Page 2 of Dirty Ruck (Ruck Boys #5)

Chapter Two

Chelsea

"There you go." Ice finished bandaging Sadie's shoulder and gave her a gentle pat on the opposite one. "You'll have some scarring, but it shouldn't impact your ability to use your arm. Take it easy for a while."

"Thanks, doc," she said, turning to give him a smile. "That feels much better."

While he fixed up her injury, I gave her something for the pain. She looked a lot more herself than she had half an hour ago. The colour was back in her face and her smile was more genuine.

"Now, let's have a chat with our guest." Ice gestured to the stairs, where Jay and Ramsey had taken the shooter, his face covered by Jay's hoodie.

"Yes, let's." Sadie trotted down the stairs, leaving the rest of us to follow.

I walked behind my brother, Frost and Dallas on either side of me. Apparently, I had two bodyguards. Four, when Storm and Atlas appeared as we reached the workroom.

"Chelsea, what the fuck?" Storm wrapped his big arms around me and gave me a squeeze.

"I'm okay," I said, trying to breathe while he held me so tight. "No harm done to me."

"I'm fine too, thanks for asking," Sadie teased.

He nodded over my shoulder to her. "Good. If anything happens to Chelsea's best friend, this asshole would be just as fucking dead." He loosened his grip, but kept his arm around me to lead me into the workroom.

Jay and Ramsey stood to either side of the shooter, each holding one of his arms.

"Allow me." Ice unwound a set of chains from a hook on the wall and fastened them to each of the gunman's arms. When Ice stepped back, the gunman's arms were raised over his head, feet barely touching the ground.

"This feels like an episode of Scooby Doo. Shall we see who's under this mask?" Ice gripped the corner of the hoodie and turned to grin at all of us.

"I don't give a shit who it is," Storm said. "Why don't we just kill the prick and be done with it?"

"Where's the fun in that?" Ice asked. He gave a tug and the hoodie fell free.

Darkening bruises surrounded brown eyes and a surly mouth. His dark, messy hair matched his unshaven chin.

"He had an unfortunate encounter with my fist a couple of times," Jay said. "He didn't want to give up the gun."

"I can't believe I missed that," Atlas said softly. "You'll have to fill me in on the details later."

Jay flashed him a wry smile. "Happy to."

"Did this asshole tell you why he aimed a gun at our woman?" Storm stepped forward until he was almost nose to nose with the man.

"He wasn't feeling chatty," Ramsey said.

"That will change," Ice said. He stepped over closer, his hands behind his back. "You can start talking now, or we can make you talk. Let's start with your name."

The gunman stared back at them, eyes swivelling from one to the other. He pressed his lips together and looked up at the ceiling instead.

"He didn't have any ID on him," Ramsey said.

Ice nodded. "That doesn't surprise me. Is he familiar to any of you? He doesn't look familiar to me."

"I've never seen him before," I said.

"Me either," Sadie said.

Ramsey shook his head. "He's no one I know. I'm guessing he's new in town and was hired to do this one thing."

"That would be my guess too." Ice nodded to the hooker. "He probably wasn't planning to stick around long. Luckily, people like him aren't missed."

The gunman's Adam's apple bobbed.

Ice cocked his head. "I'm glad you're listening. We could make this easy on you. Tell us who you are and why you aimed a gun at my sister, and we can end this quickly."

The gunman continued to look at the ceiling.

Ice clicked his tongue. "That's unfortunate. Let it be noted that he preferred the hard way."

"If that's what he wants." Storm drew his arm back and slammed it into the gunman's stomach.

He grunted and sagged, dangling from the chains. His wrists soon reddened from the strain. Gaze still on the floor. He shook his head to himself, and let out a ragged breath or two.

Storm's punch must have hurt like a bitch.

"Sadie wanted to stab his shoulder," Frost said helpfully. Evidently, empathy wasn't in his vocabulary today either.

"With a screwdriver," Sadie said. She seemed to be looking forward to it.

I silently added her to the growing list of people who didn't give a shit if this guy was uncomfortable or not. To be honest, I might as well go ahead and add everyone else in the room.

The gunman shuddered but kept his face down.

"Is it really worth the pain?" I asked him. I didn't know why anyone would subject themselves to torture to save someone who very likely gave no shits about them. He was a tool, like a screwdriver or a knife. Why suffer for that?

"It's worth it to me," Storm said. "No one aims a gun at my woman and gets away with it. End of fucking story."

"What Storm said." Frost laced his fingers in mine and stood beside me, pressing me between him and the fullback.

"I have to agree," Atlas said. "We need to send a message to anyone who'd try to do this again. They won't get away with it."

"I think him disappearing off the face of the planet would send a message," I said. "Without having to draw it out."

"Hey." Ice stepped over and cupped my cheeks with his hands. "He can tell us everything he wants whenever he’s ready, but no one tries to hurt my sister. No one. The moment he did that, he was fucked. You're so sweet to feel bad for him." He kissed the tip of my nose.

