Page 2

Chapter Two

Chelsea

"Well, this shit is freaky." Storm stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked around.

"Don't create a bottleneck," Atlas told him. He elbowed past him, through the doorway that led into my brother's workroom.

"Fuck off," Storm snapped, but it was with less heat than usual. He was too busy taking in his surroundings.

"I think this place is cool," Frost said. He grabbed Storm's hand and pulled him forward, out of the way of the rest of us.

'Cool' was one word for it, but I wasn't getting into that conversation right now. I stepped past Atlas and into the workroom.

"Hey, looks like the whole family is here," Ice greeted cheerfully. "Sorry, most of you." He was cleaning the floor with a mop and what smelled like bleach. For once, there was no one hanging from the chains. No dead bodies lying around for us to see. No alive ones either. Just us and my brother, who appraised the men.

"You've met Frost and Storm," I said. "This is Atlas, Jay and?—"

"I've met Ramsey." Ice held out his spare hand for the hooker to shake. "You're also fucking my sister?"

Ramsey shook my brother's hand and said, "Not yet."

"Be good to her," Ice told him. He looked around at the others. "That goes for all of you. Now, Dallas Gregory is missing? I put out feelers, telling people to keep an eye out for him. And to let them know anyone who does anything to him will find himself down here enjoying my company."

I stepped over to give him a hug. "Thank you. You're the best."

He squeezed me back. "I keep telling you, that's what big brothers are for. We'll find him. People tend to avoid pissing me off if possible."

"Do you really kill people down here?" Storm was still looking around. "Just like that." He snapped his fingers.

Ice grinned. "I wouldn't say it's 'just like that,' but yes. That's what generally happens in here. Which is why people try to avoid coming down here against their will. Sometimes it can be slightly unpleasant for them."

I snorted. "Slightly unpleasant? Only sometimes?"

"Okay, it can be very unpleasant for them all the time. But they got themselves into that situation to start with, so they generally deserve whatever happens down here." Ice leaned the mop against a side wall.

"How many?" Storm asked. When my brother raised a questioning eyebrow at him, he added, "How many people have you killed down here?"

"Three hundred and forty-two," Ice replied easily. "I keep records of all of them. I could show you if you like?" He sounded like a kid offering to show a friend his collection of marbles.

Honestly, I was pretty sure he didn't have enough marbles to call it a 'collection.' The glass kind either.

"Can we focus on Dallas for now?" I asked. "You can share your horror stories with them later. If they want to hear them."

"I do," Frost said.

Storm glanced at him but didn't say anything.

"This is all kinds of fucked up," Atlas remarked.

"Specifically, it's only thirty-two kinds of fucked up," Ice said. "I sat down once and made a list. You should have seen the look on Ares' face. He said sometimes he thinks I'm out of my mind and other times he knows I am. But he loves me, in his own way." Once again, he was like a child, amused at the antics of his friend.

"I'm not sure why he'd have any doubt," Storm said, half to himself.

Rather than getting offended, Ice patted him on the arm as he walked past to turn on the coffee machine in the corner of the room. "As far as I can tell, being in your right mind is overrated. Coffee anyone?"

"Ramsey was saying the Crimson Vipers have been restless recently," I said, wanting to change the subject.

"That's right," my brother agreed. "If you want to talk about people not being in their right mind, that's exactly the direction to point your fingers. I'd love to have Carlos Jones down here for the things he's done. Buying women is disgusting, even by our standards."

"Does he buy them to…" Jay grimaced, torn between curiosity, and not wanting to know the truth.

"Whatever you can imagine him buying them for, he's doing it," Ice said.

"How does he get away with it?" Storm demanded.

"I hate to agree with Storm, but I'd like to know the same thing," Atlas said.

Both men looked at each other like they were more disgusted at being in agreement than anything Carlos Jones might do, or have done.

Ice flicked a finger back and forth between them. At the same time, he looked at me. "They don't get along?"

"That's an understatement," I said.

"They live to fight with each other," Frost said. "We've been trying to find a way to make them make peace."

"I have chains side-by-side, attached to the ceiling," Ice offered. "A couple of days hanging from them and they might find they have more in common than they realise."

"Let's call that plan F," I said.

I gave both guys the side eye so they knew I wasn't completely joking. I was just about done with them arguing. "Since they're agreeing, maybe you can answer the question."

"Ah, yes." Ice nodded. "Why does Carlos Jones get away with the things he does? Because he's useful to Reuben Brantley. Because someone has to get the drugs and other contraband out onto the streets. Otherwise Reuben might have to dirty his own hands, and God forbid he'd do that."

"There isn't someone else?" Jay asked.

"Like I said, it's whack-a-mole," Ramsey said. "Get rid of Carlos Jones and you might end up with someone worse."

"Exactly," Ice said. "Carlos is a known quantity, even if he is a repulsive excuse for a human being. If it wouldn't piss Reuben off, I'd happily end the whole cartel. That would get a little messy though. On the other hand, if Carlos Jones is behind Dominic King, then we might have a chance to be rid of him." He looked excited at the prospect. Of course he was. He might get his wish to have Carlos chained up come true.

