Page 81 of Hidden Desires
“Ace!” Marcus’s voice was heard next, followed by even louder thumping as his big brother charged toward him.
Marcus’s concerned face appeared above him.
“Ace, are you okay? What happened?” Marcus asked, reaching for the ropes that tied his hands together.
“Got my ass handed to me, is what happened,” Ace huffed, moaning as Lucas helped him sit up on the ground.
His head went fuzzy, and the world around him began to sway.
No. Now was not the time for him to pass out or faint. Blade needed him.
“Blade. They got Blade,” he managed to get out.
His big brother scooped him up into his arms and carried him back to his motel room.
Ace clung to his brother as Marcus shouted orders to the men around them. “Open the door. Grab the first aid kit. Someone get him some water.”
All around him, there was a flurry of activity as his brother lay his body down on his bed.
He wasn’t broken. He could sit up on his own.
Impatiently, Ace pushed his brother’s hand aside and sat up on the bed.
“Would you please fuck off and let me talk?” Ace barked at his brother.
The room went silent as all the hustling bodies suddenly stopped what they were doing.
Marcus fell to his knees by the bed.
“What? What is it?”
“Blade. They have Blade,” Ace repeated, just in case his brother hadn’t heard him the first time.
“Who? Who has Blade?” Marcus asked, taking his brother’s hand and giving it a loving squeeze.
“Blade’s father.”
Whispers filled the room. Most people weren’t aware that Blade even had a father—or family—for that matter. Rumorwas that the road just opened up one day, and Blade emerged, throwing knives.
They never questioned it. The story made sense.
Blade was never one to discuss his past or where he came from. All his stories just began the day Marcus brought him home from California.
“His father?” Caden asked, looking just as confused as everyone else.
“Yeah, at least I think he was. Blade called him Dad when I was tied up,” Ace responded.
“I wasn’t even aware that he had a dad,” Nikolai muttered, cracking open a bottle of vodka and pouring himself a glass.
“Yeah, and I’m guessing that the man is just as good at throwing knives as Blade, judging by how scared Blade was of his father,” Ace added.
“What do you mean, scared?” Marcus asked, eyes suddenly narrowing as he glared at his little brother.
“Scared. His father had me tied up, suspended over a canyon. The man held up a dagger and threatened to let me drop, unless Blade tied himself up and traded his life for mine. I never saw Blade give in so fast.”
While Blade was often seen as the clown of the group or the one who always liked having a good time, he was also known for his fierce loyalty.
He was always the first to jump into a fight and always volunteered for any jobs that were dangerous. He often joked that he volunteered because he was the only one crazy enough to carry out the job, but the rest of them knew it was really because he was trying to keep them all safe and out of harm’s way.
