4. Cash
four
Cash
I slam my foot on the gas, the tires kicking up dirt as we shoot forward and away from this hellhole, not caring if my brothers were ready or not. We’ve wasted enough time as it is. I’ll admit that Riot’s little stunt to lure the rest of the men back to the vehicle was a good one but also stupid. We didn’t know how many were going to be headed for us or what type of firepower they could have. Luckily, the two guys we had previously taken out had a couple of guns and a few blades on them. Even luckier for us, only five more men showed up.
If I’m being honest with myself, I wasn’t even worried about all that. Riot had a twinkle of madness shining in his green eyes, so I knew the men coming for us had no chance. No, I was more worried that Ali was missing. I wouldn’t admit this to anyone, but the woman has dug her little claws under my skin. Even in the short amount of time we all knew her. Something about her felt like she was a long-lost puzzle piece we’ve been waiting for. Fuck, anyone who could tame Riot was already perfect in my book. But it wasn’t just Riot she tamed. Arsen’s eyes light up when he watches her, like a spark to an ember. I haven’t seen that kind of look in awhile. Then there’s me. She challenges me. Pushes my buttons until I want to wrap my hand around her smooth little neck and show her exactly what she does to me. I think she would even like it a bit.
But Riot was right to worry. We all should. Because can I see Ali making a run for it? Yes, absolutely. I bet she would do it, just for the thrill of the cat-and-mouse game. But Ali isn’t stupid. None of us knows where we were dumped or if there are resources within a decent walking distance. She wouldn’t just leave like that. Plus, it seems she saved Riot’s life. Why save him and then leave him for possible death? My guess is she went looking for supplies or for us but didn’t make it. That would make more sense and would explain why some of the men who originally showed up left. Which means, if they took her alive, they took her to our fathers, and that can’t end well. Our girl is a fighter, and our fathers believe in breaking those who aren’t submissive.
That’s the only thing that makes sense right now. Ali is alive, and we need to go get her. I have to believe that. Only thing is, I just can’t tell my brothers my suspicions yet. Riot would freak the fuck out and demand to go after her right this second, regardless of his injuries. If he thinks she is just running from us, he can at least hold back the urge to hunt her down. At least for a little while, but Riot hates being patient. Arsen, on the other hand, would be more calculated, like myself, but he knows better than anyone what his father is capable of. His family runs the skin trade. He knows all of his father’s despicable acts of taming. Which means we need to move and move fast.
“Pull up the GPS map and figure out where the fuck we are!” I snap as I head in the opposite direction from where the truck was parked and hope we’re headed somewhere civilized.
“We need to go after Ali. What if she is still somewhere out here? We can’t just leave her,” Riot calls from the backseat, rifling through a bag of medical supplies. Probably to tend to some of those deeper cuts covering his body. Don’t want to get an infection after all.
I shake my head, not saying anything while waiting for Arsen to answer me. “You’re not gonna like this.” He finally says, glancing over at me with a grim look on his face.
I grind my teeth, annoyed with everything that’s happened these last few days and how out of control I feel. “Tell me,” I demand, tightening my hands on the steering wheel so tight my knuckles turn white.
“We’re about 300-something miles east of Los Angeles. Somewhere in Death Valley. It’s about a four or five hour drive back.”
“Are you fucking serious!? Turn back now, Cash. We need to find Ali. We can’t leave her,” Riot demands again. A quick glance in the rearview mirror has me connecting eyes with the Riot I really know. There’s a warning in them, or maybe a threat.
“We can’t, Ri,” I tell him, keeping my tone calm, even though I don’t feel it. The decision to tell him my true thoughts warring with my rational side.
“Why the fuck not?!” he yells, tossing the medical bag against the car door. I shift my eyes to Arsen, who seems oddly quiet about all this as he lets out a deep sigh.
Has he come to the same conclusions as me?
“She’s not back there,” Arsen finally says. His words have Riot pausing for just a moment, probably assuming the worst. Which he should, if our conclusion is right.
“Then where is she?” Riot’s tone is calmer now but not the type of calm one would expect. No, this is the type of calm before the storm. The center of a hurricane. The moment right before the predator attacks.
“My guess…” Arsen side-eyes me before I give him a nod of my head to continue. “You weren’t waking up, Ri. She was probably worried, saw that some of the town wasn’t completely destroyed, and probably went in search of something to help you. Maybe even in search of us.” Arsen turns in his seat to face Riot. “It doesn’t make sense to send multiple teams after us and then call back one before we were even confirmed dead. I’m guessing one team found Ali and took her back. She wasn’t one of us, which means my father probably has a use for her.” He doesn’t have to tell us what that use is. We all know William Castro’s type. He prefers the defiant ones. The ones he can beat into submission.
Riot is quiet for a while before he says something that I think resonates with us all. “If they touch a single hair on our woman, I’m going to kill them all. Burn their entire empire to the ground and dance in their ashes. Blood or not.”
W e’ve been driving for about three hours now, and Riot has finally crashed in the back seat. I have to hand it to him; the man was riding the roller coaster of adrenaline hard. The way he fought even while being injured is a testament to the type of crazy this man is. It could have also been fury at losing Ali fueling his need to kill. The soldiers didn’t stand a chance against him. I swear the bastard was even laughing as he sliced a guy’s neck open.
Arsen and I were a bit more tame, each taking out a single guy while Riot played with his food. Luckily he had the smarts to keep one semi-alive for information. But more than that, he gave us an advantage.
It didn’t take much persuasion to get the dead man to do what we wanted. I simply promised I wouldn’t kill him. Then he was singing like a blue jay. Letting us know it was my father that hired them. That wasn’t too much of a surprise. After we got what he knew, we had him make a quick little phone call letting whoever know we were found and disposed of. The asshole on the other line sounded familiar; my guess, the guy we heard outside our little hiding spot. He even congratulated him on a job well done and told him a bonus was in his future as long as he bought our bodies back. That was going to be easy since we were headed for home anyways.
Once we were done with that little conversation, I tossed the asshole to the ground, grinning down at him. When he asked if he could go, I just grinned wider. Then I told him the truth. “I promised I wouldn’t kill you, but I never said anything about my brother.” The look of terror as he tried to escape was priceless. He didn’t get far before Riot was on him, no weapon in sight, just slamming his fist down into flesh and bone. It reminded me of my first meeting with Ali and the crazy clown that attacked her.
Now we’re minutes from a safe house that we own and one our fathers don’t know about. The ride had been quiet since Riot gave in to sleep hours ago, and the silence has given me time to think about our next move. Now pulling into the driveway, he stirs, as does Arsen.
“I’ll give you one hour to shower, tend to any injuries, or do what you need to. Then we need to regroup.” I don’t bother waiting for replies, throwing the truck into park, turning off the engine, and jumping out. Luckily our safehouses have keypad locks so we don’t need to keep an actual key on us. Which works out well after being thrown into the desert for three days with nothing but your clothes and a mask for fun. We also have separate staff that aren’t involved in the Hellfire Society that come by weekly to clean and keep stock up. Since we still “live” at home with our parents and the “family,” the safehouses are used as places we can escape to when we need a break.
I can hear the guys approach from behind as I swing open the door and walk in, checking the security panel for any progress. You can never be too careful in our line of work. When everything checks out, I head straight for the room I call mine and slam the door shut. I know getting to Ali is important, but if we want her alive, then we need to plan this smartly. So, first things first, I need to shower to feel normal, then food to get my head on straight. Then we go after Ali and our fathers.
Because if we want this to work, we need the element of surprise, and what’s more surprising than the son you thought dead coming back to life with a vendetta against you?