Page 23

CHAPTER 22

LAKE

A tlas waltzed out from behind one of the walls, smirking like a motherfucker as he pulled a knife off of his belt. "We can't leave you alone for two minutes, can we?"

My arms jerked as he pulled the blade against the rope.

I hadn't tried to get free because one, my wrists had only just started to heal well, and two, I was alone. There was no aching need to get the others free.

As the ropes fell, my heart contracted so powerfully and so quickly, it was hard to pull in a single breath. Those bitches had gotten the drop on me, and I hadn't suspected it. I had to learn, and I had to get that lesson through my thick skull fast.

I would not allow the others to get taken like this.

"Why didn't you have a guard with you?" Beasty yelled as she appeared, a terrifying scowl twisting her pale face. She held a gun by her side like it was a grenade threatening to go off. With her finger so close to the trigger, it might as well be.

"I didn't think I needed one to talk to an informant I've spoken with several times."

Joaquin took the gun from Beasty as she raised her hand toward her head. When she didn't have it anymore, she froze, gulped, then fisted her hands at her temples.

"This isn't just any situation, Lake! Didn't Lucas teach you that you can't take anything for granted? If you're not going to have one of the guys with you, then you need guards. Men you trust."

"Yeah?" I rasped, not because my throat was sore, but because I was still struggling to pull in a deep breath. My hands were free, and I brought them around and rubbed one wrist and then the other. "What men would those be, Beasty? Like the driver who fucking sold us out?"

She released a harsh breath, pinching her nose and dropping her head.

Joaquin studied her. Terror was carved into the brackets surrounding his pressed lips, yet there was a twinkle of amusement in his eyes.

He glanced at me, and some of the tension in his shoulders loosened. "You realize that's you, right? You make that stance anytime you're aggravated with us."

Goddamn, she was mimicking me. My chest warmed.

Beasty opened her eyes and looked at Joaquin. "This isn't funny," she snapped. "Lake could have died."

"He didn't." Atlas held out his hand and I took it, allowing him to pull me to my feet.

Kim stood next to one of the bodies that had dropped. He couldn't seem to take his eyes off of the man.

"Kim?" I asked.

He turned his head toward me, but his eyes were still glued to the man on the floor. "I've never taken a life before,” he said quietly.

"This one doesn't matter. He was about to torture me for giggles." I walked over.

"Well, at least you could do it." Beasty stomped to Kim, beating me there. "You did it when you needed to. That's what matters." Her brows were still furrowed in anger as she turned to the next body. "I couldn't do it. Even with Lake on his fucking knees, I couldn't pull the trigger." Her words cracked at the end.

I caught her by the shoulder and curled her into my chest, palming the back of her head. "I don't expect you to be a killer. I wish none of us had to be. But it's alright. I'm fine, and we're getting the fuck out of here."

"Where's your informant?" Joaquin asked, holding his gun in both hands as if he expected another minion to pop out of the woodwork–or in this case, out from between poles and tin walls.

"Over there." I nodded toward the corner and held Beasty's head to my chest so she couldn't see it.

Rocco was the kitchen manager at one of the Pescis' restaurants. He was pissed at Donnie for fucking his sister. How he described it, society wouldn't call it rape since society was fucked up. But if it was as he said, his sister allowed it because Donnie had been threatening Rocco’s life and their family legacy.

That was rape any way you cut it.

Joaquin and Atlas both turned.

"Jesus," Joaquin exclaimed, turning back around quickly. I didn't blame him. Rocco was slumped in the corner missing his eyes, tongue, and lips. All done before I’d gotten here.

"Do you know what he was going to share?" Atlas asked quietly. He wasn't as messed up by violence as Joaquin and Kim, but he was bothered. It was in his tone that lacked any assholeness.

"No." I started moving Beasty toward the hallway they'd come from. "He was like that when I arrived. It was only because I had my phone out trying to call him that I was able to get a message to Joaquin."

They fell in step around me, Atlas guiding Kim with an arm around his neck.

"Thank God," Beasty muttered, and I grinned.

What kind of fucked up was I to be fighting an adrenaline rush, a panic attack, and falling in love with her all over again, at the same time. She was cute as hell when she was worked up over us.

I wished it wasn't for this reason, but I loved it.

Just being with all of them helped quench some of the rumbling fear trying to shut me down.

"Do you know if there’s anyone else here?" Joaquin asked as he placed a hand on the door, peeking out through the crack.

"No. Two were with Rocco, and when they caught me, two more came in. I have no idea if there are more." I swallowed. This could have gone south so fucking quick.

It still could if we didn’t get out of here.

