Page 24 of Living Without

My eyes went back to the floor.

Rage.

Red.

One second.

Two…

A hand gripped the back of my neck tightly, a body got close, then a voice, Stoke’s. He whispered harshly into my ear, “They’re all dead. They’ll pay. But we do it slow. They need to know no one fucks with us. No one touches our girl. We make sure they pay. Death. Slowly.”

I nodded once.

Someone asked, “That Baxter in the… in—”

“Yes,” Dodge grunted.

Loud footsteps were fast approaching down the hall. Stoke stood first, his hand held out to me. I took it, my body weak all of a sudden. He helped me gain my footing as the door burst open and Julian ran in.

“Julian, not now,” Talon ordered on a sigh.

No one was in the mood for Julian’s shit. Though, as he strode Talon’s way, I saw no smile, no humour. What I did see was weariness, dark bags under his eyes and untidy, crinkled clothes— and Julian always took pride in the way he looked.

He stopped in front of Talon and said, “I found a friend who can help find Nary. She’s good, really good. Even if she can’t find her she knows many people who would know how to get into the buying system.”

Talon’s head jerked back. “What the fuck you talkin’ about?”

Everyone stilled and went silent.

“Since I heard sweet Nary was taken, I started looking for my friend. I hadn’t heard from her in a long time, which worried me. She’s really good at finding things for people.” He leaned in and whispered, “Even the wrong type of people. She confessed this on a drunken night we had a long time ago. I’m not even sure she remembers telling me. But I thought, as a just in case my burly men aren’t having luck, I should reach out to her, and I did. It took me days, but she finally got back to me. She should be here any second. She caught a plane over. She’d do anything for me. We’re like siblings. We—”

“Julian,” Stoke barked. Julian swung his eyes to him. They warmed with sorrow as he looked at Stoke and then me. Stoke shook his head. “You can’t bring in a stranger to this when we’ll be the ones to deal with the people who took her, get me?”

He nodded. “Oh, I get you, strong man.” His hand lifted and he glided his finger across his neck and then gurgled, his head dropping to the side.Jesus.“She’ll understand, like we all do.”

“Julian, I don’t think—”

“No!” he cried, his hands up in front of him. “Please, please give her a chance. You have nothing to lose, and besides she’ll be here—”

“Boss,” Jason called from the door.

Both Talon and Dodge answered with a “Yeah?” They looked at each other and rolled their eyes. Dodge made his way to the door. After he spoke with Jason, Blue’s brother, who nodded and took off back down the hall, Dodge turned to us and announced, “She’s here.”

Julian let out a squeal, then clapped his hands. “Promise, she’s kosher. You’ll love her.”

“Fuck, Julian.” Talon sighed. “You should have run this over with me first. She’s an outsider—”

“And a woman,” Dallas called, his upper lip raised. “They cry too much. She ain’t gonna be down with us killin’.”

“She’s not like that,” Julian started, only to stop when Jason walked in. He was smiling, though—he was always smiling—then he moved aside, and a woman in her thirties stepped in, dragging a suitcase behind her. Her dark brown glare softened when it landed on Julian, and a smile lit her face.

“J-man,” she screamed excitedly before letting go of the handle. Her bag dropped to the floor, so she could make a run for Julian. He held his arms wide, and she jumped into them. Jumped was the right word because the woman was short.

Even though it was good to see long lost friends united, it pissed me the fuck off. Anger still boiled low in my stomach. My hands ached to shoot something.

As they talked animated to themselves with hands flying everywhere, I dipped my head down, touching my chin to my chest. Clenching my jaw, I pulled in a deep breath through my nose.

They’d touched her.

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