Page 14 of Forged in the Fire
Madness.
The fact that I was here.
Held in some sort of weird hostage situation where I had the code to enter my cell and was sentenced to work in a freaking autobody shop.
I didn’t buy it.
I didn’t buy any of it.
Not Dereck’s lame explanation or the bizarre threats Silas Mercer had made.
There was just something about them that made me think he was bluffing.
Or…hiding something.
Lying about something I couldn’t clearly see.
Either way, I couldn’t sit idle. Not when my texts to Dereck had remained unanswered after two hours.
Me
I need to know what’s really going on here.
Should I be afraid of this guy?
Am I a prisoner?
Please, Dereck. This whole thing is freaking me out.
Just tell me this. Are you in danger?
He’d seen them. I knew he had. I’d seen those little bubbles dancing on and off for about five minutes before they’d been completely silenced.
I loved my brother, but God, he could be such a coward. Always hiding when he got himself into hot water. Allowing me to step in front of his accusers.
Throwing him lifeline after lifeline.
And yes, my therapist had encouraged me to recognize that I was one hundred percent enabling it, but time and again, I always seemed to be right back doing the same thing.
I guess I’d reached my tipping point.
Because this?
After what I’d been through?
What he was asking of me was too much, and I was going to get to the bottom of what the hell was happening.
I wasn’t going to be some pathetic wilting flower who bent to the will of a psychopath.
I kept creeping along the edge of the building. My Docs I’d ditched my heels for were quiet on the soft earth, not that my footsteps could have been heard over the blare of music coming from within the clubhouse, anyway.
But still…
I kept low as I crouched at the corner and peered out into the shadows in front of the club.
The number of motorcycles must have tripled since I’d followed Silas up to my room a few hours earlier.
Bikers mingled about. Sitting at picnic tables or standing around the bonfire that raged in the clearing.
