayed back, bodies tense, waiting.
My eyes were on Tiger.
He was illuminated by a sliver of moonlight. Bare chest shining silver against the darkness. Muscles coiled like a spring, waiting for the moment of release.
I wanted to shout out that I loved him, but distracting him right now could be fatal.
I held my breath and waited with them.
No one stormed onto the bus, guns blazing or whatever happens in action movies.
There was no sound from outside. Just an eerie silence that did nothing to steady my nerves.
Aidan gestured for them to move forward, stepping off the bus quickly and quietly.
On a signal from Lex, the rest of us rose. Those of us who could.
"Is there any way I can convince you to stay here?" he asked me.
"Save your breath," Bray advised. "She's got that look on her face." He'd seen it too many times before to bother to argue with me, at least, not for very long. He knew once I dug my heels in, they were dug in deep. Whether it was the right thing to do or not.
"Yeah, she does," Lex said, appraising me, more or less resigned. "There's times when being stubborn isn't the best way to go. Bray and I could tie you down to your seat."
His eyebrow twitched as though he was considering exactly the right way to go about that. We didn't have a length of rope or handcuffs handy, that I could tell.
Although this was the Demons’ bus, it wouldn’t surprise me if both were stashed somewhere.
"I'm also armed," I pointed out sweetly. I held up my gun and waved it around slightly. "And I don't have a broken wrist. Maybe you should be the one to stay here."
The idea of him going out there, basically one-handed, facing fuck knows what, scared the shit out of me. He wasn’t defenceless, but he was at a disadvantage. No doubt he hated that fact as much as I did.
"If I thought you'd stay with me, I would," he said.
The sound of gunshots from outside the bus, forced us all to immediate silence.
Footsteps crunched on the road outside, trotting or running. A shout sounded from a handful of metres away.
Shivers slid up and down my spine. Part of me was terrified, but part of me was itching to come face-to-face with Gus and Nicholas Fiorelli.
I could already picture them with a neat bullet hole in the centre of each of their foreheads. Courtesy of me or someone else, I didn't care.
By the end of this either they'd be dead or we would.
"Okay," Lex said. "Let's go and help them finish off these assholes."
We surged towards the front of the bus and stepped off into the night.