Page 70 of Grave Games

“No.” As I stared, frozen, down the barrel of his gun breathing what I was sure was my last breath, my brother jumped in front of me, his body shielding me while his hands blindly reached for mine. “You came for me, right? So fine. Let’s just go. I’ll leave with you, nice and quiet, okay? Just let my sister go.”

I stared up at the back of my brother’s head.Josh…

“Damn, Chef, you really have grown a pair since you’ve been riding with us, haven’t you? Better late than never, I guess,” Slash shrugged, taking a phone out of his back pocket while still holding the gun on us. “Maybe we need her, after all, if only to have a little fun. Hold on a sec.” He put the phone to his ear. “Hey, Marvel. Got your old girlfriend and her brother here. You want in?” He waited a beat, clearly listening. “Yeah, we’re at that weird little thing of trees in the middle of the parking lot. How close are you?”

“Close enough.”

My blood froze as Marvel’s voice came out of the darkness, and I turned to look over my shoulder as the thick brush rustled behind me. Since the only light we had was the far-off glow of the bonfire and the security lights fronting Ride Or Die Choppers, it was difficult to see Marvel’s face with any detail. But what I could see made me silently cheer Romeo for what his beatdown had produced.

Marvel looked monstrous. His face was clearly misshapen and covered in a rainbow of bruises. The blackness circling his eyes made me think at first that he was somehow wearing sunglasses in the dark, but then I caught the faint glimmer of the bonfire reflected in his swollen, slitted eyes. His cheeks and jawline seemed lumpy and somehow doubled in size, and I never would have recognized him had it not been for his voice. Wetness glistened on his lower lip as he stared at my brother and me, and Slash made a sound of disgust.

“Dude, you’re drooling again. How can you not feel that shit leaking out of you?”

“Fuck you.” But Marvel did take a haphazard swipe at his mouth, making me realize he also had a gun in his hand.

We were so dead.

“Well, here we are again. A big, happy reunion.” Marvel’s words came out muffled, and I realized he probably had his jaw wired shut since he seemed almost like a ventriloquist trying to keep his face from moving when he spoke. “Where’s your man, Shiloh? Where’s Romeo?”

“Not here.” And for that I was suddenly very grateful. I’d do just about anything to keep these assholes away from him. “You do realize we’re out here in the open, right? Anyone hears us talking in here, and they could come and investigate. I suggest you get your shit done and get out of here before you’re caught behind enemy lines.”

“This spot’s usually where guys go for a quick bang, because they like the pretend danger of someone catching them going at it.” Slash shrugged an indifferent shoulder. “Pretend dangers for pretend tough guys. Tyr’s Gravediggers are bikers-lite, know what I mean? If any of these wannabe 1%ers gets close enough to hear our voices, they’ll be fuckin’ polite little choir boys and go somewhere else.”

“You don’t get it, Shiloh. IwantRomeo to come here.” Marvel seemed to spend a lot of energy to make each word clear, and through the darkness the slits of his blackened eyes glittered feverishly. “Call him.Now.”

I tried not to shiver. “With what, mental telepathy? I don’t have a phone.”

“Bullshit.”

“Oopsies. My bad.” Slash gave Marvel a beatific smile. “I made her ditch her phone.”

Marvel turned on him, moving like Quasimodo. Damn, Romeo really did a number on him. “You what?”

“Now, now, don’t get your pretty little panties in a bunch, your drooly worship…”

“Shiloh.” My brother spoke so quietly it was no louder than a breath. “Get ready to run.”

“Come with me?” I couldn’t leave him behind and live with myself.

“Yeah.” His hands squeezed mine before pushing them away from him. “Now!”

My feet were now completely numb, but I could still put them to good use as I turned and dashed into the darkness half a second before I heard a shot ring out. My brother made a grunting noise before the unmistakable sound of a body hitting the ground reached my ears.

“Josh!” I looked back and saw my brother on the ground, struggling—and failing—to get to his feet. In that moment it didn’t matter that there were sadistic maniacs with guns wanting us dead. What mattered was my brother, and I loved him despite his failings. In the end he’d come through for me, because that was what family did.

And there was nothing more important than family.

I skidded to a stop and took a step back in the direction of my fallen brother with the half-baked notion of dragging him to his feet, when strong arms snaked out of the darkness. At the same time more dark figures closed in on the shadowy island of trees.

“You’re out of this, honey,” came Ashtray’s voice close to my ear. “Romeo and Ajax’ll take care of this from here on in.”

“But… wait, Slash is the spy and my brother needs help, he’s been shot—”

“We know. We’ve known since Slash popped off about Marvel drooling after he got out of the hospital. How the hell could he have known about that? We didn’t know about it until Romeo did some checking and found some pics that our guy took with Marvel clearly drooling like a St. Bernard. But none of us ever saw those particular photos. Slash gave himself away.”

“You mean you knew he was Hades’s man right here in the compound with the rest of us?” I literally saw red. “Why didn’t you jump on him right away?”

“Can’t hit a brother without absolute proof, or you shatter the trust that holds us all together. Not to mention Tyr wanted to see who Slash met up with here on the inside to see who else was on Hades’s payroll. We’ve tagged two for sure, and a third is a strong possibility. If you and your brother had stayed put at the bonfire under our protection, we could’ve had more time to figure out who’s friend and who’s foe.” I felt him shrug as another round of firecrackers went off, scaring the crap out of me. “Shit happens, I guess.”

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