Page 26 of Deadly Ruck
"I would have been pissed off if that happened," Frost said. "I'd haunt Jones for the rest of his life."
"Ghosts aren't real," Storm said.
"They would be if I died. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to throw things at him and scare the shit out of him." Frost said with a shrug. "We should go."
"Yeah, we should," I agreed. "Sooner or later, they'll come back to check if they finished us off or not."
"I'm starting to take this personally," Max said, his expression grim.
"Funny, I was thinking the same thing." Frost opened the front passenger door and climbed inside. "I think they wanted all of us dead."
"It's going to take a lot more than an explosive device to kill me," Storm declared.
If he was inside the cottage, he'd be very much dead, but I didn’t bother to correct him. There was nothing wrong with being relieved at not being blown to kingdom come.
We got lucky, and luckier still the SUV was in one piece. The side closest to the cottage was dented from a couple of boards that struck there, thrown by the force of the blast. Other than that, it survived.
Just as well. I wouldn't have minded the jog to the highway, but it would have taken up too much precious time. So would calling someone to come and get us.
I slid into the back beside Max and pulled out my phone to send off a couple of messages. I didn't need to see Ice's expression to know how pissed off he was going to be when he read the one I sent him.
Storm half turned to look back at me. "Where are we going? We don't know where they've taken her. Unless they got a flat tyre, they'll be long gone by the time we reach the highway."
He seethed with anger and regret. So did I, but I kept myself tightly under control. Losing our shit wouldn't help Chelsea. We needed to be calmer and more focused now than when we were on the rugby field. So much more was at stake.
Before I could answer, a message popped up on my phone.
I glanced down at the screen. Ice responded with an address. That was all. No rants, no angry face emojis. No mention of what he'd to to Carlos Jones, or Atlas and Jay.
In spite of that, I could almost feel his fury from here. Between us, we were going to destroy anyone who dared to lay a hand on Chelsea.
"Wherearewe going?" Max asked. He looked as though he'd prefer to be anywhere but here. To be honest, so would I.
"We'regoing," I corrected. "We'll dropyouoff somewhere. You’ve been involved enough. I know a place. You'll be safe until we deal with this."
He looked like he wanted to argue, but finally nodded. "Right. I think that's a good idea. Whatever this is, it's…" He swallowed visibly.
"It's bullshit, is what it is," Storm said. "You shouldn't have been involved in the first fucking place. We should have killed King and Skinner before everything went too far. None of us would be here now if we had."
"No, you'd probably be dead," I agreed.
Max shifted in his seat, clearly uncomfortable at this topic of conversation.
I had to respect a man who could admit when he was in over his head. He was definitely in over his. He was a football coach, not a mobster. Not for now at least. What happened after this— That was up to him. Once the shock was over, he might decide he was in it for the adrenaline, or to protect the team. Stranger things had happened.
"Drive out to the highway," I said to Storm. "There's a road about two kilometres down. We'll leave Coach there before we keep going."
"Can we trust him to keep his mouth closed?" Frost looked back at him, as though he'd offer to kill him if necessary.
Max raised his hands. "No one will hear the word about this from me. Who'd believe it anyway?"
"You’d be surprised," I said dryly. "You won't have to say anything to anyone. My aunt Clarissa will make sure of that. No one will find you there with her."
"Are you sure of that?" Frost asked.
"One hundred percent," I said. "There's nowhere safer in Dusk Bay than Aunt Clarissa's." No one could get in, and Max couldn't get out. She'd see to it. She'd been a certified badass since before I was born. She also managed to keep such a low profile most people didn't even know she existed. I grew up wanting to be like her, but football got me first.
We drove in silence for a few minutes before I directed Storm to turn down a side road.
