Page 50 of Filthy Hot

I’m not sure what exactly I want him to wait for. I said the word without a clear thought in my head. I just didn’t want anyone running after Kyle and chance her getting hurt in the process, but then, judging by the way they’re all starting to get fired up… now I’m panicking.

“If we just rush in there, guns blazing, that’s what they’re expecting,” I murmur as my thoughts finally catch up to my mouth. “We still have no idea where any of them are. I don’t want to risk hurting Sal and Dennis in the process.”

“Dennis,” Brew states.

My gaze swings to him, and he frowns as he stares at the tabletop in front of him. Slowly, he lifts his head, his attention focused on Atomic. And Atomic is watching and waiting, but I can tell the wheels are moving inside of his head. He has,without a doubt, already formulated some kind of plan that he hasn’t voiced yet.

“Something doesn’t sit right with me. I understand why Sal would be taken, and even Kyle. But why Dennis?”

“Wrong time, wrong place?” Clink asks.

Brew shakes his head, and then he lifts his fingers, pressing them together in front of his mouth. He frowns, his brows snapping together before he stands up. I watch as he walks over to the window, looking out for a moment, then turns to face Atomic.

“Maybe, but I don’t think that’s possible. It’s too much of a coincidence. We would be stupid to write him off as not being involved in this. We need someone to look into him,” Brew announces.

He’s not wrong.

I don’t know Dennis other than the few times I’ve seen him at the bar, but my focus was never on him. It was always and will always be on Kyle. I should have taken him into consideration, though.

“I’ll look into it myself,” I announce. “Into Dennis, that is.”

Atomic dips his chin, then clears his throat and lifts his gaze toward Clink. “What do we do now? Collectively, as a club, we need this done. They want war, but I don’t know exactly what we’re going up against. Do we bring in other clubs for backup? This makes me feel like we’re out of our element. I hate that shit.”

It’s not often that Atomic or any of the men in the club admit defeat. Because that’s what this is, even though we haven’t lost the war, mainly because it hasn’t begun yet. This is essentially admitting defeat.

“I want someone to gather all the information on the Southern Mafia. As much as possible. Meet back here tomorrow morning. Ten. The information we have will decide how weproceed. We will proceed tomorrow,” Atomic announces, his voice grave and clearly filled with worry.

Fuck.

We don’t have that many hours until ten, and with the slam of his gavel against the sound block, the meeting is adjourned. We all scatter, going straight to our missions. To figure out truly how large the Southern Mafia is. We need to find out how the fuck Dennis the bartender is connected—if at all.

And also find Sal and Kyle.

Kyle.

That is my mission, my goal. Finding her and that fucking creature that is her ex, Xavier. I will find him, and I will make sure he never, not ever, hurts my woman again. In fact, I think I’ll ensure he never even breathes again.

KYLE

Thankfully,I’m left alone for a while, Talon having taken Xavier out of the room and locking the door behind them when he did. I am under no impression that he is a nice man. He’s the one in charge of all of this, after all. But I can’t deny that I’m glad he has Xavier on a short leash.

Xavier needs to be on a leash—the shortest one on earth. The man is a menace. I want nothing to do with him ever again—not ever. I want him gone, out of my life, forever. The cost of that is of no concern to me, and I know it sounds heartless, but I’m not sure I care.

But I’m not sure I want anything to do with Talon, either. He’s much more powerful than Xavier could ever be, and men in power are frightening. Eventually, my legs grow tired from standing, so I sink down to my ass on the floor, leaning my back against the wall.

Bringing my knees up to my chest, I rest my cheek against them as I stare straight at the wall. It’s clean. Everything in here is clean. There isn’t a single dust bunny in the room, and that strikes me as odd.

I’m a neat freak. I’ve made it my mission to keep everything clean. It’s a form of controlling myself when the chaos is unbearable, but even I have missed an occasional spiderweb or dust bunny somewhere in a room.

So, this, having nothing, strikes me as odd and becomes my fixation while I wait for whatever is going to happen next because I know it will be something major. This Talon guy didn’t go to all this trouble just to hand me over to Rider without getting something in return.

I just hope that whatever it is he is going after isn’t me.

Although, the fact that I’m sitting in this room seems to not bode well for that hope. I have a feeling that no matter what, I’m going to get caught in the crosshairs of this. There is no way around it.

It’s the way it is going to be, and just like Xavier finding me and dragging me back every single time that he finds me, it will just be something I will have to endure, then survive, and escape from.

It will tear me into pieces. It will break me a little more, but at this point, it doesn’t matter. I’ve already been shattered more than once in this lifetime, and I’m sure this will not be the last time.

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