Page 52 of Hell & Back

She rolled over so she was sitting on the side of the bed, one knee bent on the cot, her other foot on the floor. “Seriously. Physically I’m okay. It’s just,” she stopped as if seeking out the right words.

“Just what?” If she said she was screwed up because of this, it would be one more mark on his already bleeding soul.

“It’s a damn mind fuck. I physically could not stop myself from having sex with you. When we did it the relief was amazing. Now that it’s done, I feel like this is the worst one-night stand ever because we had no say in how it went down.”

Darren got it. He understood exactly what she was saying. He scooted across the cot so that he was sitting on the edge next to her. “Has the urge left you yet?

It took a moment for her to answer. “I’d like to say yes, but I swear it’s creeping up on me again. What about you?”

He pointed to his growing arousal. “Same.”

With the seal already broken, they ended up having sex two more times before passing out from exhaustion. Maybe when he woke up this time, this would have all been a very bad dream and he’d finally be home with Kylie and Tuck where he belonged.

KYLIE

Tuck’s leg was still sore from PT this morning as he pulled a chair around to sit behind the desk with Race. Tulsa had sent the drone footage last night and they were going to get their firstlook at it. Hopefully, somewhere on this video they would find some weakness they could exploit. They allowed it to play all the way through the first time, then played it again, stopping to take a closer look at one thing or another until they were satisfied they’d gotten everything they could from it.

“Damn. There’s not a single window in that building and only one door. The only good thing we got going for us is the building’s distance from the clubhouse.” Race scrubbed both hands down his face.

“At least there’s only one deadbolt on the door.” Since it was behind their clubhouse and a patch of trees, it wasn’t seen from the road. No one would know it was there that wasn’t supposed to know. Luckily, they’d caught a break when Kylie spotted it on a satellite image. Tuck leaned back in his chair. “It’s tucked away behind these trees,” he pointed to where he was talking about on the map, “and we can use the trees here and at the side as cover. Come in from the back.”

Darren had been taken seven days ago and this was the closest they’d come to finding him. If he wasn’t there, Tuck didn’t know what the fuck they’d do.

Kylie had been obsessed with finding him and bringing him home. The only time she slept was when she got so exhausted she passed out, but she never slept for long. He didn’t think she was eating nearly enough, either. She said her appetite was all but gone and he understood that, but he worried for the baby, too.

“We need to draw out a map of this building and surrounding area, then call a meeting to come up with a plan to get Darren out of there. If he’s in there, I want to move on it ASAP. They’ve had him too long.” Race pulled a sheet of paper from his printer and started sketching out what they’d seen.

“Huh. That’s pretty good, Race.” Tuck clapped him on the shoulder.

“Thanks.”

Tuck leaned in to get a closer look. “What are all these little stick figure things and the shaded area under them?”

Race chuckled. “Those are dead Phantoms bleeding out.”

Tuck threw his head back and laughed. “Oh my god! That’s hilarious!”

“Tuck?”

His head jerked up to find Kylie standing in the open doorway, tears running down her pale cheeks. “Baby. What’s wrong?”

He shot to his feet, clenching his teeth as his injured leg protested the sudden movement. He hobbled, yes, that was the only word he could come up with to describe how he got around, and hurried to Kylie. As soon as he reached her, he pulled her into his arms and asked, “Honey, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”

Race followed him over to Kylie but hung back a little, giving Tuck the opportunity to find out what was going on.

“He ch-ch-cheated on me. I can’t b-b-believe he ch-cheated on me!” She collapsed into his arms, sobbing as if her heart had been torn from her chest.

“Kylie Jo, what are you talking about? Who cheated?” He pulled her back so he could see her face.

“Darren,” she choked.

“I’m completely confused.” He looked for help from Race over the top of her head.

“How do you know Darren cheated on you?” Race asked. “The Phantoms have him.”

“I’ll show you.” Kylie pulled away from Tuck and swiped the tears from her face. She led the way back to her office, took a seat behind her desk and keyed up a video. “Just hit play.” She got up and went to the couch. She plopped down and put her head in her hands as if she couldn’t bear to watch it again.

“What the fuck is this?” Tuck asked. “Where did you get this?”

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