Chapter Six
Hades
I slept for shit last night, thoughts of Raven populated my dreams like she was hired to be the goddamn star.
How could I not when I was looking at having her at my side twenty-four-seven for the foreseeable future?
It was both a blessing and a curse. As long as she was just around the clubhouse, she was nothing more than Falcon’s kid sister with the big mouth and sharp tongue.
But now? Now she was a fucking temptation I couldn’t keep my distance from.
“So,” Raven sighed, dropping down in the empty seat beside me. Her gaze was fixed on the kids, namely her nephew TJ, while they played together and with the MC bulldog, Chopper.
“So?”
“What’s the plan?” she asked without looking my way. “Am I just sticking to you like glue until the end of time?”
My lips twitched freely since she wasn’t looking and I nodded in silent answer to her question.
“I don’t have any other instructions, so I guess so.
” I took a pull from my beer and nodded slowly.
“Right now, they don’t know where you are and that works for us.
I assume you just exist on a list of girls who got away from Kozlov or one of his… customers. He wants you back.”
“Of course he does,” she laughed bitterly. “He always said I was his favorite piece of property. Even more than his house in Milan.”
There was no trace of humor in her voice and my blood ran cold. “That bastard.”
“Yeah,” she agreed. “He was a cold son of a bitch. But he was also calculating. He could look at a room and size everyone up within a few seconds. He knew exactly where to apply pressure.” There was no awe in her voice, just the facts as she saw them.
I tucked that detail away for later. “Our biggest problem is they might accidentally find you while searching for that goddamn USB.”
She nodded and let out a heavy exhale. “Exactly what I’m worried about.” Eventually she turned away from the kids and Chopper, and watched me closely. “What’s your week look like, then?”
“Busy, but I have a feeling that’s about to change now that I’ve got a pink-haired badass to shadow.”
Raven managed a small smile. “Sorry to rope you into this.”
I leaned forward and bumped her shoulder with mine. “You didn’t rope me into anything. I volunteered. Remember?” I’d do it again, no matter how this all turned out. She deserved to have somebody fight for her. This time it would be me.
Her full lips pulled to one side, her eyes lit with amusement as she asked, “What the hell were you thinking?”
I shrugged, smiling around my beer. “Hero complex, I guess.”
She tossed her head back, long neck on full display as laughter spilled from her lips. She turned to me with a slow, conspiratorial grin. “You might end up regretting that.”
“Doubtful.” I stared back at her, probably for a beat too long before I got my shit together and let out a sigh.
“You might get sick of me first.” Raven and I weren’t exactly close.
She was the sister of my best friend and that was about it, despite her starring role in my dreams and my jack-off sessions.
“Maybe.” She nibbled her bottom lip, something she did when she wasn’t sure if the words were a truth disguised with a joke. “But we’re stuck with each other, so I suppose we ought to make the best of it, yeah?”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “It’s about time we became friends, don’t you think?”
Her brows shot up. “You want to be my friend, Hades?”
“Better than being your enemy, I think.” I studied her carefully, watching the flicker of emotion in her eyes before she hid it behind that sarcastic grin.
“You never know.”
I opened my mouth to say more but the clubhouse door flew open and Laura appeared with wide eyes that searched the crowd until she found who she was looking for. Raven.
Instantly I was on my feet and on edge. I got to my feet immediately and stood at Raven’s side as she rose, my hand automatically went to her lower back. Her silent support. “What’s wrong?”
Laura didn’t spare me a glance before stopping right in front of Raven with tears in her eyes.
“It’s the community center,” she reluctantly pushed out.
“It’s been vandalized.” Her voice shook as she spoke.
“It was destroyed except the building is still standing.” Tears streaked her cheeks and then finally, a sob escaped. “It’s a mess.”
Raven’s body went completely rigid beneath my hand. Her body had gone ice cold. “What? What do you mean destroyed? Who?” She shook her head, body trembling violently now because she knew who. Same as I did.
“No idea,” Laura sighed. “Cops are crawling all over the place. Asking questions.” She studied Raven. “I heard about Katya today. I’m so sorry, Raven.”
“Yeah, thanks.” She shook her head, swiped away her tears. “Did the cameras catch anything?”
Laura hit her with a dumbfounded look. “No idea. The cops are handling that.” She waved her hand dismissively and sighed. “What are all those people who rely on the center going to do?”
“We’ll figure it out.” Raven’s voice was quiet. Quieter than I’d ever seen her, which gave me a glimpse into the woman she’d been for three years.
I took a step forward and sighed. “You need to stay away from the community center for a while.”
She folded her arms, ready to fight.
I wasn’t in a fighting mood. “I’m not asking. If I need to have Hawk tell you, I will.”
Her jaw clenched but eventually she nodded before turning back to Raven. “Is everything all right? What’s going on?”
“A lot,” Raven answered. “Shit’s about to get crazy. Again. And this time, it’s all my fault.”
“Don’t do that,” I growled in her ear. “You of all people know this is what we do. You’re in trouble and we’re here to stand between you and those assholes.” I gave her a gentle push. “Let’s go.”
She frowned, her dark brows dipped angrily. “Where are we going?”
