Page 117 of Ravage
Aiden’s eyeing me too, probably hoping his look can drill me for answers on what ‘hunt’ I’m on. Portia knows that I’m trying to take care of Congressman Joe once and for all. And that he’s been AWOL for about thirty-six hours now.
“It’s slow progress. What are you doing out?”
She’s been careful for two weeks to keep inside Hype between her apartment and the club. The only time she’s been out was with Kellan and I to save Isabel. But it’s…I check the time on my phone and frown. I hadn’t realized how late it actually was.
“Did you bug me or something?” Her head swivels back and forth to look around her, and she laughs.
“Of course not. Dane saw you on his cameras and alerted me.”
“Oh? Is Dane stalking me, then?” I should laugh at the joke, but my heart trips when I see him watching her steadily on his screen.
Dane scoffs and keeps eyeing the monitors. “I’m trying to reduce her casualties by association,” he answers caustically.
The jab stakes me in the heart and leaves me winded. Portia’s attitude sings through the phone back to me, and I try to remind myself that I do have at least one person on my side who’s not an asshole. “Um, wow. He sounds better with his mouth closed.”
I laugh at her insult to play off that what he said didn’t affect me.
“Ignore him,” she continues. Yup. She didn’t believe me. “I’m picking up some food and then heading right back to my apartment at the club. I’ll call you as soon as I’m back.”
“Okay. Please be safe, Portia. I’ve seen some goons tonight, so I don’t want them to stumble across you while you’re out. Food and then straight back.”
“Aye, aye, Captain!” she cheers and then hangs up.
I stare at her on the screen as she enters one of the twenty-four-hour restaurants we have in the city.
How far away is that from here? Would I make it there in good time? But it’s a solid forty-five-minute walk from here to Hype, and that restaurant is in the opposite direction. I’m an hour away on foot.
It’d be better to watch her here to make sure she’s okay than try to head over there now.
“She shouldn’t be out alone right now,” Dane mutters under his breath while looking back to the other screens now that she’s inside a building and out of sight.
It feels like I’m being chastised as a bad friend. Probably because that’s exactly what he’s doing. He’s reminding me that I’m the bad guy. I may try to be good or fool myself that I’m on the side of good, but I’m the catalyst for disaster.
Their group of brotherhood is falling apart because of me.
Their Guild has been running for years, but suddenly I show up and they’ve been found and attacked.
People are always dying around me.
The criticism hits home. “I’m not her keeper. She can do whatever and go wherever she wants. She knows the risks right now.”
I’m not her prison guard. I’m her friend. If she wants to go out, then she has every right to do that. It’s just my responsibility now to make sure she’s safe.
I pull the address from my pocket and slap it on the desk next to him. “Here.”
Dane pulls the address up on his computer and then Aiden lifts the piece of paper in his hand to peer at it more closely.
“This isn’t a place we’ve looked at already. Who is this ally of yours?” he asks coolly. Aiden’s trying to act unbothered, but I can tell he doesn’t like that I have people helping me out that he doesn’t know about.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?”
He pins me with a look. “Yes. I would. That’s why I asked.”
I shrug and check back on the screen to see Portia heading back to the club. I smirk back at him and pretend to zip my lips closed. “Sorry. My lips are sealed.”
“We should send a scouting team to this location now. If they have as many personnel out wandering the city tonight, it might be less guarded,” Dane interrupts us and circles to face us in his gaming chair.
Aiden nods. “I’ll call in whoever’s available. The last group didn’t get in that long ago and needs to sleep or they’ll just be putting themselves at risk.”
