Page 250 of Pretty Ruthless Monsters: Complete Series

ATLAS

The living room TV is on, but I can’t focus on whatever is playing. The volume is too low to hear with my fucked-up ear anyway, but that’s not the main problem right now. I’m pretty sure it could be turned up to full blast and my mind would still be a million miles away.

Or, more accurately, on the other side of Detroit.

Killian is sprawled across the couch, and his usual calm, collected stillness has been replaced by a restless energy that has him fidgeting and tapping his fingers against his thigh. I’m no better, shifting in the armchair every few minutes, unable to find a comfortable position.

We’re both lost in our own thoughts, but I’d bet my life they’re circling the same things—Quinn, Nico, and the endless fucking possibilities of what could be happening right now.

“He should have been back by now,” I say finally, just to get the words out of my head.

“Give them time.” Killian’s voice is just as steady and measured as it always is, but I can tell by the way the muscle in his jaw clenches that he’s just as on edge as I am.

Time.

That’s all we seem to have now. Days and nights that run together so relentlessly that this safe house is starting to feel more and more like a prison.

And it’s only gotten worse since Quinn has been gone. I’m pretty sure I’ve been through all the stages of grief and back again, but the note she sent us has at least given me the tiniest flicker of hope that things might eventually get better.

Just the fact that she reached out to us shows that she didn’t mean all that shit she said the night she left with Malcolm. Deep down, I knew it couldn’t be true, even then. She wasn’t acting like herself, and she didn’t really look like herself either. She looked…

Broken.

My throat tightens, and for a moment, I have to close my eyes and swallow hard. If Malcolm has done anything to her, I swear to god I’ll rip him limb from limb with my bare fucking hands.

Or worse—what if he’s caught Nico and Quinn together? What if that’s the hold up?

“Getting yourself worked up won’t help them.” Killian gives me a pointed look, and I belatedly realize I’ve been gripping the arms of this chair so hard that my knuckles are practically white.

“I should have gone with him.”

He shakes his head. “Nico never would’ve let you go. For the same reason he wouldn’t have let me.”

I know he’s right because we’ve been over this at least a half-dozen times since Nico has been gone. Hell, Nico said as much himself before he left.

Still, at least I could do something if I was there. If they got into some kind of trouble, I’d be right there to help.

“I hate just sitting around here, not knowing what the hell is going on. It’s driving me crazy.”

“You and me both, brother.” Killian shifts, stretching out his legs and crossing his feet. “We just have to wait and try to be patient. Nico and Quinn can take care of themselves better than almost anyone else I’ve ever met. He’ll be back.”

The lock clicks and both of us are on our feet in an instant with our hands moving to our weapons. But it’s Nico who steps through the door, and I can instantly feel some of the tension leave my shoulders.

“Well?” I ask before he’s even fully inside. My heart is pounding so hard I can barely hear my own voice over it. “Was she there?”

He nods, and I can tell there’s something different about him. He isn’t as tense and angry as he was when he left here earlier. He’s still on edge like the rest of us, for sure, but not like he was before. “Yeah. She was there.”

Killian quickly wipes his palms on his jeans—a subtle but telling sign that he really was nervous. “Tell us everything.”

Nico walks past us and drops down onto the couch Killian just vacated with a long sigh.

“She convinced Malcolm to let her rebuild Enigma, starting with a new home for Blood and Ink. There’s an old building her father used to own, right down the block from that bar, with a tunnel connecting the basements of both places. ”

I can’t help but laugh a little. “That’s fucking genius.”

Even Nico grins a little as he tells us more about it. “Malcolm has guys following her, but they just see her going in and out of the shop. They don’t know about the tunnel.” He pauses and his smile slips. “She’s been coming to the bar every night and waiting for one of us to show up.”

Something in my chest tightens as I picture Quinn waiting there night after night, hoping we’d get her message, but never knowing if we would come.

Or if we still trusted her enough to try.

“Is she okay, though?” I have to ask. I have to know. “Has he…”

As badly as I need to know, I can’t force myself to finish that sentence. Thank fuck Nico is on top of it.

“He hasn’t touched her. Yet. But she says he won’t wait forever.”