“To see if Slate can catch a glimpse of who fucked up the community center.” Everything I knew about Kozlov said he hired professionals to do his dirty work, which meant hitmen, mercenaries, and assassins, so whoever broke into the community center probably managed to avoid the cameras, but she needed a distraction.
“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” she muttered, more to herself than to me.
The fact that she let me guide her told me exactly how rattled she was and I hated to see her so messed up, but it meant she would listen to me. I hoped.
I headed towards Slate’s office and motioned for Raven to come with me.
“You busy?” I called through the doorway, before walking into the office and pushing Raven into a chair.
“Nope. What’s up?”
I told him about the community center. “Chances are probably slim but if we can find who did this, we can confirm if it’s Kozlov or a coincidence.”
He nodded and handed me a laptop. “It’ll go faster if we both look, and I can see how much you retained from our last lesson.”
I wanted to glare at him but more than that, I wanted answers. I opened the laptop and fired it up, running through the steps Slate had shown me, starting with the community center and trying to follow the asshole back to wherever he started. I came up with jack shit. “He’s a fucking ghost.”
Slate chuckled to himself. “Pull back and get creative. You’re looking for suspicious activity.
Patterns. Look at the people hanging around.
Also see who rushes away when the cops arrive.
Some assholes want to watch the aftermath and see the panic they created.
If Kozlov is sending a message, then he probably knows what result it’s gonna have, so there’s no reason for whoever he sent to do his dirty work to stay. ”
The room fell silent except for the clicking on the keyboard and tapping the trackpad for several long minutes while Slate and I tried to find who wrecked the community center. “Why would they think Katya left the drive at the community center?”
“I don’t know where she was staying before that last night,” Raven answered absently. “I didn’t ask because that’s not the kind of thing you do, you know?” She shrugged. “As long as she felt safe, we don’t ask a lot of questions because you never know who you can trust.”
“So someone was following her. And I’m assuming they searched her body after they killed her,” I muttered.
“Did she have any money?” Slate glanced over his shoulder quickly before turning back to the monitor.
“Not sure. Oh wait, she said she was decked out in jewelry when she ran off, and she pawned it as she went to fund her escape.”
“I’ll look at hostels and cheap rate motels,” Slate offered.
“I’ll check shelters and rented rooms,” I said, switching tactics. Suddenly I understood exactly why this type of work got Slate so fucking excited. It offered more answers or at least helped us quickly eliminate leads without spending the whole fucking day to find that out.
“They did all that damage for the flash drive, right?”
“That would be my bet,” Slate said, nodding as he tapped into all the cheap places to stay.
“And if they didn’t find it there, which we know they won’t,” she began.
“They might start checking with the employees. Shit, what if they took employee files?” She got to her feet and started pacing.
“We can’t let them go to their homes. We know what they’ll do just to find out that none of them have it. ”
Slate froze. “You’re right. I’ll have some of the guys go around to check on ‘em.”
“Thank you,” she sighed, dropping into her chair again. “I know I’m being a little crazy, but I know what they’re capable of. They will hurt them first, maybe kill them just to stop anyone from asking questions.”
“You’re not crazy,” I insisted. “You’re worried about the people you care about, and you know better than anybody, what these fuckers can do. Slate’s gonna have some guys check on the employees and volunteers. Don’t worry.”
“I’m not worried, I’m terrified,” she spat out.
“Okay,” I answered. “Be terrified, it’s much more productive than worrying.”
She glared at me and then flipped me off. “Agreed.”
“We got something!” Slate’s excitement stopped whatever else I might’ve said.
“There he is, shimmying up the fire escape.” He pointed to the screen, to a figure decked out head to toe in black.
He was a tall fucker, well-built too, with broad shoulders and long legs.
“It’s not much, but you can see he’s inside for a few hours, which means he’s working alone. ”
Raven was on her feet, staring at the screens on the wall. “Look up there,” she pointed. “When he walks onto the street, he’s in a red track jacket and jeans.”
“And no fucking bag!” Slate’s grin widened. “It’s probably still in the trash.”
“We should go get it,” Raven insisted. “Come on, Hades. Let’s go!”
“Not so fast. If anyone’s watching the community center, they might recognize you.”
She deflated instantly. “Shit. You’re right.” Raven turned to me.
I pushed away from the table and stood in front of her.
“This is the beauty of having a big team, Raven. Just because you can’t get it done doesn’t mean it can’t get done.
” After the Army I wasn’t all that ready to trust people again either.
It was hard but those long months as a prospect gave me people to trust and taught me who I could trust. “It’ll get done. ”
“I trust you,” she said so softly I wasn’t sure I actually heard the words.
“And you won’t regret it.”
She looked up then, her eyes met mine without that usual steel she held up in front of her. She was all fear and vulnerability in that moment and it hit me in a way I wasn’t expecting.
I’d protect her with my life, without a doubt, but in that moment, I knew I’d go a hell of a lot further than that. Some urge rose up within me, something I’d never felt before, and it scared the shit out of me. Whatever this was, I needed to shut it down.
She was mine to protect, that was all.
She wasn’t mine, not in any other way.
No matter how it felt.