Page 79 of Lamb

“Apparently, they’ve been like Tom and Jerry since they met.” Jax chuckled. “I’d loved to have seen them prospecting together; doing shit jobs, following everyone’s demand, taking whatever crap was handed to them.”

“You’d have to watch it in black and white,” Mint scoffed. “They’ve been around longer than the dirt on your shoes.”

Jax flexed his hand, waggling his fingers along with his mouth. “Ten … Fifteen … Got to be something like twenty years ago.”

“Twenty years?” Mint gaped, mirroring my own surprise. “I get Wolf, but Lamb isn’t that old.”

“He was young when he started.” Jax shrugged. “Not sure how old, though.”

“Seventeen,” Lamb’s voice cut through, reappearing in the doorway. “Now if you’re done gossiping, let’s go. I’ve got a curfew.”

With his words, I once again became aware of the weight pressing on my shoulders. It anchored my belly to the bed, and I glanced towards the window. The lopsided curtain shifted in the breeze, slipping through the open crack, cold air chilling my skin. I saw the sun hanging lower in the sky, painting the soft clouds a hazy gold. A beautiful autumn evening was emerging.

“Let’s hit the road.” Jax all but skipped towards the door.

Mint put aside his first-aid box and fished a set of keys from his back pocket. “I’ll drive cage,” he said as he offered his hand to me. His hands were calloused and large, and though I was not used to receiving help, I had learnt that it was easier to take it than to fight it. Especially Mint. He was stubborn.

My efforts were thwarted as a different hand wrapped around mine. It was long and slender, wrapping in a firm cuff around my wrist. “She’ll ride with me.” Lamb’s voice was calm but cutting. It left no room for argument, and Mint’s hand lingered hesitantly in the air.

Pale green eyes looked down at my arm and Lamb’s hand wearily before looking back towards him. “But Prez said—”

“She will ride with me,” Lamb repeated.

Jax glanced between his two fellow brothers. His gaze hung on Lamb, that familiar frown reappearing in the wrinkles on his brow, flickering down to the deepening bruises on his neckbefore returning to his vice president’s face. Something flashed across Jax’s face, breaking that expression for a moment, but it was quickly buried. Whatever Jax had seen, he was unhappy about it; that much I could tell. I wanted to ask, but something stronger than curiosity pressed my lips tight. Something moving between the two men’s expressions warned me not to ask. That it was finished business.

“Fuck’s sake,” Jax sighed, stalking through the room and grabbing Mint by the scuff of his shirt, towing the stocky man towards the door with more ease than he should be able to. “It doesn’t matter; let’s go.”

“Don’t manhandle me, asshole!” Mint growled, shaking free of Jax’s grasp.

“Then move your feet,” Jax retorted, both barging into the hallway. “I ain’t getting my ass kicked if we’re late because of you. It’s too pretty an ass. Ronnie says so all the time.”

Argument riled up in Mint’s throat, along with the rising red of his cheeks, but the two barrelled down the hallway before I could make out any more words. Instead, just noise followed in their wake, quickly growing distant.

I stared back down at the hot burn on my wrist. Goosebumps prickled along my arm, but I was warm where he touched. I stared up at him, his head facing towards the doorway. I gave my arm a short tug, just enough to draw his attention back.

Brown eyes flickered over my face and across my body. After a moment to process the information, Lamb’s fingers loosened, dropping his hold, and my heart deflated. Instead, they slid up to my palm, pushing open my hand and slipping his fingers between mine, and my stupid heart thumped.

“Shall we?”

I frowned at the affectionate gesture. “You are being rather polite …” I spoke. “For a kidnapper, that is.”

“I think we’re mutually trapped now.” Lamb shrugged, his eyes mischievous and amused.

“You should have just left me alone,” I sighed. “Then we would not be in this mess.”

Lamb shook his head. “I’ve been in this mess for a long time. I’m just not alone anymore.”

I opened my mouth. And then I closed it. I could not formulate a thought to process that statement, nor its implication, never mind respond to it.

I chose not to, in the end, taking the quiet moment to shakily stand. I felt weak, and the soles of my feet were tingly and tender. Balance was delicate, but Lamb waited patiently for me to find my footing before he guided me along. He matched my pace but didn’t support or help me, allowing me to figure it out myself.

He was quiet the whole way down, and so was I.

We might be in this together, but it didn’t change the reality.

Today, we were heading to our new hell.

One I had vowed never to return to.

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