Page 39 of Tempting Fate

Her rant is cut off by Toker, Fret, Hunter, and Isaiah returning to the van. Lily’s cousin is on a mission, his fingers linked at the back of his neck, as he catches sight of Brutus and stalks over to us.

“The whole fuckin’ house is clear. There’s no one there, but somethin’ went down. One of the bedrooms has blood all over the bed. She must be hurt bad. I’m gonna fuckin’ kill him when I find him.”

“It’s not my blood. I shot him.”

Toker stares through the dark at Lily, blinking twice as if he can’t believe his eyes. He crosses himself as he strides through the group to stand in front of her. “I like knowin’ you made him bleed, lil cuz, but the fucker’s escaped…. must’ve had help.”

After peering at Lily’s face, he kneels down on the bottom step and gently puts his big paws on either side of her head to examine her injuries. Satisfied that she’s okay, he kisses her forehead. “How bad is it? You need the hospital, or will Doc do?”

His questions drive home how hard I’ve dropped the ball. While I’m asking Lily about Alex and taking potshots at her father, Toker is picking up my slack, and taking charge of my woman’s needs. Despite the sense of failure that’s making my gut churn, I offer him a sharp nod of appreciation.

Toker salutes me.

There’s sympathy in his gaze.

I ignore it.

I don’t deserve his understanding, not after letting down his cousin again.

“I’m fine,” Lily declares. She rests with her back to my chest and pulls my arms around her middle. With her fingers linked in mine, she tells Toker, “Doc can check me over, but I mainly need a shower, some pain relief, and sleep… wouldn’t mind some answers to Zeke’s questions as well. Why did you try to stop Cub from tracking me?”

After exchanging a loaded look with Toker when Lily’s comment about answers hangs in the air, I wait for Brutus to finally step up today. From the rear, I feel Slash stiffening, readying himself for whatever outburst is sure to come from our president now that Lily’s drawn attention to his strange behaviour in front of everyone.

It doesn’t eventuate.

Instead, Brutus prods his twin brother with his elbow, who then nudges Toker’s father with his shoulder, and the trio of old-timers turn on their heel and leave in the direction they arrived without saying another word.

“Fuck,” Slash grumbles. “He’s not even tryna hide it.”

“Hide what?” Lily asks.

I narrow my gaze at my best friend when it looks like he’s about to fill her in, then I swing around to face the windscreen. As Fret and Isaiah load up the other van, Slash kicks his legs up on the seat next to him while Toker rounds the front of our vehicle and hauls himself into the driver’s seat. Hunter climbs inside, slamming the door shut behind himself.

Being a recent patch, he should be helping the prospects, but it’s clear he has something to say. In his face, a younger version of Slash’s, I find the same helplessness that’s infiltrating me in the wake of Brutus’ strange behaviour. He offers Lily a nod, rage flaring in his gaze as he takes in the marks that cover her, then squats down on the floor at the rear with a semiautomatic clenched in his hands so he can keep a lookout through the tinted back window.

“We gotta find this cunt fast,” Hunter tells us all in a terse tone as Toker starts the drive back to the compound. “Found a telescope and a shrine to little Cherub in the front room… It’s sick. He needs to be put down.”

“Yeah,” I agree easily. My arms tighten around Lily as the full extent of his observation sinks into my head. A shrine. While I figured his men had been keeping an eye on our house—why else would they go to all the trouble to build a fortress across the park from us—I don’t want to think about what a shrine would entail or how he could’ve created one in the few hours since his release. “Slash, text Cub and have him scope out the house and catalogue its contents tonight. If anyone can find a lead, it’ll be him. If he needs help, you and Hunter can come back tomorrow morning.”

At my order, the final vestiges of tension seem to leave Lily’s body. She turns sideways on my lap, leaning her entire weight on me as she rests with her cheek against my shoulder. Content to just hold her, knowing that we have a shitty conversation ahead of us at the clubhouse, I tilt my head back and stare at the roof.

“I know there’s more to this situation than I’ve been told.” Hunter voices his suspicions a few minutes later.

“Need ya to turn that bloodhound nose of yours off for now, little brother,” Slash replies before I can. “Let’s get Cherub back to the compound and checked out by Doc before you start your head games.”

“Sure,” Hunter responds immediately. “But I need to be filled in soon, though… I’ll miss vital?—”

This time, I’m the one who cuts him off. “Look, sometimes patterns bring more answers than we have questions for… just give us a day or two before you go all Spencer Reid on the situation.”

Hunter’s unbridled indignation flows from the back of the van. He isn’t a fan of Criminal Minds or the character who dampens all the panties of the nerd-loving girls. Unfortunately for him, his one-track, obsessively compulsive mind, and his ability to see patterns where the rest of us see chaos, has earnt him the comparison a time or two.

“I hear ya,” he mumbles. “But, there’s no need to be an arsehole about it… I’ll rein myself in until you give me the go-ahead.”

“Did you really just call him Spencer Reid to his face?” Lily whispers against my neck.

“Yeah.”

She snorts.

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