Page 86 of Unmask
“Why me?” she whispered, the question so quiet I almost missed it.
“Why not you?” I countered, tilting her chin up so she met my eyes. “Why wouldn’t it be you?”
Her lips parted like she wanted to argue, to list all the reasons why she wasn’t worth consideration, but no words came out. Just a soft exhale ghosting across my skin that made my heart squeeze. “What have you done with Kreed?”
She had to stop saying my name all breathless and wondering. I was on the verge of throwing this good-guy act out the window and taking full possession of those lips, giving her exactly what she wanted and not giving a shit that we were in my car. “I don’t fucking know,” I admitted, “but this has to be your fault somehow.”
Her chuckle was soft and short, like she didn’t want to allow herself to feel anything but guilt and misery. It vanished fromher lips as quickly as it had appeared, replaced by that haunted look that made me want to hunt down everyone who’d ever hurt her. I guess that would include me. Make that make sense.
Her head came to rest on my shoulder, the rhythmic in and out of her breaths caressing the side of my neck, a test of my rapidly fraying will.
I couldn’t pinpoint exactly when shit had changed for me, when my concern had shifted from protecting myself to protecting her, from putting my family first to making her my priority. All I knew was that, somewhere along the way, she’d become the most important thing in my world, and I’d break every law before I let anyone hurt her again.
The second themessage came through Raine’s burner, the buzz cutting through the quiet night air, I knew we didn’t have time to waste. We were still parked outside Brock’s house, the engine ticking as it cooled, while Kaylor was asleep upstairs in her room. The house stood dark except for the single lamp Mason had left burning in the front window, a signal that all was well.
Mason was inside with her, stretched out on the couch with explicit instructions to stay the fuck out of her room unless the damn house was on fire. I hated leaving her, but I’d made her a promise I intended to keep, which meant that despite every instinct screaming at me to go upstairs and crawl into bed with her, I had a lead to follow.
Raine leaned over from the driver’s seat, his long legs pressed up against the worn leather, phone in his tattooed hand. The screen’s blue glow cast harsh shadows across his angular face as his eyes scanned the message. “A girl matching Kenny’sdescription was seen being transported through the South Rail district. Three nights ago. With two other girls. They were loaded into a black SUV outside the old cement factory.”
Adrenaline flooded my system so fast it made my hands shake. Three nights ago. That would put the timeline right after Kenny disappeared.
“That’s Raven territory,” Maddox growled from the back seat, his voice rough with sleep but already alert. He turned to look at me through the partition, his eyes hard and calculating. “Why would the Vipers trespass? You think it’s a trap?”
“Probably.” I opened the door, the cold night air immediately biting through my hoodie and raising goose bumps along my arms. My boots hit the asphalt as I circled to the back of the SUV and popped the trunk with more force than necessary. “Doesn’t matter. We’re checking it out.”
The trunk opened to reveal our arsenal, guns nestled in foam, magazines lined up like soldiers, blades gleaming under the streetlight. The sight of it all made something dark and hungry stir in my chest.
Maddox joined me at the trunk, his movements fluid and practiced as he began loading magazines into a Glock with an efficiency that spoke of experience. His fingers moved with mechanical precision, muscle memory taking over. “It doesn’t make sense.”
Raine stayed calm as always, but beneath the fall of his black hair, his eyes were focused. He was already dressed for this brand of work, black jeans molded to his lean frame, combat boots laced tight, and I caught the glint of a blade tucked into the back of the waistband of his dark jeans. “Kaylor?” he asked, glancing toward the house where a single upstairs window glowed softly. “You leaving her behind?”
My teeth ground together. I couldn’t tell from his tone if he approved of the idea or thought it was a mistake, and thatuncertainty scraped against my nerves. “Mason’s inside with her,” I said, checking the action on my own weapon. “He’ll stay until I say otherwise. She doesn’t leave the house. Not tonight.”
And if my sneaky little fox somehow managed to slip past Mason, which, knowing her, she’d try, Evan and two of Brock’s most trustedfriendswere stationed around the perimeter.
“She’s gonna love that,” Maddox muttered, checking the safety on his gun with a metallic click that sounded unnaturally loud in the quiet night.
“She doesn’t have to love it,” I replied as I slammed the trunk shut. “She just has to stay safe.” Because if something happened to her while I was gone, if I came back to find her hurt or worse, I’d never forgive myself. The thought of her scared and alone, of coming home to an empty house and cold sheets, made my chest feel like it was caving in on itself.
Maddox snorted. “Are you sure this is the girl for you? She’s a lot of fucking trouble, man.” His eyes narrowed as he studied my face.
He was telling me. I scraped a hand through my hair, the cost of every wrong move, yet leading us here. “Regardless of my feelings, we owe her for what we did.”
Maddox’s frown deepened, carving harsh lines around his mouth. He kicked at a loose chunk of concrete, sending it skittering across the asphalt. “You think this lead’s real?”
“Only one way to find out.”
Raine grinned humorlessly. “I can’t believe you’re trusting her with Mason.”
I shook my head. “I can’t trust her with any of you. Mason just got lucky tonight.”
“Let’s hope he doesn’t get lucky, or he’ll be dead in the morning,” Raine muttered.
“Just get in the fucking car and drive,” I grumbled over my shoulder, heading back to the SUV, my thoughts spinning in circles that led nowhere good.
We drove, and the farther south we went, the more the city decayed around us like a wound that wouldn’t heal. Boarded windows stared back at us like dead eyes. Graffiti-tagged concrete walls told stories of territory wars and forgotten dreams. Chain-link fences stretched between abandoned lots, their razor wire catching fragments of neon light from distant signs, leading to nowhere and protecting nothing.
The old building stood like a forgotten ruin against the bruised sky, its broken windows staring out like hollow sockets in a skull. Rust stains streaked down the concrete walls like dried blood, and weeds pushed through cracks in the loading dock where trucks used to bring hope in the form of honest work.
