Page 10 of Damaged

Tapping his phone on his thigh, he gazed at the jumping bear emoji that threw its arms up and the words good morning stretched from hand to hand before starting over again. It was the last text he’d received from Wrath the morning they’d gone on that job together.

A text alert from Savage flashed up at that moment and Rogue flipped to it.

Savage: Any signs of Rebel?

Rogue: I’m getting closer.

Savage: Okay. You with Wrath?

Rogue froze. No, he wasn’t fucking with Wrath.

What the hell did Savage mean by that? And why would Savage think he was still with Wrath?

Rogue: No, why?

Savage: I haven’t heard from him for three days.

Rogue stared at the last message.Well, fuck.He quickly typed back that he’d check on Wrath and left it at that.

Now what? Was he really going to make the drive to Wrath’s house? Not that Oxnard was far from Santa Barbara. But was he going to go back to Wrath’s home after leaving so abruptly the other day?

Fuck it. He’d do a drive-by and check if the guy was home.

That couldn’t hurt.

And it was only because Savage appeared worried.

Liar.

The place was dark when he arrived even though the sun had yet to set. The night was coming through and Rogue figured it would be completely dark in another twenty minutes or so.

Was Wrath even home?

Getting into the man’s house should be easy, right? Although, Wrath was an assassin and they tended to take extra measures with protection.

Did the front door have the same entry code as the inner garage door?

All he could do was try.

Zero, five, zero, one.

Rogue froze. Why hadn’t it dawned on him that the numbers were his birthday?

May first.Nah. There was no way Wrath knew his actual birthdate. Only Echo and Fisher knew that information. The numbers had to be a coincidence.

The door clicked open, and Rogue slid into the darkness. It was almost the same as the outside, so his vision quickly acclimated.

Everything seemed in order, but he noticed a blood stain on the expensive sofa. A reminder that Wrath had been wounded when he’d left him.

He slid soundlessly through the entryway, living room, and even checked the kitchen before he started for the hallway.

All the while, he fully expected Wrath to come out of the darkness and avenge his territory being invaded.

That didn’t happen and the further Rogue moved into Wrath’s home, the more his heart pounded. What if something had happened to Wrath?

That thought didn’t sit right with him and he wasn’t going to look too closely as to why. Silently, he pulled his gun from his back holster and aimed it into the dark of the hallway as he inched forward. He didn’t know which room was Wrath’s, so he took his time silently opening doors and checking within.

It was the last door at the end of the hallway that was closed, and he held a silent breath as he eased it open and stepped inside. His eyes had already acclimated to the darkness, and he easily spotted the man sprawled naked lying on his back in the bed.

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