Page 20 of Ravaged
CHAPTER 6
Ethan
Axe slammed the door to the side, and with his other hand, swung a person by the neck, throwing him at our feet like he was a melon, and not a full-grown man.
“Works at the Dahlia District,” Axe said.
Gerard straightened his broad shoulders; you wouldn’t have guessed that he was in his mid-sixties, if it weren’t for the salty streaks of white hair near his temples. Derek leaned back in his seat, his dark eyes narrowed on the trespasser.
“Security guard?” Derek asked Axe. Axe nodded. Wil crossed his arms, a sudden seriousness catching his aura, one that didn’t seem to surface often. I adjusted my chair, moving it out, then leaned forward, looking into the man’s face. The security guard, the bouncer, whatever you wanted to call him, couldn’t have been more than twenty-eight, if that. Several years younger than me. Though he had well-formed muscles, tattoos, and the shaved head to look the part of a bouncer, Axe had thrown him around like a hacky sack, and the man hadn’t lifted a finger. His pouting, swollen bloody lip quivered. A black eye scarred his face, more red than blue. Perhaps he had fought at first. There was some respect in that.
Axe leaned against the wall without a single scratch on his body. He was not the kind of man anyone wanted to fuck with. Especially not a trespasser.
“You know we’re the Adlers?” Gerard said, in his masculine, aged voice. The trespassing bouncer cowered at the words. “Dahlia usually trains the staffnotto follow us.” Derek bowed his head in agreement with our father, the damn loyal dog. “So why did you follow us?”
“I wasn’t following you,” the man said. Then he realized his mistake; he had corrected a crime lord. “I mean, I wasn’t trying to follow you. I was following Teagen. Iris said she was going to get me a bonus. A big one, you know? Something I could give to my wife. All I had to do was see where Teagen was going. Make sure she was okay.”
“And she led you here,” Gerard said. The man trembled through a nod. “You knew this was the Adler’s estate.”
“Caught him in the woods,” Axe said.
“Ah, but you knew my sons,” Gerard said, his teeth gleaming as he pointed at the four of us. “Ethan might be new, but these three, you’ve seen them at the club. You’ve been trained to recognize them. Dahlia showed you their pictures.”
“Y-y-yes, sir.”
“Then once you realized who they were,” Gerard paused, “what made you so brave? Why didn’t you turn around?”
“I—” he stammered, catching his breath, “I wanted to make sure she was safe.”
“And did you find your answer?”
The bouncer’s eyes flickered to each of our faces, focusing on us, begging for a reprieve. The panic rose in his chest, sweat gathering on his brow. His face swelled with emotion and seemed to cry,Not me, not today.
“I didn’t see anything,” he tried. “There’s nothing to see. I didn’t see any girl. I don’t know what I was looking at. I was minding my own business, and I got turned around. Lots of people get turned around on those back highways. Then I—”
“But the fact is, youdidsee us,” I interrupted. “And we don’t take kindly to outsiders.”
The ‘we’ was weighty on my tongue, and yet I held my breath. If anyone was an outsider here, it was me. But I could belong here, with these men. I could lead them into even better days, days where the Adler territory expanded beyond its hold on Sage City and Las Vegas. I only had to prove myself worthy of leading them.
“Ethan is right,” Gerard said. “Dahlia instructed you not to follow any Adler, right, young man?” Gerard paused, giving the man a small chance to speak. “In fact, she quizzed you on recognizing our pictures, so that you would know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, who we are. So that you wouldn’t get into a situation like this.”
“Y-yes, sir.”
“But you followed my sons, anyway, didn’t you?” Gerard wet his lips, watching as the man moved his mouth, but no words came out. “It’s a pity, you know. Dahlia gave you that training to protect you.”
“I-I don’t know what I was thinking, sir,” the man tried again. “I guess I was trying to figure out what was going on. For Teagen’s sake. But I was wrong, sir. Very wrong.”
“Do you know what happens when you don’t listen to the Adlers?” Derek said. The bouncer squeezed his eyes shut.
“I can be of use to you. Please. If you’ll just—”
“I don’t have any use for a man that can’t follow orders,” Gerard said. “Do you, Derek?” Derek shook his head. “What about you, Ethan? Do you have any use for a man like that?”
I shook my head. Not in this business. Loyalty reigned supreme.
“I’m afraid it’s either you or Dahlia,” Gerard said, shaking his head, feigning pity. “And sadly, you don’t pay me. Dahlia does.”
“She’s late,” Derek said, as if that might change Gerard’s course of action.
