Page 77 of The Saviors: Part One

“Tell us what?” Cole demands.

“He’s going to kill me,” Nolan groans. “But I don’t know what to do!”

“What’s going on?” Sean asks.

“Axel went to one of those warehouses alone—”

“He did what?!” Cole exclaims.

“That’s not the worst part. He got stabbed. The bleeding stopped, but it looks really fucking bad.”

“Why didn’t you call me?”

“Did you hear the part where I said I wasn’t supposed to say anything? Shit. Here’s Axel.”

“Hello?” Axel’s deep voice filters through the line, less aggressive than I heard at our meeting.

“Alone? What the fuck?”

“Nolan, you little shit,” Axel mumbles. “I’m fine.”

Cole sighs. “Did you hear about the shooting at the fair tonight?”

“Yeah. What about it?”

“We were there.”

“Who was there?” Axel demands.

“Ari and his crew, me,” he pauses and looks at me. “Kai and Sean were there with Chelsea.”

“What the fuck? Did you see who it was? Is everyone okay?”

“We’re all fine, and no, we didn’t see. We’re at Chelsea’s right now.” Cole closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose, waiting for Axel to explode.

“Probably the best idea. Her house is like Fort fucking Knox.”

Cole’s eyes spring open. “Uh. Yeah. Anyway, the shots sounded far away, but they were fully automatic. I got Chelsea to the car, but they kept us separated.”

“They blew the window out of Kai’s truck and hit Sean in the arm,” Ari adds.

That I didn’t know about. “What?” I breathe, searching over Sean. Sure enough, there’s blood on his dark blue shirt.

“It’s just a graze, Gorgeous.” He lifts his sleeve. “See?” The shaking starts all over again. “Chelsea. I’m fine. I’ve had worse.” I’m shaking my head so hard that my bun starts to come loose. I can’t lose him. I can’t losethem.

“Chelsea,” Axel’s voice cuts through the haze of panic. “Sean’s tough, and he’s smart. Plus, he’s too stubborn to let anything happen to him.”

Sean stares at the phone like it’s going to blow up. “Uh. Thanks.”Maybe, Axel isn’t such an asshole.

“Okay. This isn’t Charlie. That was too public for his narcissistic ass. What’s the plan?” Axel continues the conversation like nothing was ever said.

“Can you have Nolan pull the footage from those cameras? I agree this doesn’t seem like Charlie. He’d rather shoot you in the face instead of the back,” Ari adds.

“That still doesn’t tell me a fucking plan,” Axel growls.Ah. There’s the asshole.He clears his throat. “Sorry.”

All of the guy’s eyes bug out so much that I can’t stop the laugh from bubbling out. I clamp a hand over my mouth, but it’s too late.

“We just got back,” Keon soothes. “We’ll come up with something and let you know.”