Page 18 of Beyond the Hate

I blow out a breath. Great. I’m going to spend the entire night trying to save Jaxon from his brothers.

“Welcome to the trenches,” Rhett mutters.

We turn into the alley where the bar is a few minutes later.Rumrunneris a speakeasy and is supposed to be difficult to find. In reality, their social media channels blare their location to one and all. However, visitors do need to solve a riddle to get the password to enter.

Kai skips to the door and knocks. A small window opens and he waves. “It’s us.”

The door opens and the doorman ushers us inside.

“Hey, Trent,” I greet.

“Good,” he grunts. “You’re here. Maybe you can keep your brothers in line.”

Rhett snorts. “Impossible.”

“Oh no.” Jaxon groans.

Crap. Have my brothers already caused chaos? “What?”

He gestures to the banner hanging above the bar.Find the Secrets of the Island Scavenger Hunt.

“What are the chances I can gather the family together and escape?” I ask Rhett.

He indicates Miles who’s sitting in a booth and waving a piece of paper at us. “None.”

“I entered us as the Whiskey Raiders,” Miles says when we join him.

I hold my hand out to Zane. “I need my phone back.”

“You can’t run away. We already paid our entry fee.”

I wiggle my hand. “Someone needs to be able to transfer the money when it’s time to bail you out of jail.”

“Fair point.” He slaps the phone in my hand.

Damn. I would have felt better if he denied needing bail money.

“It’s better to let them loose for a while. We’ll rein them in before chaos descends,” Rhett says.

“Really? Before chaos descends?”

He shrugs. “I do my best.”

“We are going to win this!” A woman in the booth behind me declares and my muscles seize.

Shit. I know her voice. I glance behind me to check. Yep, it’s Chloe. And her entourage. My gaze catches Paisley’s and she snarls at me. I whirl around away from her and return my attention to my brothers. All of whom are smirking.

“Do you want to switch sides with me?” Miles asks. “You can’t gaze longingly at her all night long from your side.”

I flip him off and he dissolves into laughter. Asshole.

“What are the prizes anyway?” Sophia asks behind me. I strain to listen to their conversation.

“A gift basket with goodies fromBuccaneer’s Whiskey.The basket includes bottles of whiskey, moonshine, and gin as well as a flask and mugs,” Chloe says.

“Buccaneer’s Whiskey.The owner of the distillery just loves to flaunt his wealth in everyone’s face, doesn’t he?” Paisley says.

Kai jumps to his feet and points to me. “The owner of the distillery is right here if you want to lodge a complaint in person.”

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