Page 28 of Descent
“What if it’s too late?” My breath hitched. “What if they’ve hurt him?”
“Either way, we’ll deal with it.” He stepped back, boots squishing in the mud. “But for now, I need you to stay in the car with Angel.”
“You can’t stop me.”
“You’re absolutely right. I can’t stop you, Alex. But once I get Rafe outta there, you and I both know he’ll give you an attitude adjustment.” Shooting me a pointed look, he yanked the door open. “We don’t have all night. Get inside before you freeze your ass off in this rain.”
With a low growl, I slid into the backseat next to Angel, where I’d spent the last several hours trapped inside the vehicle on the trip over. Jax’s buddies hadn’t arrived on the island until late morning, and by the time we reached the area off the coast where Rafe was being held, the sun had almost kissed the horizon behind the cloud cover.
Then we’d had to wait for dark.
To say I was antsy was an understatement.
Jax slammed the door shut, and he and the other three men in his rescue squad took off toward the large outbuilding half a mile away on the edge of an overgrown field.
“Please bring him back to me,” I whispered to no one in particular.
Angel shifted beside me. “Everything’s going to be okay.”
When most people said those words, they offered little more than platitudes. Useless syllables to fill the air. That didn’t hold true for Angel. Her voice remained steady, embolden by conviction because she believed what she said.
I wanted to believe her too, wanted to subscribe to the same certainty that the night would give me the outcome I prayed for—Rafe in my arms, unharmed, and his son safe.
Keeping my attention glued to the tinted window and what lay beyond, I watched for any hint of the guys moving soundlessly through the night, but the landscape didn’t stir. With a sigh, I settled in for the wait, tucked out of sight in the brush, hidden under the cover of trees and darkness. The rescue squad had traveled in two black SUVs, and Angel and I sat in the second.
The good little women.
But every bone in my body screamed at me to follow in pursuit. I’d never been good at sitting around and doing what I was told. Over the past year, Rafe had punished me numerous times for my rebellious nature. This time was no different, and my hand hovered on the door handle, aching to pull the lever and fucking do something. Now that I knew where Rafe was, I couldn’t sit still.
How could Jax expect me to?
“Don’t do it,” Angel said, entwining her warm fingers with mine. “Jax can handle it. You just need to trust him.”
Turning to face her, I raised a brow. “You obviously don’t have trust issues when it comes to him anymore.” She hadn’t hesitated in calling him by name, which was a big improvement from when I first met her several weeks ago, and she insisted on calling anyone with a penis by the name of Master.
“He’s proven I can.”
“It’s not that I don’t trust him, Angel.”
“What is it, then?”
“Nothing good has ever come when Rafe and I are separated. If he’s a prisoner inside that place, I want to be there too.”
“I get that. Believe me, I do. But he’d want you to be safe, right?”
Grudgingly, I nodded.
“And you said yourself the two of you have a unique relationship.” She squeezed my hand. “I have faith Jax and the guys will bring him out, and when they do, I don’t want you to get punished for rash behavior…especially in your condition.”
Sheepishly, I let my tangled curls hide my face. The things she knew about Rafe and me…
But she was right. More importantly, I needed to be level-headed enough to put my child first. Except level-headedness and pregnancy didn’t mesh well.
“I’ll give them thirty minutes.” Slowly, I relaxed into the seat, decision made.
For now, at least.
Digging Rafe’s cell from the pocket of my rain-soaked jeans, I noted the time. And just like yesterday morning, after I left Zach in the cellar, the picture of Rafe and me on my husband’s phone sent a blow to my gut.
He’d taken the selfie over the summer in our private camping spot, where we’d found a grassy knoll that afternoon and had watched the clouds drift by, discovering hilarious characters in the white fluff as we lay side-by-side, heads touching.
Two pairs of jade eyes met the camera head-on, displaying evidence of true happiness. God, we’d lived for each other. We still did, which made sitting on my ass while he was in trouble, just half a mile away, next to impossible.
Ten minutes past my chosen deadline, I thought I saw movement. Leaning closer to the glass, eyes scanning the darkness for something—anything—I held my breath as hope bloomed inside my chest.