"Hell," Joaquin cursed again, pushing the door open a couple of inches and listening. He nodded to himself and opened it all the way. The only sound was a light breeze working through the buildings and a few birds in the distance.

We were so far away from the highway that we couldn't even hear it.

We moved toward the street. My car was around the corner, hopefully still there.

"Where did you park?" I asked Joaquin since he seemed to be the one who led this particular charge.

"Over here." He turned the corner, and there was the SUV, still running with Books in the fucking driver's seat.

I came to a halt. "What the hell is he doing here?"

Joaquin sighed. "Ask Beasty."

She tipped her head back. "I'll tell you about it later. Let's get out of here. It's giving me hives hanging out in the open when more people could attack us."

I nodded. That was fair. "Ride with me."

She didn't put up a fight, but Atlas started walking with us. "I'll drive."

"I'm fine to fucking drive." I twisted my head, catching Joaquin opening the driver's door and making Books step out.

What the hell was he doing here? He managed a few loans for some of the patrons, but that was it. They weren't even friends. Wait...Didn't Beasty say something about Books when she rescued us with Bishop?

The rescue and the following weeks were hazy, probably due to lack of sleep and proper food, but every single person’s face who had been there was seared into my brain.

The actual details were fuzzy, but I could have sworn she mentioned some kind of connection between Books and Bishop.

"Don't make me hurt you." Atlas paused. "Don't make me fuck Beasty in front of you as punishment. No hurting in sight."

"You're not going to fuck me. Now is not the time." She slapped her hand against Atlas' chest, and he smiled. Shit, I weaved on my feet as I unlocked the car. Atlas could drive. I was crashing.

Tossing him the keys, I waited until Beasty was in the backseat, and then I crammed myself in the back with her. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and anchored my other hand across her thighs.

This was the right choice. Just touching her calmed me.

Closing my eyes, I dropped my head against the headrest. Before I knew it, the sound of a tunnel echoed around the car as we entered the underground parking garage.

The walk to the office was quick. We only passed two employees and as soon as they saw my face, they averted their gazes.

I would have said the NDA they signed was enough to keep this under wraps, but I stopped by Guy's office. Tapping my knuckles on the door, I ignored the twinge of pain.

"Hey, boss."

"Pull the files on Rowan and Noah. See what leverage we have on them, and make sure they understand what will happen if they talk about what they saw." I waved a hand toward my face.

Guy didn't blink. "Sure thing."

Beasty hung onto my arm as we joined the others in our office. I pulled up short. I hadn't stepped foot in here since we came back. It had changed. The room had been rearranged to fit a seating area close to the security monitors and a new desk between mine and Joaquin's.

I started to ask what had happened since I was last here, but Beasty wasn't paying attention. She seemed pulled into herself with that angry expression still on her face.

"Hey," I tipped her head back. "Stop. Nothing was your fault."

"I had the chance to protect you like you told me we were supposed to, and I blew it." Her words were quiet, but everyone was watching us, including fucking Books. With nothing else happening in the room, they heard her.

Anger whipped through me and I took it out on the only person I could.

"Why the fuck is he here?" The short leash I temporarily had on my temper frayed. "Get out. This is family business."

"Lake," Beasty sighed, and a divot appeared between her eyebrows. She was no longer squeezing them together, but pushing them up like she did when she was upset or worried.

"What?" I barked, then sucked in a breath.

I tried to fill my lungs, but I couldn't.

There wasn't enough fucking room and I was still worked up from the warehouse. "Sorry, Beasty. I didn't mean to yell at you, but he shouldn't be here. We can't trust him."

"I trust him..." She glanced at Books, then up at me.

If she asked for him to stay here during this conversation, he'd have an unfortunate accident later. I couldn't have him jeopardizing our safety. I'd learned that the hard way.

Books hadn't taken a seat, and with his gaze locked on me, he moved closer. Slowly as if recognizing he was approaching a predator.

"It's okay, Cressida. Now that you're back safe, I’ll give you guys some privacy. I only wanted to go before to provide extra backup if needed."

"What backup would you have provided? You're a fucking bookie." I hugged Beasty, but she angled herself out of my arms.

"Lake!" she admonished.

I wasn't sorry.

"It's true, he–"

"I imagine I would be the same amount of help as a model." Books raised his brows in challenge.

"They might be models, but they're my friends, and we've all trained with weapons and had to fight off paparazzi and handsy fans since we were teenagers. That's not including the survival skills we picked up from Gates. What do you have?"

Books raised his hands. "I'm not arguing with you. I'm just here for Cressida. She matters to me.” He turned to her. "I rented a place not far from here. I'll be in town for a while. I can take care of some business while I'm here anyway." His gaze flicked to Joaquin. "I'll be back to check on you later."

