Page 15 of Deadly Ruck
"Because they're fucking pricks," Storm snarled. "I told you Atlas was an asshole. Right from the very fucking beginning, I told all of you. And you—" He pointed the gun at me.
"You wanted us to get along with each other. You too." He swivelled his upper body to aim the gun at Max. "Get along," he sneered. "Be a team. Look where that fucking got us."
Frost grabbed his wrist and pushed the gun down. "You're not going to shoot Coach or Ramsey."
"Give me one good reason why not." Storm jerked his arm away. "They let this happen. Ramsey let this fucking happen."
I gazed back at him evenly. Frost was right, he wasn't going to shoot me. If he tried, I was ready. Faster and more accurate than him. I didn't want to kill him, but I wasn't going to let him kill me because he let his anger get the better of him.
"I didn't let this happen," I said.
I was cool and calm on the outside, but on the inside I was as furious as Storm. I should have stopped this from happening. I should have known Jones would find us here. He would have been having at least one of us followed, waiting for an opportunity like this. We never should have brought Chelsea here, it made her vulnerable. All of us got caught up making her feel better and now we were paying the price for that. She was paying the price.
"I'm not going to stand by while it does,” I added. “We need to get out of here and regroup. We need backup. Then we can go after her."
Mentally, I added, ‘and Dallas.’ I wasn't sure what game Atlas and Jay were playing, but Dallas couldn't look past his obsession with Chelsea. This wasn't about loyalty to Jones over us. This was about his feelings for her and his inability to comprehend being away from her.
To be honest, I could relate completely. I didn't want to be away from her either, but I had to be the one to take control now. To get us out of here and come up with a solid plan.
"Ice is going to be murderous," Frost said with barely contained glee.
It didn't take a genius to know he was picturing Jones in chains in Ice's workroom. Maybe in ours. Either scenario involved blood and pain. And the potential for war between the Crimson Vipers and the Brantley family.
Right now, I couldn't worry about that. My focus was on Chelsea and getting her back before Jones lay a hand on her. If he did, I’d cut it off for him.
"I'm fucking murderous," Storm muttered. "I'm going to start with Atlas fucking Underwood and go from there."
"I can't believe he was working with them all along." Frost tapped his gun against his thigh.
"I should have seen it," I said. "Jones didn't seem surprised to see Max alive and well."
Storm swore, the implication sinking in. "Atlas must have told him what we did."
"Asshole," Frost spat. "If I had a time machine, I'd go back and shoot him in the nuts."
"What now?" Max asked. He looked nervous, standing there in the moonlight beside the cottage with us.
I'd seen him proud, frustrated and angry, but never scared. The things he saw tonight, weren’t things he would have seen before. Unless he was also faking. I didn't think he was, though, to be honest. His fear looked genuine.
"First we take you somewhere else," I said. I squinted at my gun before carefully putting on the safety. "Now they know you're alive, they might decide to change that. Then the rest of us are going after our woman."
"Dibs on killing Jay," Frost said softly. "I thought he cared about me. He was just bullshitting, along with Atlas."
"Dibs on Atlas," Storm said darkly. "I want to look him right in the eye and kill his ass."
I was tempted to remind them to wait and see how things played out, because someone else might get to them first. Instead, I pursed my lips and let them have their moment. They had anger they needed to burn off, so let them burn it. They'd be more focused later.
I hoped.
Frost stared at Storm, then swore again. "That’s how he found us here, wasn't it? Atlas told him where to look."
"Motherfucker." Storm glared in the direction of the driveway leading out of the property, as though he might shoot lasers far enough to incinerate the inside centre. "I'm going to kill him very, very slowly. I'm going to tie his arms to one car and his legs to the other and we'll drive in opposite directions."
"Three cars," Frost said. "The other one tied to his nuts."
While they burnt off steam discussing the ways they were going to torture and kill Atlas, I surveyed the area. The other two cars had left, taking all of the minions with them. As far as I could tell, there wasn't anyone waiting to jump out at us. If there was, we'd deal with them.
For now though, Jones thought he won. He thought he had his trophy and returned a couple of minions to the fold along the way. Let him enjoy the moment. I was about to rain hell down on his head.
