Page 65 of Unmasked Anarchy
I don’t notice the way the woods carve my body up as I shove through them.I have one goal in mind.Get back to that barn and warn the guys.Maybe, just maybe, I have done enough to save our lives.We still have the issue of the cartel waiting, but at least they won’t be going into it blind.
I finally stagger into the opening, my lungs on fire from the run.I lean against a tree, trying to catch my breath.I have a second to focus before I hear it: shouting, angry brawl erupting.The clubs.Even from here, I can tell they are at each other, voices clipping through the still air.
I push myself forward.It takes me a second to reach the barn, and when I step inside, it is chaos.Kael is pressed against the wall, his face bloody, his fists clenched in rage.Gage is in front of him, squaring up, jaw clenched so tight the veins on his neck look ready to rip through the skin.The rest of the crew stand back, letting them have their moment.
Far out.
We don’t have time for this.
“Listen boys,” I yell, so loudly everyone stops and their eyes widen.“While I appreciate you two fighting over me, we have a far bigger problem at hand.So can you put your dicks away for a minute.”
I can see the relief in both of their faces.
It won’t last long.
Not when I tell them what lies ahead.
~*~*~*~*~
EVERY GUY IN THAT ROOMjust stares at me, like maybe I’m a hallucination.I know they weren’t expecting me to be here, not alive at least.Kael gets to me first.Not a surprise, but still, the way he barrels forward, shoving Gage out of the way, to snatch my face between his hands is kind of beautiful.He presses a kiss to my lips so rough, so powerful, I forget where we are for a moment.
He’s shaking when he pulls back.“What the fuck happened to you?”His voice is raw, burned out.
I try to smile, but it’s useless.I’m too wound up.“Got a little lost in the woods.”
His fingers grip harder.He turns my face this way, then that.His mouth says nothing for a second, and then: “Sable, you’re not—”
Gage moves quickly, shoving Kael aside as he steps up to me, trying to show Kael just who owns me.“What happened?”
He isn’t worried about my injuries.Just what happened to me.
It is in this moment, I know which man I would choose.
“I’m fine thank you,” I mutter sarcastically.“I just dragged a bomb out of the barn, and through the woods to save your ass.”
Gage’s back straightens and then everyone has taken a step closer.“A what.”
“A bomb.A big one, too.They had it all planned out.Get both clubs here, blow you all to hell, and make it look like a club war.I got away, don’t even ask how, and decided to get the bomb as far away from here as I can to give you guys a fighting chance.So while I’d love to sit here and chat, we don’t have time.It will go off any minute and when it does, that cartel will be down here in minutes.”
For a second, the room is so silent I can only hear them breathing.
“What do you want us to do?”Kael turns to Wolfe, who is standing beside him, his face stony.
“We gotta outsmart them.If we try and leave, they will know their plan failed and come after us in another way.When that bomb goes off, and they see it ain’t here, they will come down guns blazin’ and ready for a fight.So that’s what we give ‘em.It’s the only shot we have.”
His eyes lock on Gage’s and I can see the two of them ready for a standoff.
“You two have to put this shit aside,” Knox growls from behind Wolfe.“We don’t have time right now.We gotta work together, or we all fuckin’ die.Not about whose club is bigger, better and scarier.What the fuck is the plan and how are we goin’ to walk out of here alive.”
Silence ensues, and then Wolfe offers a plan.It’s so simple it’s either genius or suicide: divide up, vanishing into the tree line to be completely out of sight when the cartel comes down.When they do, nobody hesitates, they come out shooting and take them down.Finishing this.
Everyone agrees, and we all split up.
Kael and Gage refuse to leave me, so I’m given no choice but to go with both of them.
We duck behind the barn, then into the tangled undergrowth, finding a spot shadowed by trees.Somewhere nearby, I hear the click of a magazine snapping into a rifle.More members are close.Kael pushes me down behind a bush and leans close, whispering, “Sable, I mean it.You don’t leave this fuckin’ spot, I don’t care what you see.I don’t care what you hear.You do not leave.Promise me.”
Gage snorts beside us.
