Page 31 of Vengeance

She turns and runs down the hall with Jennings running behind her, and Tripp lets out a dry laugh. “Well, I guess that explains everything.”

“They were drugged!” Tess shouts. “Through the ventilation system.”

Jennings walks back to them. “There are two different systems in the clubhouse - one for the main area and second floor, and one for the first-floor apartments. There are two containers in the utility room, but the labels are scratched off. I don’t know what it is. If I had to guess, though, one of them is oxygen.”

“How many people did they have to do all this?” TK asks.

Something tugs at Lex’s mind, and she stares at Jace’s door. It would have been noticed if the door opened the wrong way when they showed up, and she can’t explain that, but it hits her.

“How long were they in Church?” Lex asks Tess.

Shrugging, Tess shakes her head. “Maybe an hour. Why?”

She looks at Colt’s apartment. “The door wasn’t locked.”

“What?” Colt asks.

“You always lock the apartment, but it was unlocked when we got here. I just turned the knob, and we walked in. There was a lot going on tonight that it didn’t seem strange, but the lock could have been changed before we showed up.”

He gasps. “If I would’ve tried to unlock it with my key, we would have figured it out right away, but we were preoccupied.”

“I think some of this was done ahead of time. Before we even showed up because even if they had a fleet of men, Tess and the women would have heard something. Drilling in new hinges and doors, the boards on Shep and Jace’s rooms, and the shackles drilled into the walls. I think most of this was already done before we showed up, because I fell asleep pretty quickly. And anyone in the rooms with us would have needed something to avoid getting drugged, too.”

The men all start talking at once, and it hits everyone that the Slashers have been in their clubhouse before tonight. It doesn’t sit well with anyone, and Lex opens her letter.

“Lex?” Colt asks.

“I was left a letter.”

“What does it say?”

Swallowing, she sighs, and her stomach flips again. “Alexis, your man and his bitch club are so damn predictable. Can you not see how easy it is to get to you? Don’t worry... the next time you’re chained up to a bed, you’ll be naked with my cock inside you. But I promise to have you suck me the way you sucked your man tonight. That hot little mouth of yours turns me on, and I love your sass, lass. I’ll see you soon, Alexis. O’Malley aka Scarface. P.S. Your nickname for me has grown on me. I’ll have you calling it out very soon.”

Colt lets out a cry of anger and punches his fist through the hallway wall. “Fuck these motherfuckers! And that motherfucker specifically.”

As much as she wants to offer her husband some type of condolence, there’s nothing she can say to calm his fear. She’s overwhelmed, and she pushes through the men, suddenly needing space. “I need to get away from this room. And I think I need a drink. A stiff drink.”

“Brock, video surveillance. Find it,” Jennings barks.

Melanie follows her, hopping onto the bar top as Lex moves to the bottles of liquor. “Why didn’t I get any notes? Why bother to shackle me if they aren’t going to threaten me, too?”

“Why wasn’t I shackled?” Autumn Sims asks, seemingly coming out of nowhere. “Not that I’m complaining.”

Melanie rolls her eyes. “We’re going to pretend you didn’t ask that.”

“Why?”

“Melanie,” Lex warns and tips the bottle of tequila she grabbed, taking two shots straight from the bottle. The burn is a welcome feeling and washes away the vomit that keeps rising into her throat.

“You know what she’s going to say?” Autumn asks. “This is something you guys have talked about?”

Crossing her arms under her chest, Melanie glares and doesn’t seem to care she’s dangerously close to popping out of her shirt and showing everyone in the room her boobs. “You were taken, but you weren’t tortured.”

“I was in that room with you guys. I got shocked, too.”

“Yeah, and that’s the worst you got. Boo freaking Hoo.”

The redhead steps back, her mouth dropping in shock. Lex finds herself annoyed because this is at the very bottom of the list of things she should be dealing with right now. Not after everything that’s happened tonight.

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