Captivate Me (24 page)

“What?” she barks a little harder than normal for me, and I give her
the look
. “I know, alright?” She crosses her arms over her chest. “I don’t like this shit. It feels different than the other times. I don’t know what it is.”

I grab her and wrap my arms around her so I can lean into her ear. “I get that. I feel that, too, but all the women here are looking to you for guidance. What do you think is going to happen if you fall apart? What are they going to think or feel? Because, baby, I’m telling you, the air in this place is thick, and everyone is hanging on by a thread. We need to get everyone to relax and get back to the normal that is Ravage.”

“What, like shooting at everything that walks?” she jokes, and I give her a squeeze.

“I’ll give you that smartass comment because I don’t have time for it. But we need to treat this as any other run. We don’t know the shit they do when they’re out there every other time. This time, we know they have a lead on Ransom, and that’s what makes it harder. See why sometimes it’s best that we don’t know this shit?”

Princess rests her chin on my shoulder and puts her arms around me. “Yeah, I get it. Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

“Amen to that, sister.”

“So, back to normal, huh? What do you propose we do, oh wise one?” Princess jokes, pulling back from me. It takes everything in me not to strangle her. God love her and her smart mouth.

“We eat, of course.”

Princess smiles. “Of course.”

“And make enough chocolate desserts to get the crowd so bloated from it that they pass out and sleep.”

Princess full-out laughs. “I love the way you think, Ma.”

“Love you, too, baby girl.”

“How are you feeling?” I ask Shaina as we sit with our half-eaten chocolate pie.

I swear Ma is trying to put us all in a food coma with this line up—chocolate everything: pie, cake, cookies, brownies, some pudding thing with Oreos that was
so
good. I’m pretty sure I sampled one too many of them from the roll in my stomach.

“Good.” She smiles back at me, but it’s not fully committed. There is hesitation, yet I can’t tell if it’s from the tenseness in the room that Ma and Princess are trying their damnedest to cover and doing an okay job at or if it’s something more.

“You weren’t too good a while back,” I remind her, not really knowing how to bring this up. It’s not like we are close or anything, but we are stuck together, and she is out of Breaker’s room, so that’s a plus.

“No, I wasn’t, and you saw it.” She pauses, chewing on her bottom lip.

I give her that time and wait.

“I’ve had some stuff happen to me. I’m sure you’ve heard some of it.” Her voice goes distant at the end, but she powers on, and a surge of pride hits me that she does. “I’m doing better now. Every day is different. Breaker helps.”

“You two serious?” I feel a protective flash come over me for Breaker. Yes, he’s my man’s brother, but Breaker and I have a friendship that I cherish. I want what’s best for him, and I want him to be happy.

A blush creeps into her cheeks as she looks up at the ceiling. “I don’t know for sure. I think so. I care about him a lot. He helped me through some hard times, and it’s only him who can do it.”

“And he feels the same from you, I’m sure.”

She jerks her head up to look at me. “Do you know what happened to him?”

I shake my head. “I don’t. I do know that whatever it was messed him up. And whatever you and he have helps him. That’s all I care about.”

“You love his brother?”

“Yes, I do very much.” I touch my lips, remembering the powerful kiss he gave me before he got on his bike and left. Sad, but I already miss him.

“I wonder sometimes what my dad would have thought of Breaker and me together.” She shakes her head. “I hated this club. Hated that my father wasn’t around and just let my mother take me with her. I hated that he had this—a family—because that’s all I ever wanted. I wanted us to be a family. I went about it all wrong, but I just wonder if he’d like that I like a guy from his club.”

I pop my lip out. “Well, I’ll be straight with ya. What you did when you came here for the funeral, he wouldn’t have been proud of.”

I see her shoulders slump, and her face gets tight. She feels that, too.

“But you’ve come far. Breaker is a good man. Sure, he doesn’t have much to say most of the time, but he’d do anything in the world for you, this club, and his family.”

“Yeah, he would.”