"I don't feel bad for him, not exactly," I said slowly. "I just?—"

"If you don't want to watch, you don't have to," he said. "I'm sure your men would take you back outside if that's what you need."

"I just want answers," I whispered. "He could have killed Sadie."

"He could have killed you ," Ice whispered back. "I want answers as well. Shit like this doesn't happen without someone behind it. I want to know who."

"We can guess," Atlas said. "What I don't understand is why. If this was the work of Dominic King or Carlos Jones, why would they do that?"

I looked past my brother to the gunman, for a sign he recognised their names. There wasn't one. Either he didn't know who they were, or he had the best poker face I ever saw.

"King thinks we're working with him." Storm frowned. "Is it possible their side doesn't realise we're faking it?"

"They better realise." Ice lowered his hands and stepped back. "They know what's going on. We've kept them informed."

"And yet—" Storm gestured at the man hanging from the chains.

"I'll get that screwdriver," Ice said.

"Wait." Ramsey's voice was low, but with urgency that made us all stop and look at him. He turned to frown at Jay. “Did you think catching this asshole was too easy?"

Jay frowned back at him. "We're fast, highly skilled footballers, but now you mention it, it did seem a bit too easy. He waited until we saw him and then took off. We chased him a couple of blocks before we caught up."

"So?" Storm asked. "He didn't know what he was doing.

He wouldn't be the first amateur in this city to get in over his head.

" He could have been talking about himself, but he was as confident in his own abilities, as always.

No one would say Storm Keller wasn't a cocky prick. Or the rest of them, for that matter.

"But you weren't there," Ramsey said slowly. "Neither was Atlas."

"If you don't get to the fucking point, you can hang by chains beside this asshole," Storm growled. He wouldn't have carried out that threat, not to Ramsey, but his patience was clearly running thin.

"The point is, Chelsea was virtually alone," Ramsey said. "With Jay and I taking off after this prick, that only left Frost and Dallas. Two are a lot easier to deal with than six."

"Three," Sadie said.

Ramsey turned to her. "You were incapacitated."

Storm's grey eyes widened and his face paled. "Are you trying to say this dickhead was a distraction?"

"He might not have been the one to pull the trigger.

" Ramsey shrugged. "But yes, he was there to draw us away.

" He ran a hand over the back of his head and let his eyes glaze, going over the afternoon's events in his head.

Clearly frustrated he'd missed something that was right in front of him.

Someone watching and waiting to make a move.

Instead, he'd fallen into the trap along with the rest of us. I didn't blame him, but he looked pissed off at himself.

I felt my own face pale. "Why? Why would anyone do that?"

"Any number of reasons," Ramsey said. "But I think that's the point. Someone was trying to separate us to get to you."

If it wasn't for Storm and Frost on either side of me, I might have sat down hard on the floor. As it was, I leaned against Frost, letting him support me.

"What does anyone want with me?" I asked, my voice higher than normal.

"That's what we're going to find out," Atlas said. "We’re not going to get anything useful out of him are we?" He jerked his thumb towards the man who dangled from the chains, his face half turned up towards us.

"Probably not," Ice said, his voice tight. His expression was thoughtful, but furious. He turned to the man. "Last chance."

If he looked at me that way, I would have been trembling in my shoes.

My brother could be sweet and threatening at the same time, but when he was like this, he was downright dangerous.

There wasn't much he wouldn't do at the best of times.

Staying out of his way when he was quietly menacing was wise.

The man finally looked up. "That guy is right. I don't know anything. I was paid to stand there until they saw me, then run."

"Who paid you?" Storm asked.

"He didn't give me a name. He handed me the money and told me where to stand. He gave me the gun, but I never used it. Don't even know how. He said I'd be paid extra the longer I distracted you. I needed the money." He sagged back down.

"What did he look like?" Atlas demanded.

"It was dark, I didn't see his face," the man said. "I swear, that's all I know."

Ice rubbed his forehead with the heel of his hand. "Someone stays with Chelsea from now on. The more of you, the better. When you play away games, she stays close to you. Don't let her out of your sight for anything except playing."

"No one is going to come after me when there's a crowd around me like that," I argued. A café was one thing. The infirmary and out on the footy field was another.

"It's that or I lock you up for your own safety," he said. He wasn’t bluffing.

"We'll keep an eye on her," Frost said firmly. "No one is going near her but us, not for anything." He squeezed me tight like he’d never let me go again. If they could, they'd probably take turns handcuffing themselves to me.

Of course, I didn't like the idea someone was trying to get to me, but I didn't want to be stifled either. I was scared, but I wanted to go on living my life. I couldn't let fear keep me from that.

"If they try, they can answer to my fist," Storm growled.

Ice nodded and started to remove the chains from the man's wrists. "I'm not killing an innocent man. Not when he can be useful to us."