Page 12 of Trigger

This boy was so damn sweet. I had no idea how he’d ended up with a grumpy, manipulative guy like Tango. Tango was a hard, callous asshole more often than not, and he was known for twisting things to his benefit. But the two of them worked together so well. Gabriel smoothed all of Tango’s rough edges, and Tango protected Gabriel fiercely. And their love was a beautiful thing to witness.

“Yeah,” I said quietly, stepping back so he and Tango could enter the room. Once they were in, I quietly shut the door and strode back over to the bed, settling beneath the blankets with my back leaning against the headboard. Gabriel stood by the bed for a moment, and when I patted the spot next to me, he quickly sat down, wiggling beneath the blankets with me.

When he leaned his head on my shoulder, he tentatively asked, “Is this okay?”

I wrapped my arm around him and grabbed the book from his hand. “It’s okay,” I assured him. I opened the book up to where he’d placed a bookmark. Tango took a seat at Chase’s desk as I set the bookmark aside. “Show me where you left off.”

Once Gabriel pointed out the paragraph, I began to quietly read to him, my heart clenched tightly in my chest. But I wasn’t alone, and reading to him forced my mind to focus on something else other than the longing and aching I felt for Chase and Trigger.

Gabriel, though young and still healing, always seemed to know what other people needed. I just hoped Tango knew the pure and wholesome gift he’d gotten when he’d claimed Gabriel as his.

9

Chase

Everything hurt. Every single part of my body ached. Places I didn’t even know could ache fucking hurt. I’d been raped. Beaten. Cut open. I was bleeding from so many places, and my head was woozy from blood loss. Just crooking my fingers felt like it took infinite effort, and remembering to breathe was fuckinghard.

I couldn’t think past the pain eviscerating me.

Dried vomit lingered on the corners of my mouth and stuck to my neck, beard, and hair. My throat hurt. Every swallow made my stomach heave, even though I had nothing left in me to vomit.

I had no idea how long I’d been there in that fucking morgue. In that cold as fuck room. When I was awake, someone was torturing me. When I wasn’t awake, it was only because I was unconscious. This was the first time I’d come to and no one was around, waiting to torture me further. And I didn’t know whether I should feel relief, dread, or pure anxiety. Because it was inevitable someone was going to make an appearance.

The only knowledge I had of days passing was the number of times the Pakhan had changed his clothes, which was four… I thought. It was hard to remember with the pain constantly pulsing at my skull and the light-headedness I was suffering from blood loss.

The door to the right of me opened just as I was closing my eyes to go back to sleep, and every muscle in my body clenched tightly. I bit back a groan of pain, my fingers spasming at the pain that sliced up my spine from my ass. Clenching my jaw, I turned my head, glaring at the man I’d come to know of as their enforcer. He was always silent—never said a word. But with the way he expertly used that blade currently clutched in his fist, I knew he neverneededwords.

Not when he was perfectly capable of expressing every unsaid word with damage. Pain. Blood spill.

Nausea rolled through my gut.

I forced myself to stare up at the ceiling as he came to stand beside me. His silence was always the worst. Because there was no taunting to focus on or respond to. There was just the pain of him slicing into my skin and the sounds of my screams filling the room.

He stopped at the side of the metal table I’d been laying on and chained to since I’d woken up in that fucking room. When he lifted the hand holding the knife, I clenched my teeth, trying to bite back any sound of pain. But when that first cut sliced into my chest, my roar of pain shattered the silence.

Over and over again, that blade sliced through my skin like butter. I vomited stomach acid. I passed out numerous times, only for the next cut to jerk me out of the peaceful darkness I’d found. I was sweating despite the cold temperature of the room. The pain mixed with the loss of blood made me even more lightheaded and made it hard to focus on anything. The roomspun every time I opened my eyes, and I was shaking so badly, the metal table beneath me rattled.

The enforcer walked away from me and over to the sink to clean his knife. My eyelids slid closed, and I succumbed to the darkness just as the sound of gunshots echoed somewhere else in the building.

A pained smile tilted my lips. Maybe the end of all this pain was finally fucking here.

I was welcoming death with open arms.

I moaned in pain, a sob crawling up my throat when someone moved me. Warm, calloused hands gently maneuvered my arms, and soft, worn leather pressed to my skin. Somehow, I managed to force my eyelids to work, and I slowly blinked at Trigger, who was gently sitting me up, my arms weakly draped around his neck.

He looked like he hadn’t showered in days. His beard was unkempt, and his oily hair was hidden beneath a black skull cap. Dirt stained his clothes and his skin along with… blood splatters? What the fuck? Had the Russians gotten their hands on him, too?

Please not him. Not him, too. They couldn’t hurtbothpeople who meant the world to me.

“Trigger…” I mumbled. “What…” Trying to get my lips to work so I could form words was proving to be a fucking task and a half.

“Easy,” Trigger rasped. He cupped my cheek and pressed our foreheads together, his eyes full of pain and rage. So muchfucking rage. And that rage settled me because I knew it was on my behalf.

He’d come for me.

“I’m getting you out of here, baby.” He pressed his lips to mine in a hard kiss, and a tear rolled down my cheek. Turning his head, he kissed it away from my vomit and blood-stained skin, then lifted me from the table to cradle me against his chest.

I moaned in pain, my head lolling against his chest. He clenched his jaw and swallowed thickly. “I’m sorry,” he rasped. “I know it hurts. Just let me get you out of here, okay?”

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