Page 81 of Barrett

“You don’t now.”

“I swear to fuck, Hart.”

I cleared my throat.

“Fuck’s sake,” Jordan muttered. “I’m sending Kayli and Ollie your way. When they get there, you two get your asses here so we can plan. Hopefully by then Lawson has something for us.” He hung up without saying another word.

I guessed we were heading into the lion’s den before bringing a whole lot of hate onto the asshole who thought it was smart to take innocent men.

34

REGHAN

Words I wanted to say to Barrett stuck in my throat. Words of love, need, and a desire to have a future with him. I couldn’t get them out, not with everything going on around us. The time for them had passed.

We were in a line of SUVs barreling into West Dremest, where Archie lived. Did I think he was going to be there? That would be too easy. Nothing about what we’d done so far was simple. If it were, we wouldn’t be here now. This would have been done and handled.

We were all at the end of our ropes and needed to get this taken care of. Some of us more than others. They wanted a resolution, although this was personal to Barrett, which meant it was to me too.

We’d left Marshall pacing inside my apartment. It was the first time Barrett had seen it. It was also the first time he’d seen his brother in days. When I imagined welcoming him to my home, that wasn’t how it looked. Then again, nothing about my relationship with him had gone the way it should have. Correction, one part had. Once the mask was peeled away, loving Barrett was as simple as breathing. I couldn’t have stopped if I’d tried.

Raiden drove the Navigator I was in with Rory in the front passenger seat, while Barrett and I sat in the back. Barrett took my hand in his like he knew I needed this. Maybe we both did.

In the SUV in front of us, Albert drove with Sheldon next to him and Jordan in the back. Behind us were two more SUVs. There was nothing subtle about what we were doing. Driving through West Dremest as we were wasn’t the same as if we were on the other side of the city.

Jordan knew people in charge here, but they weren’t in his pocket. That didn’t mean he’d go easy if Archie was found over here. Jordan had already called Dexen and asked if there was an abandoned space he could work out of. Dexen would understand what he meant. Being a Dremest, Dexen and his family owned a lot of property here. So, it wasn’t surprising when Dexen gave Jordan the address and door lock code of a place he’d bought and hadn’t used yet. Jordan had texted it to the rest of us, just in case we were separated.

What was surprising was Dexen letting Jordan use the property at all. Jordan would go there to kill Archie once he had him, if he captured him here.

It was less risky than driving with him to the other side of the city. Dexen obviously wanted this man caught too. Plus, Dexen wasn’t against murder when need be. He’d killed to keep Jordan's son safe time and again. Capturing and ridding the city of Archie would do us all a favor.

“It should be up here on the left,” Raiden said as we slowed to creep along the side street where the homes were attached, and each one appeared to have at least three stories.

The sun had already started to set. While others had lights on inside, this one did not. Maybe his wife and children had moved out, or maybe he wanted people to believe the house was empty. If he was smart, his family would be long gone. None of us wanted them wrapped up in this, especially the kids. From what Noah had said, Archie’s family wasn't mentioned while he was being held. I didn’t think the wife was aware of what he was doing since she was divorcing him, but who the fuck knew?

As we crept by, there was no sign of life inside and no sign of the truck Marshall had described, so we kept going. Barrett turned, looking out the back of the SUV.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“It doesn’t feel right. We missed something.” He kept staring while I took in the area around us. My eyes could track a lot, and there was nothing I wanted to miss. This was too important.

“Wait!” he yelled. “I see taillights. They weren’t there before, and I didn’t see anyone walk to the vehicle.”

Raiden slowed while Rory put his phone to his ear and whispered to who had to be Jordan on the other end.

A sudden sound reached us, the noise metal on metal made when it ground against each other.

Barrett put his head out of the window to get a better look. “Shit, it has to be him. He’s slamming into cars to get out of the parking spot. He must have been wedged in there.” We were stuck with no easy way to turn around due to vehicles lining either side of the street.

Albert hit the gas in front of us, speeding up until he could swing the Navigator around. We thought it would be better to have Jordan in that in case Archie was in his truck and tried to ram one of our vehicles. Jordan would be safer in an SUV, although now I wondered if he was cursing his head off for not being in his Maserati. They could have maneuvered easier in it.

One by one, we turned around at the intersection and drove down the street in the opposite direction.

“What are we looking for, Barrett?” my brother asked.

“Newer Lexus sedan.”

Suddenly, Albert took off. We followed close behind, but not too close where if they stopped short, we'd hit them. This was one of those times we should have thought about having Sheldon ride his Ducati. He could have weaved in and out of tighter spaces. While the SUVs were solid, they weren’t as agile as the bike.

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