“Be gentle with him. He’s a badass like the rest of them around here, but he has a wounded heart and possibly soul. Hold it close, keep it safe, and treasure those times with him.”

“Who’s up for poker!” Blaze yells, and hoots and hollers are heard all around.

“Guess it’s poker time.” I turn to Blaze. “Let’s do this!”

The next morning, I wake with a crick in my neck and the bad feeling from yesterday weighs heavy on my shoulders. Today is the day. I feel it everywhere. It prickles my skin, running over it like a thousand spiders walking on me. I brush my skin, trying to get the buggers off, but it doesn’t help, because they aren’t really there.

I jump from the bed, dress, and move to the main part of the clubhouse. All is quiet.

As Angel and I make eye contact, I can see in her gaze that she feels it, too: the doom, the uncertainty, the fear, the unpredictability.

Wherever the guys went, they should be there by now, or at least, I think so. If they are, are they okay?

As I look at the others already in the room, everyone has their phone in their hands, and they’re checking the screens. Even Ma and Dagger. Waiting.

This isn’t good. Not good at all.

We case the area, and I pick up nothing in terms of explosives in the ground or on the trees. No guns, nothing. What I do get with my magnifying camera are pictures of guys at the front door and at the back, all with guns and all ready to strike.

I tapped into the hard lines and disabled them only moments ago.

I’ve gotten nothing from the inside since all the curtains are drawn. Rhys clocked one car pulling in. A man I didn’t recognize got out and went in. That was three hours ago.

“Nothing I can see. Hardwire cut and waiting for your call on the wireless,” I tell Pops.

I feel for the man. He has more wrinkles now on his face than when I first prospected for the club. I can’t imagine the weight on his shoulders. I’m sure he wants to get this done and over with. Hell,
I
want this over and done with. I want to get back to what Ravage was when I first started prospecting: family, living free, riding free. Lately, it’s been one thing after another, and I’m ready for it to calm. I’m ready to start my life with Bella.

“Split up. Keep your eyes out.”

Breaker, Cruz, and I flank one way while the others split and move around the property. It’s big, not gonna lie, and I have to say not detecting any triggers or explosives is surprising. I would think the place would be loaded.

I stash my computer in my backpack and put it around my shoulders. I hate having it on, but I need it to check, considering our eyes only show us so much.

Guns steady, we take the path to the right of the house, through the woods as I investigate, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. Our boots lightly hit the ground, and I’m thankful it’s damp and covered with grass, muffling our movements.

We stop before the clearing behind some foliage, able to see through it to the open space. The house stays the same as we sit and wait for Pops’ text. He made it clear that everything has to go off at the same time. Even five minutes off could alert Ransom and all his guys, blowing everything to shit. Clayton charter and Vipers Creed are all set to go. So we wait …

And wait …

The guys outside walk around the house, guns in hand, searching the area. They are shitty at their job since they don’t see us waiting.

My blood pumps fast as the adrenaline flows. I’m ready for action, ready for this to be all over and done with. Just ready to be done.

My phone vibrates, and I pull it out.

Go time.

I suck in deep and nod to Cruz then my brother.

Cruz holds up one hand then signals for us to follow him. We ready our guns and put the silencers on. Then he motions us to take out the first guy. His signals are just like the ones we used in the service, so we all understand clearly.

Slowly, we move through the trees over to the section that brings us closer to the house, closer to being detected by the idiots guarding Ransom.

The mission is to take them out quietly and not raise suspicions, hoping like shit the few minutes it takes us are enough to avoid Ransom being alerted.

Breaker nods to Cruz, and we sneak as much as possible without being seen. Then there is no choice. It’s open grass and prime pickings.

I see Pops, Rhys, GT, and the rest of the guys coming in from two other points.

The first shot comes from the other side.

Our target turns quickly and moves to the side of the house, peeking around the corner and giving us the perfect shot. I raise my gun and aim, but Cruz gets his shot off first. The asshole falls to the ground.