Page 63 of All Tied Up
Blaise’s arm shot out and pointed to the door. “Outside,” he said, raising his voice.
“Not unless you’re coming with me.”
“I. Am,” he said through clenched teeth.
She lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “I did try and have this conversation in private. You were the one who refused to—”
“Madeline!” he shouted, stopping her from whatever else she was about to say.
“Do not yell at me, Blaise Hughes,” she warned him.
His hand wrapped around her upper arm, and he took her with him as he stalked toward the door. No one spoke. I wasn’t surehearts were even beating at this point. We were all frozen as we watched them leave. The door slamming behind them.
No one moved. My eyes flickered over to Forge, who had paled slightly—but then I probably had too. I still didn’t chance a look in Linc’s direction.
“Well, didn’t this just take a fun turn?” Luther said.
“Dad,” Kye said sharply, speaking for the first time.
“What? It did,” he said with a smirk, then took another drink from his glass.
“You brought Branwen here?” The underlying fury in Linc’s tone was expected.
“Branwen is a grown woman, Linc,” Luther interjected. “Those two didn’t bring her anywhere.”
“What the fuck were you both thinking?” Linc demanded angrily.
I lifted my chin and met his furious glare. “That I would do anything to save my brother.”
“We were handling things,” my father said.
Cutting my eyes from Linc to him, I asked, “And how was that working out? Where is Ransom? Not in here, is he?”
“You don’t bring the women into this,” Dad said.
“I didn’t. She brought herself. Noa showed up at the distillery, looking for Ransom. When she found out he was taken here, she got so upset that she started puking. Branwen went down to talk to her, and before we knew it, Branwen was ordering Forge to call for a plane, and we were all headed here.”
A deep chuckle came from Luther. “Ah damn. I love that woman.”
Linc took several deep breaths, and his eyes shot to the closed door. His anger had morphed into panic.
“Branwen will be fine,” Levi told his father. “The only person on earth who can make Blaise do their bidding is Madeline. Trev, however, may need to go to Garrett’s until Blaise cools down.”
Twenty-Seven
Ransom
The feeling in my arms was taking a while to return. I shook them a little as I sat down on a stool across the bar from Huck, who was getting down a bottle of whiskey from the shelf. He’d come to get me from the underground, but said little else. I’d be relieved, but this didn’t mean forgiveness or freedom. For all I knew, I was being allowed one last drink before the end came.
“How long was I down there?” I asked, not even sure what day it was.
“Thirty hours, give or take,” he replied, placing a glass in front of me, then lifting a bottle of our best label to fill my glass.
I needed water. A lot of it, but I wasn’t going to complain. If this was my last hour, then I’d rather end it with my grandfather’s recipe.
I picked up the glass and started to down it, but decided to take it slow. Stretch this out a little longer.
“You gonna tell me why I’m here?” I asked. “In the game room of Garrett’s house, that is and not still strung up.”
