Page 23 of The Oath We Take

“For fuck’s sake, zip those up.” I point to his jeans. “No one needs to see your pubes this early in the morning.”

He winces, shielding his eyes from the sun. “Seems like some Russian fucks thought they’d take advantage of us being out of town. Paid a visit to Margie, the Dobsons, and that clothing store on the corner of Main and Fourth. Don’t know who else. Want cash. Different amounts depending on the business. Monthly.”

My mind immediately goes to Ember. “We should get Butcher to check in with Ember. He’ll be pissed if they went for her too.”

Wraith glances over at Butcher’s tent. “He crawled in there with two women wearing booty shorts and body paint about two hours ago. Not sure I want to go knocking on his tent flap right now.”

Not sure I do either. “Fuck it. Do you have Ember’s number? I’ll call her before we go wake him.”

Wraith looks up at me. “You don’t have Ember’s number?”

I shake my head. “Why would I?”

Wraith opens his phone, and I pull out my own, dialing the number as he calls it out. “I’ll go get a shirt while you speak with her. I’m gonna have to tell Butcher regardless of whether Ember is involved, and I’m not gonna let him kick my ass while I’m shirtless and this fucking hungover.” He glances at his watch. “Only stopped drinking about three hours ago, I’m probably still drunk.”

The phone rings as he disappears back to his tent, and then a gruff, masculine voice says, “Hello.”

It catches me off guard. There are a million reasons a man could be answering her phone, but the most obvious is that a man stayed the night.

Fuck.

“I’m looking for Ember,” I say.

“Who the fuck are you?” the guy asks.

His question irks me, but if I saw a man calling Ember, I’d want to know who it was too. “Just put Ember on the phone.”

“Are you one of those guys from last night?” he asks.

That answers part of my question. “They ask her for money?”

“Look, who is this? I’ll ask her to call you back when she gets out of the shower.”

I swear to God, all the blood drains out of my body. Dizziness replaces it. I hate the fucking idea that there is a man in her place, with access to her phone. All while she fuckingshowers.

“Answer the fucking question. Did some Russians try to coerce her to give them cash for protection?”

“Not telling you shit, seeing as you won’t tell me who you are.”

It’s enough to know she’s been affected. I hang up without another word. Wraith climbs back out of his tent.

“I got an idea,” I say. “Don’t wake Butcher. None of you can safely drive yet. I’m gonna drive back to town and get some details.”

“It’s a five-hour ride, brother.” Wraith tugs his hair back into an elastic.

“Stopped drinking at least eight hours ago. Despite the hangover, I’m fine. You know Butcher is gonna hate being woken up and hates getting half a story. I’ll go back. I’ll ask around all the stores to get video footage. Compile it all and send it back to you. Then I’ll ride back or send for you all.”

Wraith sighs. “I should go, stay the night with Raven, and come back.”

I laugh at that. “If you go back home, you and I both know you aren’t coming back. Stay, brother. You need it. I’ll be back tonight, or tomorrow, latest. My liver will thank me for the break.”

What I don’t tell him is I need to find out who the fuck answered Ember’s phone this morning. I have a violent need to kill someone, and he’s higher up the list than the fucking Russians.

Wraith nods. “Fine. Ride safe, yeah?”

I tip my head towards my tent. “Keep an eye on my shit.”

It takes fifteen minutes to piss and dunk my head in a sink full of ice-cold water, keeping it submerged for as long as I can. By the time I’ve downed two cups of coffee and the breakfast burrito Wraith grabbed me from one of the food trucks outside the campground gates, I’m ready to make the ride.

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