Page 4 of Duke
Duke shoots him a tight-lipped smirk. “Yeah, considering you fucking disappeared at the height of the bidding on Elliot, when she’s supposedly so fucking important to the OG Bastards, I bet your part in tonight’s mayhem didn’t go over so well either.” He cocks his head to the side, and I see the way he’s about to push Hunter’s buttons before he even does it. “You still stuck being their lackey instead of a true member of the alum, Hunter? How long do you think they’re going to make you dance for them like the trained fucking monkey you are?”
Direct. Hit.
As we look on, Hunter’s face mottles with red. “Everyone has to pay their dues. You’d best get that through your heads right now.” He stops and crosses his arms over his chest. “What the hell was that mess with you hauling Elliot offstage?”
Mason’s been quietly eyeing his brother, but he’s had enough. “What were we supposed to do? You disappeared at the most inopportune moment, and we had to come up with a plan on the fly. We did the best we could with the limited information we had.”
“I told you the OGs wanted her, goddammit!” Spit flies from his mouth as he shouts, and his eyes blaze with anger. “Admit you messed that up on purpose and maybe I won’t share with them that you didn’t fight hard enough, and you willingly let her go.”
My jaw works to the side, his admission clear. We were right. He’d been watching us somehow. “Then you fucked up by not telling us what to do. We had her. We got $4200 for her. That’s gonna have to be e-fucking-nough. Maybe next time clue us in better, so we can get the job done,” I growl as all three of us take a menacing step toward him, almost as if we’d planned it.
Like a switch has flipped, Hunter crosses his arms over his chest, looking around with a bit of a smile on his face that seems completely out of place given the circumstances. “Elliot isn’t even your only problem. This auction was meant to teach Lennon a lesson in obedience, one that Tristan demanded, specifically. I think you all should be the ones to tell him you couldn’t get the job done.”
Duke bristles, the muscle in his jaw jumping. His eyes bore into Hunter’s. “Nah. I’m not speaking to my father about this. But if you want to, you can relay this message about what we think of his demands and those of the OG Bastards.” Chest heaving, he grits out, “Tell him to get fucked.” With that, Duke eyes both of us. “This fucker isn’t worth a second more of our time.”
I know what he’s thinking. Every fucking second we waste here is another we spend not knowing Lennon’s whereabouts. He’s right. We can’t spare another goddamn minute.
Duke shoves past Hunter to jog up the stairs. Mason pauses, wetting his lips. “And a message from me? You can tell Dad that I hope he rots in there. I want no part in helping him get out.” Mason flips him the bird, then, as he passes his brother, unexpectedly checks his shoulder, sending him stumbling backward. He meets Duke at the door, and they let themselves into the house without a backward glance.
Hunter shakes his head. “Where’d Lennon run off to, anyway? I’d like to finally meet the bitch capable of driving this entire brotherhood crazy.”
That’s when I lose it. My right shoulder may be injured, and I might be in blinding pain, but it only fuels my fire. My left arm? It’s just fine. I jab him full in the nose, both feeling and hearing the crack of bone before he falls to his knees, clutching at his face as blood spurts from it. “Fuck you, you arrogant ass.”
I stalk inside, hating the dead quiet of the house. Mason and Duke are in the kitchen, both sitting at the island, several bottles of water in front of them.
With panicked eyes, Mason glances up as he pushes water my way. “Where could she be?”
But none of us has a goddamn answer, and I can see it’s close to sending him over the edge—honestly, all of us are poised on it. Duke is twitchy. I’m ragey. We’re a hot fucking mess. I shake my head before chugging water, unsure what to say.
Duke’s gaze narrows on my bloody hand, and before he can even say anything, I quickly go over to the sink to wash away the evidence of my outburst. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” I grunt. “He opened his mouth. Wanted to meet ‘the bitch’ who has us all crazy or something like that.” I huff out an irritated sound from deep within my chest. “Condescending prick. I broke his nose. It’s all his blood.”
“What the fuck do we do now?” Duke shakes his head, fear sneaking its way into his eyes, his controlled mask slipping.
Mason looks to me, too, outright anguish pouring from every cell in his body.
My throat thick, I murmur, “Search the house again. We can’t give up. She’s gotta be somewhere.” They’re looking to me to fix this, to make everything right in our world, and I don’t fucking know how.
Mason shakes his head uncertainly. “I don’t know which is worse, tipping our hand to the OGs that we can’t find her or the god-awful state of limbo we’re in by not having access to the cameras. They’ve gotta have them installed. How else would they know so much?”
I growl, “You’re assuming they’d let us look. Motherfuckers. I’m so fucking done with this.” Entirely too frustrated for words, I pick up my half-full bottle of water and whip it across the kitchen where it smacks into the cabinet next to the cooktop with a loudthump.Gritting my teeth, my eyes crash shut.
“Someone could have taken her from the house,” Duke bites out. “They could be miles away by now.”
“I hope to fuck she took off for some reason on her own and will be back when she thinks it’s safe. Because if that’s not the case, I don’t see that we have any fucking choice other than to contact the OGs.” There’s a tightening in my chest that makes it so hard to breathe… and only Lennon safe in my arms is going to fix it.Please, Little Gazelle, be okay. Be safe. Unharmed. Come back to us.
FOUR
LENNON
“Oh my fucking god!I fucking knew it! I. Knew. It!”
I lurch to wakefulness, the ear-piercing screeches of an enraged female voice crash through my throbbing head.Oh god. What’s happening?With cold sweat coating my skin, I take a stuttering breath, feeling so sick and confused, my stomach’s caught up in twisted, uncomfortable knots. I squeeze my eyes shut. Maybe she’ll go away.
“I’m never forgiving you for this. Iknewthat girl was a skanky slut the second I laid eyes on her.” Whoever the female is has stopped to suck in a gasping breath.Smack.Without opening my eyes, I realize there’s someone else in the bed with me, and they were on the receiving end of that slap. “No! No, don’t you try to explain this away. She’s fucking naked in your bed!” My head pounds and pounds, horrible waves of nausea making me incapable of responding for fear I’ll open my mouth and vomit everywhere.
“Maria. Stop. I’m hungover,” moans a baritone voice. Then a moment later, there’s a startled, “What the fuck? Lennon? Why are you in my bed?”
