Page 106 of The Games We Play

But it’s not Spark.

My heart doubles in speed, and a wave of nausea grips me. Faces in masks and a hand with a crystal-clear swastika tattoo tell me everything I need to know. I try to slam the door shut, forcing my entire body weight against it, but it’s no use—there are more of them than me, and each one is bigger.

They shove the door open wide before I have the chance to get out of the way. The force slams me back into the wall, my head hitting the mirror that hangs in my entry.

Stars dance in my peripheral vision, but I have to fight. I fumble for my jacket on the hook.

A raw scream leaves my throat as hands grab me. I’m dragged from my house, my hands still seeking what I need in my pocket.

They don’t say a word.

Nothing. Just the occasional grunt as I struggle and scream in their hold. I see two club prospects out on the lawn. Unconscious? Dead? I don’t know.

I find what I’m looking for. The little alarm Spark had given me the day I went to see Cillian. I press the button and pray that the distance and battery and connection all work.

My arm is wrenched back in its socket, the pain so sharp it hurts like a red-hot poker has been shoved into it. The jacket slips out of my braced hand.

I kick and thrash as I’m thrown into the back of the van.

Tape is placed over my mouth. It makes it hard to breathe. My nose is running from crying and screaming.

“Shut her up, for fuck’s sake,” someone says. A rag is dragged roughly across my nose as someone ties my hands behind my back. It smells strange. The world begins to tilt, and my last thought is hoping Spark knows where to start looking for me.

34

SPARK

“You sure about this?” Vex says as we get in the van at the clubhouse. “You don’t need to move in with the woman to look after her.”

I can’t help but laugh. “Six months ago, I would have said the same. Hell, even last month I thought Clutch was batshit crazy for hooking up with Gwen. But now, I get where he’s coming from. Iris gets me, and I get her.”

King and some of the others are sitting out in the early evening sunshine while they smoke and have a beer. And I feel lighter than I have in days.

Vex looks down at his watch.

“Fuck,” he curses, then opens his phone. “We got a possible problem,” he says.

“What’s up?” I ask.

“Irish’s alarm just went off. It could just be an accident. Like she forgot it was in there.”

My hearts races, even as I open my phone and look at the security footage. I go back five minutes, and see the van pull up. See them overpower the prospects. “Fuck. They got her.” I see her fight. I see her scream. I see the moment she screams my name. I can barely breathe. “Those neo-Confederate Klan fuckers have her.”

My world goes black for a moment. I can’t think, can’t speak, sure as fuck can’t formulate what to do next beyond keeping my heart beating.

Vex yells something. King and Clutch come running over.

“We gotta go,” Vex says.

And somehow those words shake me from stasis with a whoosh. The world comes flooding back in. “I need to get to Iris.”

“Wait,” Clutch says. “We’ll go with you.”

King is on the phone. I hear him bark Niro’s name, but I’m already on the way to my bike. Switch runs out of the clubhouse with a medical bag and throws it into the back of his truck. We leave at the same time, but I speed ahead of him.

In my rearview mirror, I see more bikes pour out of the lot.

“FUCK!” I yell into the air.