Blood & Rust (Lock & Key #4) (37 page)

THE RAW TERROR ON TANIA’S FACE
tore through me, fisting in my lungs, throttling in my chest, where the familiar knot tightened and tightened.

One more on my watch.

I buckled to my knees, struggling for air. My heart hammered inside me, my pulse thrashed in my neck.

Focus. Do not fucking panic. Focus.

I reached out and gripped the edge of my coffee table and held on, concentrating on my fingers pressing into the wood, as the roar of bikes surged outside, blaring, receding.

Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.

I squeezed my eyes shut as air finally filled my lungs. I widened my eyes, and the warped wood trim on my front door came back into focus.

The door.

The shabby blue sofa.

My guitar.

I leaned back on my haunches and sucked in air slowly.

My phone rang. I reached for it, and losing my balance, I fell back on the floor.

“Shit.”

I licked my lips and took in a breath. I rolled over and stretched out my arm. My shaking, unsteady arm. The tips of my fingers flicked at the edges of my phone.
Once, twice, three…motherfuck.

Got it.

Finger had called me.

Fuck you.

I tapped on Boner’s name. The ringer buzzed in my ear as I took in deeper gulps of air. My head swam, and I dragged a hand through my hair, my scalp prickling.

“Butler?”

“Got a problem,” I spit out. “Huge problem.”

“What is it?” Boner asked. “Is it Nina? Did the doctors say something new?”

“Tania,” I bit out.

“Tania? What the fuck? You all right?”

I sucked in more air, wheezing.

“Butler?” Boner’s voice hardened.

“Took her—took her from my place. Reich was here, and he took Tania.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’ll be at the club in five. Be there!” I tossed the phone on the table, my hand still trembling.

I pulled myself up and flicked open the carved small wooden box I always kept on my coffee table. It’d once held a quick, handy supply of coke over the years. Now, it held my medication. The medication I’d been forgetting to take lately.

I pushed a pill between my lips.

I staggered to the table where the glass of water Tania had poured for me earlier stood at attention. I drained it.

My lungs relaxed a few degrees. My head decompressed. I squeezed my eyes shut and then forced them open. The television static in my vision began to fade. Forms took shape once more.

But I could only see that desperation etched on Tania’s face as she had been dragged away, those beautiful dark eyes still on me, eyes full of fear.

“He just came in and took her?” asked Boner, his green eyes hard as stone.

“Yeah, wanted to know who’d set the bomb. I told him it must have been the Blades. Then, he accused me of stepping out on Nina and called Tania my whore. You know Tania; she started defending me, said something she shouldn’t have about Nina. And he fucking took her to prove a point.”

I wasn’t going to share why else Reich was coming after me; that was for another time.

A knock on the door.

“In!” shouted Kicker, a hand swiping through his sleek black hair.

Jill stepped inside, her eyes darting around the room. “I just got off the phone with Nina. She told me where her sister and Reich are staying. The Best Western in Deadwood.”

“He’s getting a little casino time in with his hospital visits,” muttered Dready.

“I told Nina to keep her sister at the hospital with her all afternoon and tonight, like you said,” Jill continued. “She immediately turned on the waterworks, and her sister bought it. Deanna even got on the phone and asked me to come by. She sounded overwhelmed. I’m going to go over there now and help Nina create a little more diversion, so I can get the hotel room key for you and make sure Deanna stays put and doesn’t go back to Deadwood.”

“Good work, Firefly,” Boner said. “We’ll see you at the hospital parking lot in an hour. Text me on your way down from the room.”

“Okay, baby. See you there.”

I doubted Reich would keep Tania at his hotel room, but it was a start. How this shit would finish, is what had me in agony.

THE BROWN BLINDS
of the motel room were closed, holding back the heat, the sun, the world.

“I want to freak Butler out. He deserves it for fucking with me.” Reich swept his tongue across his teeth. He had just finished tying my hands to the spindles of the chair he’d pushed me into once we’d gotten to his room. The plastic ties bit into my wrists.

“He’s been fucking with you?” I asked.

“Butler? Hell yeah. He took something of mine.”

“Are we talking about Nina?”

“Yeah, her, too. The two of ’em thought they were smarter than me. Ain’t gonna happen the way they wanted it, I can tell you. I’m here to put an end to this shit.”

“You didn’t come here just to see Nina in the hospital?”

The ends of his mouth turned down. “Fuck, you talk too much, you know that?”

“So I’ve been told.”