Beasty nodded and she jolted like she wasn't sure if she wanted to approach him or not. In the end, she nodded again. "Thank you."

He sighed. "I'll see myself out."

When the door closed behind him, I sent a text to Guy to let him out of the hallway. Turning on the security monitors, I watched his path as he left the building. Only when he was outside did I turn around to face the others.

They were subdued but alert. Good. It incensed me that Lucas affected us how he did. I didn't want him to have that power over us. The Pescis damn sure didn't get it.

"What were you doing, going to talk to an informant by yourself?" Beasty marched up to me and pushed my chest.

"I was thinking I was finally going to crack the Pescis' code and get some usable dirt on them. I've turned in information to Ms. Chen, but not enough." I sat down on the edge of the desk and cupped my knees. I dug my nails into my skin.

I fooled no one as all four of them zeroed in on the movement.

"Why was Rocco so important?" Beasty continued to pepper me with questions. When I glanced at the others, they offered me no help, happy to let Beasty rake me over the coals.

"I told you, we need to take them out."

"You don't have to take them out on your own! No more! We plan together or we don't plan at all! I-I at least know my limitations now." She angled her head away from me.

"There are no limitations. You're perfect, and I wouldn't fucking change you." I used two fingers under her chin to pull her face back and dropped my forehead to hers. "Forget what I said before. I was an ass."

"No." She closed her eyes. "You were honest, and I needed the wake-up call. I want to protect you guys as much as you protect me. That's not bad."

"No," I whispered. "It's not bad."

The office phone rang on Beasty's desk. She huffed, pulling away and stomping over to answer it. I was ready to say fuck the club, but Kim caught my eye and shook his head.

"Yes?" Beasty answered. "No, I didn't forget. I'll be there in a few minutes. Yes, I know your time is valuable but so is mine. I don't–" Beasty hummed. "I'm happy to get one of the boys and bring them to the meeting." There was a pause on Beasty's end. "I didn't think so. I'll be there soon."

She hung up the phone and turned around. "I should just tell her to fuck off for the day, but I know how important this is to you guys."

"What's more important than this?" The only things that mattered to me were in this room. The club could burn down, our house could get infested with rats. It didn't matter. We had enough money, we could start over somewhere else, away from this mess.

"The Showcase night," Kim supplied, finally coming back to himself. "You know, the night we've been advertising for since we opened. We have guest performers and a celebrity list a mile long."

Fuck. I forgot about that. Again.

"I gave in before, but not this time. Cancel it.” I sliced my hand down. “We have celebrities every night, that's nothing special stacked against the Pescis actively trying to take us out."

Beasty's shoulders bunched up.

"I think we should keep it," Atlas chimed in like he was being so fucking helpful. He was hiding a smirk, so he was toying with me.

Joaquin rolled his lips together as he pulled his old deck of cards out of his back pocket and started to expertly shuffle them. The hypnotic sound of the cards sliding against each other had a calming effect on him as he visibly relaxed into the chair across from my desk.

Why the fuck did we have desks for those assholes? They didn't use them.

Oh, that was right. I wanted to keep up appearances. Well, appearances could fuck right off.

"Beasty, maybe we should postpone until all this shit with the Pescis is handled." It cost Joaquin to say that, and when I took in Beasty's face, I realized why.

Her lips turned down, and she cast her gaze at the floor. Whatever amount of steel she had in her posture wilted right in front of our eyes.

"I've been working non-stop to hold this event together while you guys needed time. I thought..." She shook her head and laughed. "I thought I was actually helping with something important."

Atlas scowled at us. "We're doing the Showcase. If we wait until everything is cleared up, we could be waiting until we're eighty and our life passed us by. We've never been afraid to live, and we won't start now. They don't matter. We'll keep working as we can on closing in on them, but they're not going to attack us on our biggest night of the year."

Kim pushed away from the wall where he'd been propping it up, and he walked over to Beasty, hopping onto the desk and maneuvering her to stand between his legs. He cupped her cheek and looked up at her through his lashes.

"Everything you do is important. It matters because you matter. We're having the Showcase. I think we need a bit of normalcy after everything that's happened. Don't you all agree?" Kim glanced at each of us.

Beasty perked up with each word that fell out of Kim's mouth.

It was a mistake. I felt it in my gut, but what the hell did I know?

I couldn't tear Beasty down for wanting to keep our business alive. I saw what I think the others had been watching since I'd been tucked away in my office. Beasty was coming into her own, and I wouldn't be the reason for her sliding back.

Fuck, we were having the Showcase night. "It's fine. We'll move forward as planned."