Page 41 of Ruthless Angel

Daire whirled to face him, raising the gun he held. “This is not a good time to lip off, asshole. I have no problem blowing your brains out right here and now.”

Ever the cocky bastard, Gage merely raised a hand in invitation. He regarded Daire with a fearless expression. I wasn’t sure which of them was more fucking deranged.

“Daire, don’t,” I snapped, ready to lose my own damn mind. “We have to find Clover. This is not the time for personal conflict. We’ll never find her if you idiots kill each other. We have to get moving.”

When Daire didn’t lower his weapon or even so much as blink, Cash stepped forward. He placed a hand on Daire’s wrist, forcing it down.

Raina and Havoc returned before things escalated further. The disappointment on Raina’s face said everything.

“A man rented the room. He paid with cash. They didn’t even take his name. I got a basic description.” She described the man as having short buzzed hair and a lot of skull tattoos.

“Definitely Brady,” Cash confirmed, ready to tackle Daire if he did anything crazy.

The nausea that had plagued me all the way here became too much. I rushed out into the parking lot to unleash the contents of my stomach. I’d rather have had Brady kill me than ever get his hands on Clover.

A moment later a gentle hand patted my back. I glanced up to find Raina standing next to me, her eyes shining with tears.

“We’ll find her,” she vowed. “I’ll do anything I can to help.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CLOVER

I became vaguely aware of the rumble of voices and the steady rhythm of being in a vehicle. My head felt like stone, my eyes too heavy to open. My tongue felt like a dry slab of useless flesh as I tried to speak. That’s when I realized there was a gag of some kind in my mouth.

My eyes flew open then. Big mistake. Everything spun as I tried to focus. It took several tries to make my surroundings come into clarity.

I was in the back of a van, sprawled on the floor. Both my hands and feet were bound. Two men sat up front, talking and smoking cigarettes. The noxious smell made my stomach turn.

Fear made my body break out in goosebumps. Daire had been right. I shouldn’t have gone to that concert. I’d been so determined to have a good time with Raina that I’d let myself forget how much danger lurked out there, waiting for us to let our guard down.

That’s what I’d done. I’d foolishly believed I was safe with Raina. All it had taken was a few moments for these guys to grab me. I knew who they were. There was no doubt in my mind that one of them was Brady Rollins.

Would I make it out of this alive? I flashed back to seeing Blaze in his hospital bed. How beaten up he’d been. Were they going to do that to me?

My head spun again as I tried to push myself into a sitting position. One of the men turned to find me awake. An evil grin spread across his face.

“Well, hello there, Clover. Nice to finally meet you. My name is Brady. I’m sure you’ve heard a lot about me.” He sucked on a cigarette, blowing a cloud of smoke toward me. “I’ve been waiting to get a hold of you. Your boys owe me big time. Did they tell you that part?”

Unable to speak with the gag in my mouth, I simply stared at him in wide-eyed horror. Brady was older than the Angels. I guessed that he was early thirties. Dark shaved hair with loads of ugly tattoos. His mouth curved up on one side when he smiled due to a scar. I didn’t like to judge by looks alone but Brady looked like a total creep.

“Don’t worry. We’ll be at our destination soon. Hopefully I can get a good deal for you and get you off my hands. I know those pricks of yours will be looking for you. I had a buyer, but the deal fell through when I asked for more money.” Brady turned back to face the front.

Get a good deal for me? Holy shit, he really planned to sell me. I was nothing but an object to be owned. Not so different from being with the Angels. They’d owned me too. Belonging to them had been different. Hadn’t it?

Belonging to them had gotten me into this situation. How would I survive this?

Raina had to be beside herself with worry. No doubt she knew I was gone by now. Did the Angels know? Were they already looking for me?

I couldn’t see much from my place on the floor. It was dark outside. I had no idea how much time had passed since the concert. There was no way to know where Brady was taking me.

The van slowed as we turned off the road we’d been traveling on. When it didn’t pick up speed, I assumed we’d come to our destination.

As the van rolled to a stop, Brady hopped out. He came around to the back of van and opened the door. A moment later the driver joined him. Together they dragged me out of the van.

We were at a house in the country that seemed to be in the middle of rural nowhere. No neighboring houses. No streetlights or traffic. The house itself was an older two story home with a large tree in the front yard. A wooden swing hung from the tree. The front porch was worn and lacking maintenance. It creaked and groaned under their weight as the men carried me up the front steps.

Brady shoved the door open. Right away the scent of coffee hit me as we entered into a small porch. To the left there was a kitchen closed off from the rest of the house. No open concepts in such an old place. That’s where the coffee smell came from.

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