“Don’t get any ideas. I got three guns, a couple of knives, and a—”

“Oh, I believe you.” My gaze roamed over the two suitcases in the room, an expensive facial moisturizer on one night table by the bed. “Won’t Deanna be back here soon?”

“You don’t want to be alone with me, babe?” He shot me a crooked grin. “Since you’re here, we could have a little fun, just the two of us. That there is one big comfy bed.”

“Hmm. No, thank you.”

He laughed loudly. “Deanna texted me earlier. Nina’s all emotional, so she’s gonna be spending the night with her. Works out perfect. It’s just you and me.” He cupped my chin with his meaty hand, his gaze traveling down my chest.

My stomach flipped.

“This was a last-minute decision on my part but a good one.” He let go of me, and he went to the mini bar fridge and grabbed a can of beer. “If Butler wants you back—and I’m sure he does—he’ll give me back what he took from me. Even exchange.”
Snap
,
psst
went the can top, and Reich guzzled the cold beer.

“Exchange me for Nina?”

Reich wiped a hand across his mouth, eyeing me. “It’s time for you to shut the fuck up now. Where’s your cell phone?”

“In my handbag.”

He opened my red canvas hobo bag and rifled though it. “Fuck, I hate women’s bags. Always so much shit. Gives me the creeps.”

He whipped out my cell phone and dropped my handbag, its contents spilling out onto the floor. Reich ripped out my phone battery, shoved it in his pocket, and flung the phone on the floor, mashing it with the heel of his boot. I flinched. I could imagine him mashing people dead the very same way. He picked up the pieces and shoved them into his jacket pocket.

He got on his phone. “Hey, it’s Reich. I’m in town, and I need a place to take care of a little business. Off the grid.” He glanced at me. “For the night.”

My stomach twisted.

“You got anything in South Dakota? Don’t want to have to cross state lines. Uh-huh. Good. Yeah. Later.”

“Are we going on a road trip?”

“That’s right.”

“Oh, goody. Will there be snacks at least?”

“Snacks, huh? There’s an idea. What do you want?”

“Kit Kats, Whoppers, a machete.”

His body shook with laughter as he crushed his beer can and tossed it on the dresser top. “Yeah. Let’s go.” He cut the ties that bound me to the chair and pulled me up.

“Wait! Could I…” I gestured to my handbag and the mess on the floor.

“Make it quick.” He released me.

I squatted down and scooped everything back in—my collection of turquoise-blue, pink, and lilac gel ink pens, a lighter, hand sanitizer gel, the trial size of my perfume. My pulse spiked. I always kept a small glass vial with me to dab on my favorite fragrance when I wanted a pick-me-up or was off to meet someone. I’d started this habit in college when I’d be running around campus and Chicago all day and wouldn’t get back home until late at night. There was rarely time to freshen up and reinvent yourself for a night out. You had to be mobile, always prepared to step up your game.

I need to step up my game.

“Move it!” Reich snarled at me from the open door.

“All right already.” I stood up, gripping the handles of my bag in my fingers, and with a quick pound of my heel—
Crack—
I crushed the perfume vial into the rug.

Thank God I’d worn my old cowboy boots today and not bothered with my summer sandals.

Reich ushered me through the door and out to the parking lot. He pushed me into the back of a small windowless van and taped my mouth. His biker bro sat in the driver’s seat. We hit the road, and within fifteen minutes, the groan of a motorcycle surged beside us.
An escort to our private destination?

An hour or so later, the van doors opened, and Reich’s biker grabbed me by the arms and hauled me out. A young red-haired biker stood before me, and I blinked at his colors. The red flames on his jacket made my heart stop. He was from my brother’s club. Finger’s club.

What the hell?

We were in a wooded area, the late afternoon sun glinting its last rays through the tall evergreens. The call of a bird curled in the sky, and the breeze quivered the long, knobby tree branches. I clenched my jaw, my stomach somersaulting.

The redhead motioned us into a small box of a worn-out wood cabin whose door he unlocked.

“Good work,” said Reich.

“You bet,” said biker boy. “Anything else you need, give us a call.”

Jesus, is Red our concierge checking us into the Flames Four Seasons Hotel?

“Appreciate it,” said Reich. “I’ll be outta here by morning.”

“Sure.” The biker stalked out of the cabin without glancing at me.

Was that out of respect for his elder, or was kidnapping women such a common occurrence that it didn’t even register?

Reich pushed me further into the cabin, his bro remaining outside. The young biker took off, his engine squealing through the woods where we were hidden. Reich shoved the old wood door shut with a loud thud.

My heart sank lower and lower as the drone of young Red’s bike faded.