Page 20 of Vengeance

Finally, the elevator doors open, and he hurries to his left to find room four fifteen. He lifts his hand to knock, but the door opens before his fist makes contact. Heidi looks at the ground and steps aside to let them into the room. He looks around but doesn’t see the kids.

“They’re with your parents,” Lex says from one of the two queen beds in the room. “Both of our dads didn’t go on the run, so they’ve had sleepovers with each set of Grandma and Grandpa the past few nights.”

“What is this?” Shep asks.

Heidi’s eyes stay cast to the ground, and Colt feels like she’s embarrassed about this. “Our sanctuary.”

“Your what?” Jace asks and looks at his girlfriend.

“It’s the only way we can stay sane when you’re gone,” Melanie says, her eyes avoiding Jace.

Lex seems to be the only one who can make eye contact with her man as she sits cross-legged on the bed. She doesn’t feel guilt or shame. She didn’t do anything she shouldn’t have, but he can’t figure out why she’s here.

“The women of the club don’t feel safe, even with the guards posted outside the houses,” Lex says and shrugs. “We have a hotel room booked for anyone who needs to get away and feel safe.”

The women of the club. Does that or does that not include his wife? She stepped back from the club when everything went to hell with them, and she hasn’t quite embraced her bloodline again.

“In the daytime, it’s okay. There’s a chance the freaks will come and do something, but nighttime gives them added security,” Heidi says. “I wake up in the middle of the night, and I can’t breathe. Like something’s wrapped around my throat, and I can’t get it off. I fight and struggle, but my arms and legs won’t move. It feels like they’re tied down.”

“For me, my back burns,” Melanie says. “I can’t even open my eyes, and all I can smell is the burnt skin while my back feels like it’s been set on fire.”

“But we have security outside the houses,” Shep says.

Heidi laughs dryly. “That won’t stop them. The guy who choked me broke into Lex and Colt’s house with both of them home.”

Pain washes over Shep’s face, and Colt doesn’t know what to say or do. The women of the club don’t feel safe in their own homes, even with protection detail outside. How the fuck did they get here?

“Is it everyone, or is it just you three?” Jace asks.

“Most women of the men on the run have stayed here for at least a few hours a night,” Lex says. “Panic spreads quicker than a wildfire.”

“So, this has gone on the entire run?”

Lex chuckles. “We didn’t come up with this idea. It’s been happening since we were kidnapped. We’re just the most recent women to stay here.”

“Why not just stay together at one of our places?” Shep asks.

“For one, I’m going nowhere near that jacuzzi tub of yours. Which is inside your house,” Lex says.

“And two, we’re putting everyone in one house that really isn’t as safe as you guys believe for these assholes to get. No thanks. It’s much easier to get around the security detail at our houses than it is to make it in here,” Melanie says.

Shep sighs and pulls Heidi into a tight embrace. “Can we go home? We need to talk about this.”

“We do, too,” Jace says to Melanie.

They nod. “Lex, are you good?” Melanie asks.

“Alone? In a hotel room? With my husband? Yeah, I think I’m good,” she says with a smirk.

Colt waits for the others to leave before sitting on the bed across from his wife. “Lex, talk to me.”

“I’m not scared of the dark like they are. Not for me, anyway. I’m scared of what they’ll do to our kids,” she says. “They threatened them when I was in the basement, so it’s something they’ve thought about. And I’m going to be honest, Colt, I can’t handle this sitting and waiting game that’s being played. I know they’re watching me. I can feel it.”

“Lex-”

“Don’t you dare tell me I’m being crazy. I felt it for weeks before they took us, and I have that same feeling. They’re watching us, and I’m the one they want. The one they think knows something even though I don’t.”

Shaking his head, he lets out a sigh. She isn’t being crazy. She’s being a mom. “If you’re not scared of the dark like they are, what’s with this?”

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