Page 7 of Deadly Ruck
Fuck knew we already had enough conflict between us, without this damaging what they had.
"We'll never know." Jay stepped away from him. "You didn’t give me the chance. I thought you trusted me." He crossed his arms and firmed his jaw. Classic defensive posture, wanting physical and emotional distance between him and Atlas.
My heart hurt to see it. Was there anything I could say or do to help him understand? Honestly, I wasn't sure he'd be receptive to words from anyone right now. He needed to take a few moments and calm down. Then he might be ready to think rationally and listen. At least, I hoped he would.
Frost reached out a hand to Jay, but he jerked away from him too, leaving the other player to drop his arm and step back a little, giving him some space.
"Jay, I do trust you. Of course I do," Atlas started. "Not about that, it's?—"
The lights flickered a couple of times before they went out, plunging us into darkness.
Chapter Three
Ramsey
I immediately froze.Every sense was on high alert. The only sound inside the cottage was the guys around me, and Chelsea, breathing, somebody swearing softly and the ticking of a clock.
"Stay still," I whispered. "Nobody move yet. Not until I tell you to."
I wasn't sure if they’d do what I said, especially Storm and Atlas, both who prided themselves on their alpha masculinity. Storm in particular, liked being in control of all of us.
If this was something more than a harmless power outage, then it was me who needed to be in charge. This sort of situation was my territory. More so than theirs. They were catching on quickly, but they didn't have the experience I did.
Okay, maybe there was some ego involved too. I wanted to keep Chelsea safe. Especially after we scared the shit out of her by kidnapping her unexpectedly. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but maybe we should have thought it through a bit more.
That couldn't be helped now.
"What do we do?" Frost whispered back.
"Stay put," I said. "Stay quiet."
Storm grumbled something under his breath, but didn't argue. Yet.
Silently, I stepped away from the kitchen island and moved to the front of the house. The curtains were closed, but a small gap allowed me to peer out.
The night was pitch dark, broken only by a distant light from the cottage Max Stanley was hiding out in.
Fuck.
Not a power outage then.
The clouds shifted overhead, letting the moon illuminate part of the forest a hundred or so metres from the house. And a couple of figures moving through the darkness.
Double fuck.
I turned back and bumped into someone. Barely managed to keep from making a noise of surprise.
"It's me," Frost whispered. So much for staying put. "I stashed a few weapons in the spare room, in case we needed them."
"We need them," I said. I put a hand on his bicep and let him guide me to the spare room and the cupboard set into the wall.
"Is this where you tell me I can't use my phone to show you?" he asked.
"No phones," I agreed. I peeled back enough curtain to let in the moonlight. It slanted across a box of guns and knives.
A few weapons? It looked like he was preparing for the Apocalypse.
"Nice work." I picked the box up, grunting under the weight, and carried it to the kitchen. Placing it down on the wooden kitchen table, I started to hand out weapons, checking each to make sure they were loaded.
