Page 16 of Deadly Ruck
Frost was right, Chelsea's brother would be furious when he found out what happened to her. Jones knew enough about her to know who she was related to. He must have known he was playing with fire, but he struck the match anyway.
Let the others fight over who was going to kill Atlas and Jay. I made myself a promise that I was going to personally take care of Carlos Jones.
"Let's get our stuff." Without waiting to see if they heard, I headed back into the cottage.
The moment I stepped foot back inside, the lights came back on, making me blink against the sudden glare.
Bowls of half-eaten soup and plates of barely touched bread rolls sat where they'd been abandoned.
Chelsea ate most of hers. Good girl. She was going to need her strength to get through the next few hours.
That was as long as her ordeal would last. No longer. By the time the sun set again, she'd be back with me. There were no two ways about that. What would happen if I couldn't pull that off? I didn't want to contemplate it.
Chances were, Jones would try to whisk her off to the other side of the planet. To a place we couldn't find her. Somewhere he could do whatever he wanted to her.
That was absolutely out of the question. She was far enough from me already. Out of my sight was too far.
I snatched up my bag and hers, pulled the zippers shut before swinging them both over one shoulder. I was halfway back to the car before I realised the others were right behind me.
"I'm going to have bad memories of this cottage now," Frost said. "This was always a nice place to come and hide out from the world. Now, I feel like the world has violated it." He let out a heavy, frustrated sigh.
"Don't use that word," Storm growled. He grabbed the bags one by one and threw them into the back of the SUV, right where Chelsea lay as we drove her here.
If I had a clue what was going to happen, I would have insisted not to doing that to her. I wouldn't have brought her here in the first place. I don't know where I would have taken her, but it wouldn't be here. Frost was right, this place had bad memories now. If I never stepped foot back in the place, that would be all right with me.
"Sorry," Frost said, dropping his face, so his chin almost touched his chest. "Yeah, wrong word. They better not…"
"Yeah, they better not," Storm agreed. "If they touch a hair on her head, or any part of her…" He shook his head and stomped over to the driver's seat, keys jangling in his hand.
"Wait a minute," I said.
I pulled out my phone, turned on the light and crouched down on the ground beside the vehicle. I turned the light towards the underside of the SUV, moved it slowly across the length of the car from front to back. Satisfied it was safe, I stood back up.
"Did you really just check for explosives?" Max asked, eyes wide. "I feel like I'm living in an action movie."
"That explains the popcorn craving," Frost said. Apparently his sense of humour was intact. Or rather, that was his wayof coping with what was going on. I got that. Sometimes dark humour was the only thing that got people through the day or night. I, for one, wouldn't tell him to stop.
I turned off the light and reached for the handle to open the front passenger door. "It pays to be careful. We don't know what they were up to when we were in the trees. The vehicle was out of our sight." If it was me, I would have left a bomb. The fact they hadn't was an oversight on their part. One I was happy to take full advantage of.
"That's kinda badass," Frost said appreciatively. "Are you sure you're not bi?"
I patted him on the shoulder before I slipped into the vehicle. "Sorry, mate, but no. But if I was, I'd be into you."
"Hell yeah you would." He climbed in behind me. "I'm smokin' hot."
"Close the door," Storm snapped. "We've fucked around here for long enough."
Frost said something under his breath, but closed the door harder than was necessary.
"Don't break the—" Storm turned around to growl something at him when the cottage exploded with a loud bang and a burst of flames.
Chapter Seven
Chelsea
We satin silence as the car headed away from the cottage.
My mind was in turmoil. Disbelief. The only thing keeping me sane right now was Dallas' arm pressed against mine, our fingers intertwined. We didn't look at each other or speak, but we took strength from each other.
