“What do we do?”Now that the shock was starting to wear off from one trauma, the adrenaline in preparation for the coming battle was threatening to make me sick again.
“We need to get out of here,” he said, his voice low and urgent.“Knuckles has some of the guys from Iron Tzars comin’ to help us out.They’ll take care of the body and clean out your presence.”
I nodded, my mind racing as I tried to process everything.“Where will we go?”I ask, hating the tremor in my voice.
“The Iron Tzars are gonna escort us safely to meet Kiss of Death.”
“Motorcycle clubs?”
“You remembered.”He looked pleased I’d recalled that.It was nauseating how much I soaked up the implied praise.“Yes.The Tzars are going to bring us into Evansville where we can eat and shower.Knuckles has a crew coming to Evansville to bring us to Nashville.”
I took a deep breath.“This is moving so fast.I don’t know what to do.”I was trembling now, my voice wobbling with every word.I didn’t like this feeling at all.I wasn’t an indecisive person.In this case, my head was telling me one thing, but my gut another.
“I know, honey.But do you honestly think you’re safer staying here?”His voice was kind, gentle even, but I knew he had to be aggravated.I was hesitating when he’d just rescued me.
“Right,” I muttered.“Good point.How about we reevaluate when we get to Evansville?”
To my surprise, instead of being irritated or impatient, Pain gave me a lopsided grin any rogue would be proud of and nodded his approval.“I can work with that.”
It wasn’t long after that when the distant rumble of approaching motorcycles filled the air.Three bikes and one black Ford truck pulled down my driveway.
The night was still hot and muggy, the summer not showing any sign of relief.A really tall, heavily muscled, bearded man climbed out of the truck, his movements fluid despite his size.He nodded at Pain before his gaze shifted to me, assessing but not threatening.
“Nadine, this is Brick.He’s the vice president of the Iron Tzars in Evansville,” Pain said, his hand coming to rest lightly on my lower back.That simple touch sent a current of electricity through me that had no business existing in this moment of crisis.
“Ma’am,” Brick said with a respectful nod before shifting his gaze to Pain.“We need to move quickly.The boys will clean up the trash and make sure there’s nothing left.”I had the feeling he actually meant something other than the obvious, but I wasn’t about to say anything.Two other men were already heading toward the house, carrying large duffel bags that I desperately didnotwant to know the contents of.
“You ready?Got everything you need?”Pain asked, his voice a steady anchor in the chaos swirling around me.
I nodded, gesturing weakly toward my suitcase and backpack near the door.“That’s all I have.”
“Good.Less to worry about.”He grabbed my suitcase with one hand, his other hand still at my back, guiding me toward the truck.
“What about my car?”I asked, suddenly remembering the beat-up Fiesta.“It’s not much, but it’s all I’ve got.”
“We’ll take care of it,” Brick said softly.The big-man energy around Brick was surprisingly low for someone so large.No doubt it was a skill he’d perfected so people underestimated him.
“You ready?”Pain gave me a steady look, like he knew I was freaking out but was holding myself together by a thread.Pain was my thread.
“No,” I said honestly.“Not even close.”I shook my head.I clung to my backpack like my lifeline.Before I realized what I was doing, I’d backed away a step, looking from Brick to Pain and back again.All of a sudden, the realization crashed over me that I was in an extremely remote location with men who were big and strong enough to break me in half.I was powerless to stop them if they attacked.
“Nadine.Honey.”Pain set the suitcase down.One of the other men I hadn’t been introduced to picked it up and took it to the truck without a word.Everyone else seemed to have gone into the house.“Hey.”He snapped his fingers to get my attention.When I looked back at him, there was a worried expression on his face.“It’s all right.Do you trust me?”
“I don’t know.”My voice was barely above a whisper and even though we were outside in the open, everything seemed to be closing in around me.
“Of course, you don’t,” Pain said, his voice gentle but firm.“You shouldn’t.Not after what you’ve been through.But right now, staying here isn’t an option.”
I glanced back at my little rental house.The place I’d called home since I’d started working at the prison was about to become a crime scene.Or worse, it would be wiped clean as if nothing had happened.As if no one had ever existed here at all.
“They’re going to kill him, aren’t they?”I whispered, not looking at Pain directly.
Pain didn’t flinch or look away.“Yes.”
The single word hung in the humid night air between us.No excuses, no justification.Just the truth.
“I’m a nurse,” I said, my voice cracking.“I help save lives.I don’t take them.”
Moving closer but still keeping enough distance that I didn’t feel cornered, Pain reached in slow, deliberate movements and took my hand in his, caressing it gently.“Sometimes the world isn’t black-and-white, Nadine.You know some of what Grayson and his crew have done.Roberts told me.”
