Page 125 of Liars

I should have known Nash would risk everything just because I needed his help. We had always had that kind of friendship, and I could trust no one else except my brothers like I trusted him.

We stepped into the glow of the parking lot lights to find Mason and Maddox already there, still as statues beneath the buzzing lamps. I fished out my phone, the screen cold against my fingers, and called Raine. He picked up almost instantly. “They’ve got Kaylor,” I said, skipping any greeting.

There was silence on the other end. Then, with a dark promise in his voice, he said, “Where?”

“I’ll text you as soon as I have her location. I’m tracking her phone now.”

The tires screeched as I tore out of the parking lot, Nash barely getting his door closed before I was hitting seventy down the back roads. Mason sat in the passenger seat, phone in hand, staring at the location tracker we’d pulled from Kaylor’s phone. Maddox and Nash were in the back, bracing against the violent turns I took as I pushed the car harder, faster.

“You should have let me drive,” Nash said, echoing the suggestion made on our way to my car. He shifted in the seat as I blew through a red light. “You’re running hot, man.”

Fuck yes, I was. Anger issues weren’t new to me, but the level of fury burning through my blood right now was like nothing I’d experienced. It felt like I could send the entire car up in flames.

“I need to drive.” My knuckles screamed white against the wheel, but I didn’t loosen my hold. I needed the speed. The control. “I can’t sit and do nothing.” Because if I didn’t focus on that something, I’d think about Kaylor. And if I thought about Kaylor, I’d think about what they might be doing to her.

“Just don’t kill us before we get to save your girl. Would defeat the purpose,” Nash pointed out.

Maddox snorted in the back.

A tremor ran through my hands, and I flexed my fingers against the leather of the steering wheel, my jaw clenched so tight I thought my teeth might crack. The route should have taken forty-five minutes. I made it in under twenty.

By the time I pulled up near Viper’s Auto Pro on the north side of town, my heart was a wild drum in my chest. This was her dad’s shop and aptly named, considering who he was. The familiar snake twined itself in and around the shop’s logo.

“She’s in there,” Mason confirmed, staring at his phone.

Maddox leaned forward, his eyes narrowing at the building. The only lights in the entire place were the ones outside. It looked closed. “Are you sure this is right?”

I nodded. “Unless she ditched her phone, which would be what we would do.”

“Fuck,” Mason cursed, shoving a hand through his damp hair.

Nash’s gaze narrowed at the building as he continued to survey it. “You think they would pick a less obvious place.”

Maddox scowled. “It could be a trap.”

It probably was a trap, but what choice did we have? We couldn’t go home tonight without Kaylor, or there would be hell to pay. “We need to check it out just to be safe.”

“We should wait for Raine,” Mason suggested.

Would a fifth person be wise? Yes. We had no idea what we were walking into. We could easily be outnumbered or surrounded, but my instincts screamed for me to act. “I can’t wait,” I growled.

Mason sighed. “At least let’s come up with a plan before you go charging in there like a goddamn psycho.”

I ignored him, throwing the car into park and yanking open my door.

“Kreed! Damn it!” Maddox scrambled out after me.

I stalked toward the side door, the one that led straight into the garage instead of the office. My heart pounded like a war drum, rage coiling so tightly inside me that I could barely breathe past it.

If they’d hurt her, I’d kill every last one of them.

And I’d make sure it was slow.

A slow, aching creak spilled from the hinges as I edged the door open. My heart slammed against my ribs in answer. The garage was pitch-dark, nothing but shadows stretching across the vast, empty space. I froze, my instincts prickling. This was too easy. The door had been unlocked. No guards. No resistance. Either we’d walked into a trap or this place was a bust.

Mason must have been thinking the same thing because he muttered, “This doesn’t feel right.”

A sharp breath hissed from between Maddox’s teeth. “You think? Where the hell is everyone?”

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