Page 33 of Blade
As I pull it off, I blink against the light, and his husky whisper reassures as it was probably meant to.
“Welcome home, darlin’. Keep an open mind and fear nothing inside.”
“I’ll bear that in mind.”
I swallow my fear and turn my attention to the huge steel doors where a sign hangs overhead.
Abandon hope, all who enter here.
A shiver passes through me as I realize I’m going nowhere but straight through those doors into God knows what kind of hell.
Blade walks beside me, and I physically ache to hold his hand. To hide behind him so nobody can see me. To be invisible, if you like.
We reach the huge door, and he enters a code into the entry system, causing it to open into a dark passage.
As the door swings shut behind me, the gentle click of the lock causes my heart to race. I have passed the point of no return, and nobody is more aware of that than me.
We are silent as we make our way down the corridor, several doors set off at angles. Blade passes a set of double doors and says in a low voice, “It may be best not to go in there without me, or one of the women.”
“Why?”
I’m nervous, and he shrugs. “It’s the bar. The men relax there at the end of a hard day, and you may be shocked at what their idea of relaxing is.”
“I see.”
My heart is racing as I imagine Blade in that room, a woman on his lap and a beer in his hand while he trades insults with his brothers, as he calls them. Perhaps I should stay in my room. It would probably be for the best, and as we pass the door, I strain for any sounds emanating from inside. It’s as quiet as a graveyard, and yet the number of bikes outside tells me we are definitely not alone.
Blade stops at a door at the end of the corridor and fixes me with a reassuring smile before knocking loudly.
“The door is open.”
A deep voice replies, and as he pushes the door, I note an office where the man from the hospital is sitting behind a desk. He is not alone.
There is a fearsome man sitting across from him, holding a bottle of beer that he deposits on the desk in front of him. As he uncurls his body from the chair, I swallow hard because this man is seriously dangerous. His head is shaven, and he has a tattoo of a cobra down one arm, ending up at his neck. His eyes are twinkling, which puts me at ease, but I’m still terrified of these men.
Ryder King stands, and I almost pass out because three men such as these all together in one office doesn’t leave much room for anyone else. It’s stifling and I struggle to breathe. Ryder smiles, a soft one designed to reassure, and it’s almost successful—almost.
“Take a seat, darlin’ and welcome to The Rubicon.”
I smile politely at them and perch on the edge of the seat beside the man with the snake arm. Blade moves to a low-slung couch behind me, and I wish I could join him on that. Ryder King drops back behind his desk and states, “You must be thirsty. We have beer, or I could call for something else.”
“I’m, um, beer will be lovely, thank you.”
I sense their amusement, and quite frankly, I don’t blame them because it sounds as if I’m asking for tea from the queen. It confuses me a little because I am craving a nice cup of English breakfast tea, and I wonder about that. It’s as if it’s my automatic choice, but why?
As the beer heads my way across the desk, a memory returns of sitting across a desk in a much grander office than this. The man opposite me is not Gideon, not Ryder King; it’s somebody else entirely. My father.
CHAPTER 16
BLADE
Ican tell Delilah is freaking terrified. She has turned whiter than a ghost and is sitting so still I wonder if she’s passed out.
I speak up. “You okay, darlin’?”
The prez and his right-hand man Snake are concerned; I can see it in their eyes, and she jumps, almost shaking herself.
“I, I?—”
