Raid didn’t skip a beat. “Will they know she’s here in Sumner?” he asked Screech, not me.
“The cameras my guy put in were traced to Tifton about thirty miles from here, which I’m not a hundred percent sure how they were. With the Hamiltons’ resources, it’s given them a starting place that is much closer to Nyx than you want them to be.”
He couldn’t be serious. “I thought the cameras weren’t traceable?” Panic like no other ran through me. I’d thought the internet signals were bounced far away from here and kept moving all the time as not to pinpoint a certain place. Screech said everything he did was like that. So I assumed. You know what they say about assuming. It makes an ass out of you and me. Fuck.
“So this is a fuck up on your part?” Raid growled, low his face turning murderous. Screech pissed me off, but that didn’t mean I wanted anything to happen to him. I pulled Screech behind me to create a barrier between him and the two meathead machomen who could explode at any second.
“Stop! I need to figure this out, and you’re not helping.” My head started to pound as it filtered through different scenarios, each one coming up shorter than the next.
Liam spoke, “So they really do have a radius on where to find Nyx.” I felt a smile tip the side of my lip at his use of my name but kept quiet, but fear captured me and stopped the gesture. “What’s the time frame on the Hamiltons money disappearing?”
“If that’s even true,” Raid threw in, and I had to admit those same thoughts were running through my brain. With the complete cut off, it didn’t make sense. It also meant that they could take all the money, but it wasn’t like I needed it. Once my mom’s money got back to me, I’d be fine. It was the principal of the matter.
“We weren’t given one,” Screech announced, and the tension in the room went through the roof, so I kept Screech behind me. Everything he did was by my request. He wasn’t at fault for any of this; well, maybe the cameras. But I knew the two men in front of me. They were protective fuckers, and this information was going to send them into a tizzy which would all be directed at Screech.
“Are you fuckin’ kiddin’ me!” Raid exploded, causing me to jump again. I really hated doing that.
“You can’t be that stupid,” Liam said at the same time.
My gaze snared them both. “Fucking stop it! This isn’t helping one little bit. It has nothing to do with either of you. You should just go, and let me handle it.”
“Stop wasting your breath, Nyx,” Screech said from behind me. “These two are raging bulls, and neither of them are going to let you out of their sight. It’s why I told them.”
“I’m seriously pissed at you about that, but I don’t have time to ream you out for it.” Even knowing why he did, he didn’t have a right to tell others my business. That didn’t mean I stopped caring about him, though.
The room felt way too small with these two huge men, one tall as hell man, and me. It made me feel claustrophobic, and my chest got tight. Panic rushed through me like a freight train as those old feelings threatened to crush me. Tight spaces. They could be a trigger for me. Guessed this was what was going to happen. Like there wasn’t enough on my plate as it was.
“Out! Everyone in the living room. Now!” I ordered loudly, pointing my finger to the door.
The bickering in the room stopped as worried eyes came to me. While I had no idea what I looked like, I felt like my eyes were huge, my chest felt concaved, and air was getting difficult to take in.
“I need space!” This time it came out a bit croaked.
“Nyx, tell us what’s going on,” Raid practically demanded.
“Now!” I screamed, pushing through both the men and making my way to the living room. It wasn’t huge but bigger than my bedroom. Heading to the far side of the room, I pressed my back to the wall and took in some deep breaths, feeling the air finally enter my lungs. In and out. Repeatedly. Keep Breathing.
I could feel the three men come into the room, and Raid started to make his way to me. It was Liam who stopped him. “Don’t. She’s having a panic attack. She needs everyone to stay back a bit.”
“How the fuck do you know that?” Raid asked Liam as I tried to brush out the old dark clouds that wanted to invade me and take me down a path I’d worked desperately to get out of. But so much was laid out on the table, and they’d want more answers.
“Seriously? Would you two stop already?” Screech said. “Can’t you see you’re not helping Nyx. Stop fighting, and focus on her.”
With Screech’s words, the darkness began to fade, and I felt myself stand tall after a few moments. The attack didn’t last anywhere as long as they had in the past, for which I was grateful for. But I hadn’t had one since that first year when I’d left Atlanta. They all centered around those three men.
“Alright! Everyone sit down. You want to be here, then you sit and listen.” Personally, I didn’t think they’d take my direction, but when they did, my heart warmed, and it allowed my panic to release its tight hold on my chest. In the mist of this disaster, some feelings just came, and I felt I needed to hold onto the positive tightly. Afterall, wasn’t that all we had in life? Memories.
As the three men took seats, Raid took the gray chair, and Liam and Screech took opposite sides of the couch, each of them with different emotions warring throughout them. Shit. Splitting myself wide open wasn’t in the plan for today.
But here it goes.
5
RAID
Sitting in the chair, I swiveled it to Nyx, needing to figure out exactly how to protect my woman. The carnal animal instincts inside of me were screaming to be turned loose and make someone pay for any pain Nyx had felt.
Details. I needed all the details to make a plan. Then I’d murder these three fuckers and be done with it. No one was untouchable, and I was ready to squeeze the life out of them one at a time.