Page 17 of Ruthless

My stomach felt sick at the idea of putting up Rachel like that. I don’t really know why, considering she was really nothing other than a flight risk and a temptation to break all the rules. But still, I didn’t want her put in anymore danger.

“And the partner is a no?” Viper throws out, his voice a little less cruel but still unemotional. “He’s the fucking son of the mob boss in Vegas. You can’t tell me that he doesn’t have some good fucking connections.”

“Yeah, and like they wouldn’t come in and take us out,” I snorted, rolling my eyes. “You’re just putting a target on us.”

“We already have a target on us,” Viper shot back at me. I wasnoton his good side right now, and I understood, but damn, it was annoying. “We need tomovethis situation as soon as possible.”

“No one knows where this house is,” Gunner finally chimed in. “I mean it’s not even a registered address. It’s the most off the grid you could ask for. Leave Axle here with her, and we’ll throw whoever comes sniffing around off the trail.”

My dick twitched at the idea of being left alone in my house with Rachel, but I pushed it off. “I would be fine with that.”

“By himself?” Viper isn’t convinced.

“Yeah, he’ll be fine. It’s like you’ve forgotten who the hell he is.” Will started laughing, shaking his head. “Axle is the deadliest of all of us. I think he can handle babysitting a woman who might weigh a hundred-thirty pounds.”

“She already got out once,” Viper looked at me.

“That was a mistake on my part. I had no idea that the window was human size. It’s taken care of now. I’ll also move that pile of cinderblocks in front of it. It’ll keep it out of the eye of anyone who happens to snoop around—which won’t happen. But yeah.”

“We need to get all the dead zones in the woods covered with cameras,” Gunner added, letting out a sigh. “When you finally caught up to Rachel, we had no idea what happened. We need a better view.”

Good thing you didn’t have a view.

“I agree. More cameras would be helpful.” Viper nodded, and then ran his hands through his hair. “I just don’t want to see this thing blow up in our faces.”

“I know, I know,” I said. “But she’s already seen my face, and that should make it easier to connect with her. Let’s give her a reason to help us.”

“And what kind of asset can she be?” Viper snorted, rolling his eyes. “She’s a private investigator and the sister of the drug lord that’s ripped us and Charlie off—but he’s not running to set her free. He mentioned sending Victor after her. I thought she was his diamond in the rough. We know based on the history that she was running from a stalker… Looks like we know who it is.”

It made my blood boil, thinking of Victor Sanchez setting his eyes on her. “We have to keep her from him. No one deserves that.”

“Unless it gets us the money,” Viper countered.

I lunged at him, grabbing his shirt and slamming him into the wall. “Who thefuckare you? Hannah would bepissedif she knew that you were considering handing over an innocent woman to the hands of a fucking serial killer.”

Viper shoved back at me, and I let him go out of respect. “What the fuck is wrong with you, Axle? You’re always first in line to pull the trigger. What’s got you all concerned over her?”

“Nothing,” I sputtered, backing away. “I just hate the guy. He’s the kind of guy that even the criminals hate.”

“Do you hate him though? Or is the fact that you’re hot for her?” Viper spat back, Gunner and Will staying quiet. “Because you know, it’s against the fucking rules. You touch her in any way that can be labeled as sexual, and I will rip those patches off faster than you can lie to my fucking face.”

“Viper,” Gunner cut in, his tone coming out in more of a warning. Gunner and Viper had more history than I had with any of the guys with the Steel Heretics. I had been an outcast my entire life, and even in this band of brothers, I still sometimes was.

“He’s got a thing for her, and you know it, I know it—we all fucking know it.” Viper was seething, his eyes bouncing between us all. “And you know what happens if he acts on that? We get a target on our backs for one more thing.”

“I wouldn’t act on anything that wasn’t consensual,” I said, shrugging my shoulders. The comment earned me a nasty glare from all three of them, but whatever. It was what it was. “I’m not gonna fuck her.”

Not right now, anyway.

And not if I can help it.

“It doesn’t matter what he does if we can’t fucking figure out what we’re going to do,” Will kept his tone level. “We need to decide if we’re going to press Chaz harder, bait Sanchez, contact the partner, or just take a breather andwait.There’s no need to just jump the gun and do something stupid. Charlie knows these things take time.”

Viper took a deep breath. “You know what, you’re right. Maybe we should wait this out a little longer. Chaz is a paranoid kind of guy anyway, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he calls that phone just to see where we’re at.”

I nodded, glancing over to the silver phone. It had a nasty smear of blood across it, reminding me of the state that Rachel was in. If they left me alone with her, I’d have to be the one taking care of all those wounds…

And testing my self-control the entire time.

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