Page 42 of Crave You

“You know we could be walking into a trap, right?” Damien says as we drive. “Obviously, I’m not saying we don’t go; I’m just saying we need to be prepared if we’re going to be ambushed. Luss, you got any weapons in the boot?”

“I think there’s a couple of baseball bats we can use. I have my knife too.”

“I don’t need a weapon. I’ll kill that fucker with my bare hands,” I say, the adrenaline pulsing through me once more.

It’s not long before Lucien pulls up in front of a storage place that I had no idea even existed.

“Unit one seventy-three. That way,” Shawn says as we get out of the car.

Lucien runs around to the back of the car, opens the boot, and gets out the baseball bats. He hands me one.

“No, I have my knife,” I say. “Who wants this one?”

“Give it to Shawn. I have a knife too,” Damien says.

We run in the direction Shawn indicated up and we quickly find the unit. The door isn’t locked. That tells me it probably is an ambush, but I don’t care. I throw the door open, and we run in.

Surprisingly, it’s not an ambush. Four or five of Matthew’s guys are sitting around on some tired old furniture looking bored. Beyond them I see Leona. She’s sat on a chair with her hands tied behind her back. Tape is wound around her mouth and her eyes are closed, her head leaning to the side. Blood is trickling down from a wound on her forehead.

I roar and throw myself at the first of Matthew’s people. They snap out of their stupor, and come towards us and we all clash. I swipe at the first guy with my fists. I strike him on the upper arm but he doesn’t go down. He picks up a heavy metal chain from the floor, which he swings at me. It smashes into my ribs and I feel pain like I’ve never known, but I don’t let it stop me. Instead it fuels my rage and I swing again, this time with the heavy handle of my knife in my fist. It cracks the guy in the temple with a sickening sound and he drops to the ground.

I turn to see who I should go after next, and I blindly swing my knife hand, blade out, catching one of Matthew’s guys in the thigh. He cries out and clutches the instantly bleeding wound, effectively taking himself out of the fight as well.

“We’ve got this Zan,” Shawn says. “Get Leona.”

But his words slam against a strange rock wall.

The guy I got is down, but still moving. Anyway, there’s more to get. More to hurt. More to make pay and if I just threw myself back into the fray, knife swinging blindly amongst the fuckers…. Blood and bodies and retribution…

No.

I force my gaze to Leona. The only person who’s important now. The one I have to save.

I run to where she is. I gently pull the tape off her mouth and am relieved to see she is breathing. I am starting to untie her hands when she moans and then her eyelids flutter open.

“Zander? Is it really you?” she says.

“It’s really me,” I say as I get the last knot out of the rope and Leona’s hands come free. I stand in front of her.

“Are you hurt?”

“Just my head but I don’t think it’s bad,” she says.

“Can you stand?”

She nods and I help her up.

“God Leona, I was so worried about you,” I say. “I swear I won’t let anyone hurt you ever again. And about Tilly, I can explain.”

She waves her hand and smiles. “I know,” she says. “I realized that I just made everything worse, but by that time it was too late.”

I pull her to me and hold her. She clings to me which sends fire through my ribs, but I don’t push her away. I bite my lip and let her hold me. I lead her to the entrance of the storage unit and only then do I look back. The others have finished up the fight and, although they are bruised and bloody and Lucien has what looks like a dislocated shoulder, they are OK.

“Lucien, you need to get that arm looked at. But will you be OK to take Leona back to the house, first?” I ask.

He nods his acquiescence.

“Damien, Shawn, fancy going to find Matthew? I am going to end the fucker. He will wish he’d never clapped eyes on Valens, or Warwick, or even his own fucking mother when I’m through with him.”

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