Page 22 of Spade

“So, you drugged her and waited for your chance to sneak her out of the bar?” he asked.

“Yep, and it would have worked too, except the idiot biker who gave her the drink, gave her two at a time. She sucked down double the amount that she should have, and that’s on him. And then, you got involved and had to play the hero, taking her out of there and running her to the hospital.”

“I see, so it’s my and my friend’s fault for what you did to Cynthia?” he asked.

“Don’t be an ass,” she spat. “I’m trying to help you out here.” She wasn’t but upsetting her wouldn’t get him the information that he needed.

Razor snapped his fingers at him and Spade looked at him from across the room. He gave Spade a thumbs up and he knew that they finally had her. “I hate to tell you this, Melissa, but I don’t really need your help.” Her gasp was all he heard on the other end, right before she ended the call.

“We’ve got her location,” Razor said triumphantly. “Let’s move.” He started for the door with about a half dozen guys and Spade couldn’t help his smile. He knew that when the going got tough, his brothers would always have his back—no matter what.

They pulled up to a house that looked like it was abandoned. Half of the windows were covered with plywood and the roof looked about ready to cave in. “She’s in there?” Spade asked Razor.

“Yeah, I bet we’re thinking the same thing,” he said. “We need to get Cynthia out of there before that whole house collapses.”

“How are we going to play this?” Mace asked from the front seat. They had taken two trucks, both filled with men, and Spade was grateful for all the help. The more guys they had, the easier this might be. But there were always the unknown factors, and they scared the hell out of him. All he wanted was Cynthia back in one piece. He honestly didn’t give a shit about what happened to Melissa.

“I say that those guys take the back of the house,” Razor said. Spade knew that his boss would want to be in charge of the operation, and he was fine with that. He needed someone with a clear head leading the charge.

“We can take the front,” Razor continued. “Spade and I will go in first, and the rest of you follow. Remember, if this thing goes south, you guys need to get out of there fast. Spade and I are trained to handle this type of thing.” Spade was trained to handle kidnappings, but never involving the woman he loved.

“Got it,” Mace agreed. He told the rest of the guys what to do, leaving Razor and Spade alone.

“You sure that you’re good?” Razor asked him.

“No, but I will be just as soon as I get Cynthia back,” he admitted.

“Then, let’s go do that,” Razor breathed. Mace rejoined them with two of the Blaine brothers and they all started into the house. It was dark and Spade wondered if the house had electricity or running water. The thought of Cynthia being kept in such a place pissed him completely off.

He could hear Cynthia calmly trying to coax Melissa into letting her go. She told her that no one had to know what happened and that she’d never press charges. That was complete bullshit. There was no way that Spade would let that woman get away with what she had done to Cynthia.

Razor turned back to Spade and gave him the motion to hold. He didn’t want to fucking wait another second to get to Cynthia,but when Razor motioned to him that Melissa had a gun, he stopped dead in his tracks. If Melissa did have a gun, this whole mission could turn into a complete cluster fuck. There was no way that he’d let Cynthia get hurt though—even if he had to take the bullet for her.

Cynthia

She could see a shadow moving out of the corner of her eye. Cynthia was careful not to turn her head to see who was in the house with them, not wanting to give the person’s location away in case they were there to rescue her. And she sure hoped that someone was there to rescue her because she had argued herself cross-eyed with Melissa and that was getting her nowhere. The woman was determined to punish Cynthia for something she believed she had done. For now, she was going to have to try to keep Melissa’s attention so that her rescue party could move in and take her by surprise—and the best way to do that was to keep her talking.

“Where is Eric now?” Cynthia asked.

Melissa huffed out her breath, “Isn’t that a question that I should be asking you?” she countered.

“I have no idea where Eric is,” Cynthia insisted. “I’ve already told you that I haven’t seen him since he broke up with me and I left for California.”

“Right, and why exactly did you end up coming back to town?” Melissa asked. Her gun was still at her side, and she knew that whoever was in the hallway would be able to easilydisarm her. Melissa was too distracted to be on the defensive now.

Cynthia rolled her eyes, trying to get a look at who was there, and when she spotted Razor, she knew that Spade couldn’t be far behind. Panic welled up in her, as she worried about Spade being hurt. What if she was wrong and Melissa wasn’t as distracted as she believed?

“Listen, can’t you put the gun down and we can calmly talk about this? I’ll tell you everything, but that gun is making me nervous,” Cynthia lied. She’d tell Melissa whatever she needed to hear to get her to put the gun down.

“Aww, does my little gun scare you?” she asked, waiving it around again.

“Yes,” Cynthia stuttered. “It makes me very nervous. I’m afraid that you’re going to hurt yourself or me. Just put it down, Melissa. Think about your baby. You wouldn’t want to actually shoot yourself and hurt your baby, right?” Melissa might be crazy, but she seemed to care about her unborn child. It was the main reason why she wanted Cynthia out of the picture—so she could get Eric to come back home to her. The problem was that Eric wasn’t with her, and if Melissa found that out, she wouldn’t be as rational anymore—not even about her unborn child.

“I’d never hurt my baby,” Melissa whispered. Cynthia could tell that she was thinking everything over and when she put the gun on the dusty coffee table, she could feel herself let out a breath that she didn’t know she had been holding.

“Thank you for doing that,” Cynthia breathed.

“It’s your turn to tell me what is going on between you and Eric,” Melissa challenged.

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