Killian goes completely still, and I can immediately feel a wave of anger rolling off of him. “If that dickbag lays a hand on her, I’ll fucking?—”

“She has a plan,” Nico cuts in, even though I’m pretty sure we’re all sharing Killian’s murderous thoughts. “She thinks she can turn the other Syndicate members against Malcolm. Apparently they’re not too happy with how he bends the rules to suit himself.”

I nod along, liking where this is going. “Vicious wants to start an insurrection.”

“Exactly. But it’ll take time.” Nico looks between us, frowning. “We have to be patient and let her work this out her way.”

Patience. There’s that fucking word again.

I’ve only just learned about her plan, and I’m already tired of being patient.

But if anyone can take down Malcolm and the whole fucking Syndicate from the inside, it’s our Quinn. She’s got the brains and the balls for it.

“She’ll leave messages for us at the bar,” Nico continues, his gaze distant like he’s already planning out every detail. “Mickey will help pass them along. It’s not perfect, but it’s something.”

“It’s a lifeline,” Killian says. “It’s a hell of a lot better than the alternative. We’ll just have to be ready when she needs us. Whatever she needs.”

“Exactly.” Nico nods. “In the meantime, we’ll keep building Carnage back up so we’ll be in a better position to help her take that asshole down when the time comes.”

I start to leave the room but stop myself. Where the hell am I gonna go? This house is too fucking small to burn off all the restless energy I have. All I know for sure is that the longer we sit around talking about Quinn, the more I wanna put my fucking fist through a wall.

Instead, I pace back and forth from the living room to the hallway, then to the kitchen before finally giving up and standing still again.

“We’ll get her back,” Nico says, giving my shoulder a squeeze as he passes by on the way to his room. “It’s the only option.”

“Yeah.” I shake my head and try to swallow down the knot in my throat. “Yeah, I know.”

He starts to walk away but I catch his arm, then lean in and inhale without giving a single fuck about how weird it looks. I can smell her on him—and not any sort of perfume or lotion or any of that shit.

I can smell her.

“Did you fuck her?” I ask even though I already know the answer. It’s that scent. It’s too fucking powerful and intoxicating to ignore.

Nico freezes and his eyes go wide for a split-second, but he doesn’t try to pull away or deny what he’s done. All he does is give me a single, simple nod.

“Good.” My reply seems to surprise both of us. It’s not the word I would’ve chosen a few months ago, but a lot has changed since then.

And if I can’t be with her right now, I can at least take some small comfort in knowing she’s being taken care of by one of our own.

He opens his mouth to say something, but the familiar ringtone of his burner phone interrupts him, and he answers before the second ring.

“Yeah?”

I can tell by the booming voice on the other end of the line that it’s Kendrick calling, and I don’t have to strain too hard to hear what they’re talking about. Hell, I’m pretty sure Killian can hear both sides of the conversation pretty fucking clearly from the other side of the living room.

When Nico hangs up, he verifies everything I’ve just heard, and fills in a couple of the gaps. “That was Kendrick. I guess Zoey is asking to meet with us.”

“Fuck her, “ I snarl, feeling a rush of rage at the mention of my ex. “She doesn’t deserve to meet with us. She barely deserves the bullet I’d like to waste on her.”

“She definitely deserves that,” Killian says quietly before turning to face Nico from the couch. “Do we have any idea what she wants?”

“No fucking clue.” Nico shrugs. “I doubt it’s to catch up and shoot the shit about the good old days.”

I can’t help but snort at the mental image that conjures up. “She’s probably just gonna be looking for new ways to fuck us, and that’s assuming the whole thing isn’t some kind of trap to begin with.”

Killian nods. “That sounds pretty accurate to me.”

“It sounds about right to me too,” Nico says.

“But I think we should go anyway. We’ll be able to tell a lot more about her operation if we see her face to face.

Right now, all we have is Kendrick and a few other guys to keep us updated on the moves she’s making and the amount of loyalty she still commands.

And no offense to any of our own guys, but I’d rather see that shit and make that determination myself, you know? ”

He’s right and he has a damn good point. If we really are going to rebuild Carnage to what it used to be—or hell, even better than it used to be—we’ll have to deal with Zoey at some point. At least this way we don’t have to go running in blind when the time comes.

At least we’ll all be able to get out of this fucking house for a while. That’s some welcome news, even if I have a ball in the pit of my stomach at the prospect of seeing my ex again.