Ten silent minutes later, I clear my throat. “Okay. So we’re going to use this backup guy then. Tell him to meet us at—fuck, where are we again?”
“Fuck if I know. Some unincorporated town. I’ll find someplace we can meet about eighty miles west of the safe house,” Sully says as he opens his phone and pulls up the GPS app.
I nod at Sully, then quickly meet Wolf’s eyes in the mirror. “How’s our girl?”
Wolf sighs and softly runs his hand over her matted, blood-crusted hair. “I don’t know, man—I just . . . there’s a lot of blood and—”
Sully whips his head around to glare at the backseat in general. “What do you mean there’s a lot of blood?”
“I mean, dickhead, that she’s covered in blood, and I can’t tell if it’s hers or that motherfucker from the cabin,” Wolf all but growls at Sully.
“We’re going to have to talk about everything that went down. Get her side of things,” Sully says, eyebrows pinched.
“What happened to ‘it doesn’t matter to me’?” Wolf mocks.
Sully whips around in his seat, a scowl painting his face. “Are you fucking kidding—”
“Enough,” I say with a sigh. “Getting back on track. I’m willing to bet that most of it is not hers. But she still needs to get checked out. She’s got some serious lacerations, and I’m sure she has a concussion.”
“We’re meeting Samuel at the Wolfpack Lodge,” Sully says as he faces the front again and scrolls on his phone. “It’s the closest hotel where we can get some privacy and still have several exit strategies in case things go sideways. Again.”
“Any intel on the people who did this?” I ask as I merge into heavier traffic.
“Nah, not yet. Our boys didn’t see much before the explosions started, so even if there was any evidence, it’s long gone by now,” Sully says as he types on his phone. “Checked-in. Now we don’t have to carry her through the lobby and risk any good Samaritan calling the cops on us.” He turns to face me. “Hear back from your guy yet?”
I shake my head. “Not yet. But we’ll get something soon. Of that, I’m sure.”
“And you’re sure we can trust him?”
We’ve had more than our fair share of bullshit lately. If I didn’t have my brothers, I don’t know what I’d do. We’ve all been given a healthy dose of paranoia—it’s a necessary evil in our lives—but ever since our brothers turned rat two years ago, it’s been at an all-time high. Every waking minute.
Fuck, I’m even doubting my own da these days. Which reminds me . . . “Neither of you heard from Da?”
Sully cuts his gaze toward me, his face hard. “What do you mean? I thought he was on his way home? Didn’t he call you when he landed like usual?”
I shake my head and try to control my swirling thoughts. “I’m not sure if I can add another fucking stress to this day—wait. What day is it?”
“Almost Sunday.” Wolf’s voice is low, but after a glance at my little bird, I doubt she’d wake up if we yelled. She’s totally out.
I sigh and run a hand over my face, feeling my stubble scrape against my hands. “Fuck. I haven’t slept in over twenty-four hours.” I pause. “But no, I haven’t spoken to Da. And I haven’t forgotten everything that happened before O’Malley’s.” I sigh and stare at the endless road in front of me. There’s not a lot of traffic here—at least not at this time of night. “But let’s proceed with caution. I still don’t trust him.”
“We’re not going to a Brotherhood safe house then?” There’s no question in his tone.
“Aye. We’re going to our safe house. We’re going to Golden Oak,” I confirm. We named our property Golden Oak as a nod to the way the surrounding oak trees turn in the fall.
The choice to go to the safe house that only the three of us have any knowledge about is a purposeful one. I don’t know what game my da is playing at, but since he hasn’t seen fit to include any of us, I’m inclined not to include him in our plans. My decision is only solidified by the fact that he hasn’t reached out in days. It wouldn’t be unusual if he were on a normal family reunion, but someone broke into Summer Knoll days ago. And we’re at war.
There’s no record of this property my brothers and I have anywhere—not a long-buried paper trail or anything electronic hidden under a shell company. We did a lot of the work ourselves over several years, and the stuff we couldn’t do, we hired out and paid cash for.
After twenty minutes, I glance back at Alaina again. “She asleep?”
“Aye.” She shifted during the drive, so now she’s laying on Wolf’s lap and he’s running the tips of his fingers along the exposed skin on her collarbone.
I nod and drum my fingers against the steering wheel.
“What the fuck is wrong with you? Pull over, and I’ll drive.”
I clear my throat to get their attention. “I’m fine to drive. And I’m calling the Kings. I don’t know everything that we’re up against, but I know it’d be smart to have them in our corner. Fuck, just having Ro help me would be reason enough.” I sigh. “Buzz is good, but he’s just one man. And my other contact has questionable morals on the best of days—and I’m not judging, but that means that I can’t fully trust him. And I trust the Kings.”
Neither of them speaks for a second.
“Fuck, we should’ve thought of that earlier,” Wolf muses.
Sully lifts one shoulder up. “I don’t see a problem with it.”
I toss Sully my phone. “Call Maeve.” We’re in a rental car, and we plan on switching cars at least another two times before we hit our safe house, so I didn’t bother pairing my phone.
The noise of the line ringing fills the interior as Sully puts the call on speakerphone.
“Rush Fitzgerald, to what do I owe the pleasure? It’s been nearly a year since we last spoke. I’m crushed.” Amusement colors her voice.
“Maeve.” With one word, she hears the tone change. It’s a tangible thing, and she’s smart enough to recognize we’re monsters masquerading as men.
“What do you need?” she asks, her voice low.
And that right there is why you simply can’t buy loyalty. Friends for nearly fifteen years, and she’s happy to jump in to help if I need it without asking for specifics.
“The boys are here too.”
“Wolf, Sully. It’s been a while,” Maeve says.
They both murmur their hellos.
“We need your help.” I’m too tired and wired for pleasantries.
“I heard that you lost something. Do you need help with that?”
“How the fuck did you hear that? It’s been twenty-five hours!” Sully’s mildly explosive disbelief hangs in the air.
Maeve chuckles. “My baby sister heard about it shortly after everything went down at O’Malley’s. It was enough for me to piece together some info. If I’d known you were still looking for her, I would’ve hustled. I was just checking it out for fun.”