Page 59 of You for Her (The Edge of Retaliation 2)
He looks over at me, his eyes running up and down the length of me, then he says, “Yeah, it fuckin’ is.”
“Someone is going to get hurt here, I just know it.”
“You’re right about that,” he agrees. “If we’re not smart that is. Tanner is too angry to be calling the shots here, but for whatever reason, everyone fuckin’ does as he wants. He’s goin’ to be the reason someone gets hurt.”
“He’s not stupid, Ethan,” I defend. “He’s angry, but he’s not stupid.”
“Isn’t he?” Ethan snorts. “Because he is the one that went after them, made them angry, and got then on the hunt for him. Now, they’ve got him right where they want him. They’re going to take what they want, because Tanner didn’t use his fuckin’ brain.”
“Glad you feel so strongly about me, Ethan,” Tanner’s voice comes from the other side of the truck as he throws his luggage in and glares over at Ethan.
“I’m tellin’ it how it is, Tanner. You know I’m right. You fucked up. Own it and let us help you make a plan from here, otherwise someone is goin’ to get hurt and it’ll be on you.”
Tanner stares across the back of the truck, then mutters, “Okay.”
He turns and walks over to Tatum’s truck, leaving Ethan looking rather shocked. I don’t think he thought Tanner would actually agree with him. I push off the truck, too, heading over to see Jo, who is just putting her luggage in. She’s tired, I can see it in her eyes. I’m guessing she probably only just got to sleep, judging by the fact that she looks like she’s dead on her feet.
“Hey,” I say when I reach her. “You didn’t get much rest?”
She shakes her head. “No, I didn’t. Where were you?”
I glance at Tanner, and her eyes follow mine, then she looks back at me and says, “I want the details, but right now I need to get into that truck and sleep some more.”
“How come you didn’t get much rest?” I ask her.
She shrugs. “I have a lot on my mind, and Tatum …”
“Tatum what?” I question, narrowing my eyes.
“Tatum came by and we got into a bit of an argument when I told him I need some space. He didn’t take it well, and … God, it’s just so messy. How did I get myself into this?”
I give her an understanding smile. “You’re doing the right thing, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be easy.”
“No,” she murmurs, “nothing right ever is. I’m going to get some more rest, then I’ll come ride with you all for a while and you can tell me everything.”
“Okay,” I say to her, watching as she climbs into the back of the truck, lying down and closing her eyes.
I feel for her, she’s going through so much with me, all while trying to deal with the problems she’s already got in her own life.
She needs a break, she deserves happiness, she’s just having a hard time finding any of it.
“Time to hit the road,” Tanner says to me as he passes.
“Okay,” I say, glancing at Jo once more before going back to Tanner’s truck and climbing in.
Once we’re on the road, Ethan pipes up from the back saying, “What’s the plan?”
“Don’t have one yet,” Tanner tells him, “but Tatum is thinkin’ we use you and Garrett as back up, and we go in and get Chase back.”
“You mean try to take them down?” Ethan asks.
“Yeah.”
“There could be a lot of them, you’re not goin’ to know that until you go in there. I’m sure there is a better way than just going in, guns blazing, hoping for the best.”
“If you’ve got a better way, by all fuckin’ means throw it at me, because I don’t have a lot of time to try and figure out what to do here.”
“I have an idea,” I say, daring to glance over at Tanner.
“What’s that?”
“Well, they don’t know what Jo and I look like …”
“One of them does,” Tanner points out. “You spoke to one.”
“I did, you’re right, but hear me out anyway. We find out where they hang out, there has to be a local spot of some sort, somewhere they frequent. Jo and I dress up, we chat to them, we flirt, we get them to take us home. When we’re there, we can do something from the inside, set something up, hell we can drug them, something …”
“Bad idea,” Tanner says. “It’s too dangerous and it’ll never work.”
“I agree with Tanner,” Ethan says, “Way too risky. You’ll get killed the second they realize who you are.”
“And they will realize because they’ve seen you,” Tanner points out.
“They haven’t seen Jo …”
“You can’t risk Jo,” Ethan throws in.
He’s right, I can’t.
Still, it would work. It could be the best way for us to get in there. If any of them try to get in, they’re going to get killed before they even get the chance to fight. At least with us, we’re women and they’re far less likely to figure out who we are until it’s too late.
