Page 80 of Forbidden Hearts

“Yeah,” he says. “I’m about to be balls deep inside this girl. Are you calling to tell me how much of a fuck up I am?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Isabella’s cheeks burn red.

“Santiago, shut up and listen. Are you close to The Den? I think Alex is in danger.”

Santiago remains quiet.

“Santiago?” I ask. “Did you hear me?”

“Fuck,” he says. “Alonzo, I’m sorry.”

“What the hell are you sorry about? What’s going on?”

“I guess I should’ve told you earlier. It didn’t occur to me that anything bad would happen,” he says.

“Jesus Christ, tell me what?” I interrupt him. My mind is racing at a hundred miles an hour, wondering what Jacob is doing to Alex right now and how I’m going to storm into the club full of armed bikers to get her back.

“Well, she was at a shooting range earlier today,” he says.

“Why the fuck didn’t you tell me this earlier?” my voice turns into an angry growl. Santiago knows how important Alex is to me. He should’ve told me this sooner.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think much of it. Besides, I was busy with Melanie.”

“Where the hell are you right now? Are you near The Den? Can you get there before me?”

“I’m not,” he says. “But I can be there in a few minutes.”

“Okay. Hurry the fuck up and meet me there. I think Jacob is going to hurt Alex.”

Isabella gasps beside me. I don’t know if it’s because of what I just said or if she’s terrified that I’m driving like a maniac.

Five minutes later, I pull into The Den. An army of reapers is standing in fractured groups in the parking lot. They look like they’re waiting for something to happen.

“Stay in the fucking car,” I tell Isabella.

She looks at me with doey eyes and nods.

I get out and walk to one of the reapers in the parking lot.

“What’s going on?”

The reaper looks me up and down. “Who are you?”

“Jacob’s friend,” I say. “What’s going on?”

He eyes me again and says, “Jacob was shot. Sammy, too.”

Did Alex do that?

“Was anybody else hurt? Any of the dancers?”

“I don’t know, man. We’re waiting for Ben to give us an update. He’s inside Jacob’s office right now.”

“Where’s Jacob now?”

“He took off. That’s all I know.”

I walk past him and his friends. More reapers congregate by the entrance. When they see me, they step aside and let me in. Many more reapers stand inside by the bar, talking and speculating about what happened.

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