“And you want me out of here in case Nikolai or Vlad try to grab me again,” Thea adds drily. Bullet glances at her, holdingher stare. Thea looks at Sniper, who just arches a brow, as if to say why did she bother even stating something that was so obvious. “Alright, I’m good with that. We need to get a move on, though. We have no idea how quickly everything is going to happen and mobilize.”
Bullet nods and looks at Avery. “It’s your choice if you want to go with them.”
“But you would prefer I stay here in case Medic needs help,” she finishes. Her expression is one of understanding and resignation.
She looks up at me, and I already know what she’s about to ask because I say, “Angel, I want you safe, and you’ll be safer with your brother and sister. But I also know that you’re not going to be happy to sit back while leaving Medic to do all the hard work. If you stay, I need you to make sure that you follow every single order and direction. I don’t want to be worried about you at the same time as I’m trying not to die myself.”
“Why can’t you be that reasonable?” Thea asks Sniper drily.
“Because she’s not going to run out into the middle of gunfire and get herself shot,” Sniper grunts. “Avery, if you stay, you’re to stay with Medic at all times.” He looks over at Kaleb. “You feel up to staying in here with them just in case?” Kaleb glances at the bodies again and then back at Avery. Then he nods. Sniper holds his stare and nods shortly, too. “Alright. Avery, you’ll have Medic and Kaleb here, and if shit goes south, you get the hell down to the basement. Kaleb will get you into our safe room and guard you there. Got it?” Avery nods, but she doesn’t look completely convinced.
I turn her and cup her face in my hands. “You do not need to stay here,” I remind her firmly. I need her to know that this is her choice, even as everything inside me is screaming to tell her to go. To get out of here and to safety. The only thing holding me back is the fact that I’ve seen exactly what happens whenthe men around here tell the women they can’t do something. Sometimes it’s a good thing to be one of the last few men finding his own woman. You get to see all the fuck ups the others have done before you and learn from them. “Don’t do something that you’re not one hundred percent sure of, but if you do stay, then we’ll keep you safe. And I wouldn’t say that if I don’t believe it myself.”
Her eyes search mine until she finally nods slowly. “I’ll stay,” she murmurs. “Just promise me that if something happens, you’ll keep your promise to take care of the kids. Promise me, Hulk.”
“I promise, angel.” I press a quick kiss to her mouth, and when I pull away, I add, “But nothing is going to happen to you or them.” Then I look over at Thea. “Don’t give Isla a gun. Sawyer, maybe, but Isla is likely to shoot first and ask questions later.”
“Noted.” She looks at Avery. “You want to go with me to get them ready and explain?”
Avery nods.
Then she turns her head and presses a kiss to my mouth again. When she pulls away, she gives me a quick smirk.
“That was to lull you into a false sense of security. They’re going to be pissed that we’re sending them to safety and not letting them stay.”
Then she turns and follows Thea out.
Kaleb immediately hurries to follow them. I turn to look at Rose, who is standing next to Bullet, but her gaze is on the men now covered by a sheet that Medic has placed over them. Her eyes are cold, but then her gaze turns back to Bullet’s. “I’m not leaving.” It’s a statement, not a question or a suggestion. Bullet looks like he wants to argue, but Rose simply snaps, “Don’t even try it. You and I can go around about it too when this is all over, but until then, I’m staying put. I’ll help Avery in here and go tothe safe room if shit goes south.” Her face darkens. “And just so we’re clear. Whoever killed my boys, you make them hurt a million times worse. I want them to suffer far more than they did.” Then she turns on her heel and stalks out of the room.
Bullet sighs. “Sniper, text Theo and have him stay on her until the kids, Crypt, and Thea are ready to leave. I don’t put it past her to try and sneak out and get her ass in trouble. Again.” Then he turns back to me. “Are you sure that she’ll be okay to handle this?”
I sigh. “I want to tell Crypt and Theo to take her ass with them, but I’m trying not to fuck up the little trust she has in me so far. She’s damn good at what she does, and if she leaves, I know she’s going to be kicking herself.”
“We could have Crypt kidnap her and get her to safety,” Sniper offers with a wicked smile. “And she won’t hit him because of his injury.”
I shake my head. “Nah, it’s alright. Kaleb will keep an eye on her and Rose.” I give Medic a hard look. “And if shit gets bad, send her the fuck out. I don’t care if you have to carry her down yourself.”
Medic nods. “I’ll make sure it’s done, brother.”
It’s all I can hope for.
“I got it,” Cryos cries triumphantly as he bursts through the door. “They’re telling the truth.” He glances at Angel, Dozer, Sting, Diesel, and Trix before adding, “You’re fucking lucky I thought to turn the audio on in there. It’s not a normal protocol for us.” He clicks a few buttons on his phone, and the room fills with harsh voices.
It’s the same story that the five of them gave, but my focus sharpens when I hear a muted voice whisper, “We need to get to the meet-up before he thinks we’re not coming. I’m not getting stuck down here when they fucking nuke the place.”
“That’s Crook,” Angel states. “I recognize his voice. Fucker always is getting squirrelly about shit. I’m surprised he didn’t crack before now and let anything slip.”
Now I know who the panicked guy at the bottom of the stairs was. Crook is definitely the weak link. I doubt he’ll make it out of this entire situation alive. I’m still not sure about the other two voices, but I’ll figure it out soon enough.
“Arson’s probably got someone on him to make sure he doesn’t,” Sting offers. “But my main concern is, are they really going to try and nuke this place?”
“They’d be stupid to try and do something that moronic,” Sniper states. “We’re more likely to see them come in and try to torch the place or just do a regular shootout. Vlad’s not going to try to sneak in and kill us. He’s pissed and he’s going to want a show.”
“Then we need to be ready for when that show arrives,” Bullet states with finality. “Get everything ready. We hold nothing back. When Bowie and Frost get back, I want them in position. Shadow and Stone are going to walk into a battle, so I’ll send them a message to let them know to be ready as soon as they get off the plane. Otherwise, we’re done playing nice. If you got some sort of stash of weapons hidden or something in your rooms or anywhere else in this clubhouse, you get them out.” Then he looks at Cryos. “We need you on the cameras and shit, so make sure we all have ear pieces. Anything that shows up on those cameras, I want to know about it.”
“On it.” Cryos takes off running back out of the room.
The roar of bikes fills the air, and we’re all moving fast. I pull my gun, all my senses on high alert as we take positions on the front porch. “Guns down, they’re ours!” Sniper suddenly barks, and I realize that it is indeed Viper, Bowie, and Frost.