“What if they come for Rem—”
“Let’s go,” he spits before I even get to finish the sentence.
“Ace, what the fuck?” Conner shouts, starting to get a little irrational.
“Conner, just—”
“I’m coming.”
“No you’re fucking not. Stay here. Look after the girls.”
His brows rise in frustration. “You trying to say I’m not good enough for this?” His face starts to turn red with anger.
“No, I’m saying we need someone we trust with them. We can’t leave them here alone.”
He calms a little, but he’s clearly not happy. Not that I give a shit. The fact that that cunt is still breathing means we’ve waited too long to do this.
“What’s going on?” Remi asks, slipping from the room Hadley is inside of.
“Cole and I are going out. We won’t be long.”
Concern washes over her face, but before she can say anything, Ace pulls her into his arms and slams his lips down on hers.
“You trust me, right?” I hear him murmur to her.
“Of course, but—”
“We’ll be back before you know it.”
“Ace, please. Don’t do this,” she begs.
“Conner,” he says, nodding to his girl. Without missing a beat, Conner wraps his arm around Remi’s shoulder as tears begin to pool in her eyes.
“I love you,” she whispers.
“I love you too. We won’t be long.”
He backs away from her, and for a second I think he’s going to crumble at the devastated look on her face—that is, until he checks that both his gun and knife are in place in his waistband and he spins away from his girl. But not before both Remi and Conner share a look. One that is full of doubt and fear. Still, it’s not enough to stop either of us.
“Come on then. It’s time to take out the trash.”
He doesn't give me a chance to go for the car. Instead he climbs onto his bike and waits for me to join him.
My fingers wrap around the handrails at the back with a painful grip. I want it to be that cunt’s throat, not just Ace’s bike.
“I hope you’ve got a fucking plan,” Ace mutters before revving the engine and speeding off down the driveway.
Every muscle in my body begs for me to look back at the house, but I can’t. If by some miracle she’s at a window and I see her, I’ll crumble. Walking into that room and seeing her so weak and vulnerable on the bed was bad enough, but I knew I needed to see her one last time before I went to face the devil.
He tried to fucking kill her. Ace too. He was going to leave them in the middle of that field while the trailer burned to the ground around them.
My need for any kind of drug I can get my hands on to wipe that image from my head races through my veins, but I can’t lose focus. Not yet.
The time is coming when I’m going to be able to dive headfirst into the darkness that’s threatened to consume me the past few hours.
Watching the flames lick at our childhood home, hearing the crack of the fire as it threatened to take away two of those I care about most in the world.
If I had been just a few minutes later. If I’d have lost them as I trailed their car. If they’d have spotted me.
So many variants of what could have happened run around my head, but there’s one question that cries loudest. Why did I get involved with Hadley, knowing this kinda thing could have happened? How could I be so fucking selfish to bring her into this fucked-up life I’m a part of?
Then there’s the other issue that I’m refusing to even acknowledge, let alone accept. I can’t think about the future right now. I just need to focus on what has to happen tonight before the people I love start getting taken away from me, because that is where this is going. I’d bet my own life on that.
Without telling Ace where to go, he drives straight back to the Heights, and in what only feels like a heartbeat, he pulls up into the parking lot of Donny’s place.
As we sit there looking at the dark building we both know so well, I wonder if I’m meant to be nervous, scared even. But I don’t feel any of that.
My heart beats wildly in my chest as my fingers clench. Anticipation zips through me, and the adrenaline from knowing what my intentions are for the next few minutes has excitement filling my belly as I climb from the back of Ace’s bike.
I don’t bother waiting for him. I’m too impatient. Instead I march toward one of Donny’s goons, waiting by the back entrance to the building. There isn’t usually one there, so I can only assume he’s waiting for our little visit.
“I didn’t realize that tonight was going to be a family affair,” he says when I’m close enough to hear his muttered words.
Assuming he means Ace, who’s jogging to catch up with me, I nod my chin at the door and wait for him to allow us entry.
“They’re on their way, boss.” The goon says into his mic as we step inside the building.
I don’t look at Ace. I don’t need to. He’s walking right beside me, shoulder to shoulder, ready to fight this out together.
The three of us might be fucked-up in so many ways, but our loyalty to each other is something that can never be questioned.
If one of us is down, we fight together. To the end. Although that’s never been tested like I fear it might be tonight.
We’re buzzed through the next set of doors. I’m expecting to find two guys in the hallway before Donny’s office as usual, but they’re nowhere to be seen.
I assumed they’d strip us of our weapons and send us in with nothing but our fists to fight with.
I’d like to think it’s Donny being naïve, but that’s not how he works.
We might be walking in here without so much as a plan, but he’ll be the opposite. He’ll have preempted every single one of our moves.
He thinks he knows us, knows what we’re capable of. I really fucking hope that we’re about to prove him wrong.
We both come to a stop outside Donny’s closed office door. We glance at each other briefly, the only communication we need to know that we’re in this together, before Ace raises his foot and slams his boot into the wood.
The door flies open, and we find exactly what we were expecting, Donny behind his desk, pretending to be the most powerful man in the world. Someone is sitting in the chair before him, but I pay him little mind as I walk into the room, Ace right beside me.
Donny shows no sign of being surprised to see us—Ace, who he left to burn. He barely even spares us a second glance. His eyes mostly remain on the man in the chair.
“Well, well, well, this really is a special occasion, isn’t it?” His eyes lift. “Good to see you’re safe and alive, son,” Donny says to Ace, his voice dripping with disappointment.
“I’m not your fucking son,” Ace spits.
“No, you’re right. You’re his.” Donny nods to his other visitor, and it’s only now that I pay him any attention.
Both Ace and I step forward, and my eyes widen when I discover that the man sitting in the black suit holding Donny’s attention is none other than James.
What the fuck?
“Boys, it’s good of you to join us,” James says, his voice hard, cold, totally unlike anything we’ve heard from him since moving to the Bay.