Page 112 of Forged in the Fire
I basically had to force the words out since they weighed heavier than lies.
At least three of my men scoffed.
Yeah, there was no love lost there.
“And if he isn’t?” Phoenix demanded.
“You know Cash is covering all the bases. If he flips, we’re gonna know. And his sister is here. That has to count for something.”
My throat narrowed when I said it. Clotting off in foreboding and more of that possession that would only serve to make me weak.
No doubt, this bullshit I was feeling was one of thosemistakeswe couldn’t afford to make. One that would trip me up and send me failing.
“And you think he really gives a fuck about her? You think she’s anything more than bait or a decoy?” he pressed.
Rage clouded my eyes, a violent storm that blackened the edges of my sight.
“He knows what will happen then.” The words were so hard they nearly cracked my teeth.
The air was charged as Trevan rocked back in his chair. Usually, he was my voice of reason. The guy who told me things were going to turn out just fine. Chill and smooth as fuck.
Of course, it had to go and be now when he got critical. “Yet you packed her up and moved her to your house this afternoon? Means you think something else is up.”
A heavy sigh pilfered from my nostrils. Should have known this would be coming. Their questions hanging stiff and suffocating in the air.
I hadn’t debriefed them on what went down this afternoon, but it was time I did.
“There was a guy in town, in the parking lot of the drugstore I took Brinley to.”
On my left, Phoenix stirred, violence skimming his tattooed flesh. Darkness radiating from his demented being.
Always fucking ready to draw blood.
Agitation rolled through our Madman.
More so than normal. Brinley’s presence here on the compound had seemed to stir him into upheaval.
“And?” Trevan urged in a low tone.
“He didn’t make a move, but I knew it in the way he was looking at me.”
Normal men didn’t stare me down. Instinct coerced them into dropping their eyes and hustling their families away.
Not this guy.
“Motherfucker was there to deliver some kind of message.”
“You think there’s a chance they have a clue what’s going down?” Colby whispered it like he was worried if he spoke too loudly, these bastards would be alerted.
“No one knows.” It whipped from my tongue.
Crimson Crows’s secrets were guarded as closely as Area 51’s.
And we didn’t leave anyone breathing to divulge it.
“But we also know that Kent Ellison isn’t going to just look the other way after what went down. He wants me under his thumb. Running his contraband. He thinks if he exerts enough pressure, I’ll bend.”
Cash and his crew breaking into his compound to save Elena, slaying one of his guards while doing it, had been a huge fuck you to his face. He was likely torn between wanting me dead and using my skills. We had the reputation of being the best.