"I'm in," Frost said. He was at least as excited as my brother.

"Me too," Atlas said quickly, as though he needed to beat Storm to it.

Storm scowled at him. "Me too," he said with a fraction more reluctance. He wouldn't let Frost get involved unless he was and he sure as hell wouldn't let Atlas get one up on him. Nothing would get him on board faster than them speaking first.

"Where Atlas goes, I go," Jay said softly. Before I even had time to recognise the innuendo, he winked at me.

I smiled and playfully rolled my eyes at him, except now I was thinking exactly that. Both of them sliding into me…

Focus , I told myself. We needed to be concentrating on Dallas right now.

"You know I'm in," Ramsey said.

"Is there any chance the contact you sent Dallas to handed him over to the cartel?" Storm narrowed his eyes at Ramsey.

"If she did, she's dead," Ramsey said darkly. "She knows what angle I'm working. She would have to come up with some kind of story and then send him to the shelter." He nodded towards the nearby building, where the sound of dogs barking rose every few minutes.

"She?" I refused to be jealous, but I was curious.

"You might know her," Ramsey said. "India Hartman-Green. She works at Flirts, where you used to work." He said that with no hint of judgment.

Thank fuck we didn't have to have that conversation. The one where I had to admit I used to be a stripper and fucked men for money.

At this point, I'd explained myself enough times to the other guys already. My past had bothered Atlas, but the others met me there, at the club. All except Jay, who now looked at me with surprise, but not judgement either.

"I remember India," I said. "She was always happy and sweet. She loves working there." I should have guessed she worked for the Brantleys. Who else from there did? Most of them, more than likely.

"She is sweet," Ramsey agreed. "Which makes her the perfect contact. People don't like to suspect the sweet ones. One smile from her and they assume she's innocent."

"That sounds like India," I agreed. I didn't like the idea of her being drawn into anything though. Not even if she went in with her eyes open. I'd genuinely regret it if anything bad happened to her. Especially if she ended up dead. Particularly if we had to kill her for screwing over Dallas.

"You don't think Dallas would have, I don't know, become distracted with her?" Atlas asked.

"Definitely not," I said immediately.

"Not a chance," Storm agreed. "You've seen how obsessed he is with Chelsea. He wouldn't even notice another woman, much less fuck her. He'd probably cut his own dick off first."

"Good, or I'd have to cut it off for him," my brother said. "No one gets away with cheating on my sister."

"Get in line, bro," Storm said. He pressed his meaty fists to his hips, and his lips in a tight line.

I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of his glower.

My brother didn't blink. He cocked his head and raised an eyebrow. "I've been at the head of the line longer than you've been around, bro. But if you play nice, I'll let you help." He could have been offering to cut Storm a nice slice of cake, or offer to share finger paints with him, rather than talking about dismembering someone.

"No one needs to cut off anyone's cock," I said. "Let's go to Flirts. I want to talk to India. If Dallas went there, she might know what happened to him after that."

"I've already tried contacting her," Ramsey said. "It was the first thing I did. She's not answering either."

"Are you absolutely sure…" Atlas started. He didn't look like he wanted to finish that sentence any more than I wanted to hear the end of it. He was just throwing out possibilities to make sure we had all the positions on the field covered. Not because he really believed it was happening. That much was obvious by his expression.

"Definitely," I said. Whatever was going on here, it didn't involve Dallas and India fucking each other. "Do you have any way of knowing if he even got to Flirts?"

When Ramsey shook his head, I nodded mine. "Then that's where I'm going. Someone had to have seen him, or India. They might have some idea of what's going on."

"I'm coming with you," Frost said.

"Me too." Storm gave Atlas the side eye. "It's going to look suspicious if we all turn up at once."

“Too bad.” Atlas jaw was set firm. Short of tying or chaining him up, he wasn't going to be left behind.

Jay looked equally determined. If Atlas and I were going, so was he.

Storm sighed in annoyance. "Fine, don't get in the fucking way."

"You too," Atlas said in a grunt.

Ramsey glanced at Storm, a subtle reminder of who was in charge here.

Storm rolled his eyes and didn't back down a hair.

I hoped like hell they weren't planning to start arguing with each other. The animosity between Storm and Atlas was bad enough.

"I'll keep my ears out for my contacts," Ice said. "There's a couple of people I can talk to. Keep me in the loop and I'll do the same."

"We will," I assured him. "Stay safe."

He grinned. "When have I not stayed safe? I should be saying that you, but you seem to be surrounded by some very large men with even larger muscles. I'm sure you'll be fine."

I glanced around, taking a moment to appreciate the view. "Sometimes it doesn't suck to be me." The guys were a fortress of muscle around me, protecting me. I hoped like hell I could protect them too.

I gave my brother another hug and hurried up the steps to Storm's SUV.

As I settled into a seat in the back, I couldn't shake the feeling we were being watched.