Page 42 of Graced
Ryne glanced at her.“I’m open to suggestions.”
CHAPTER21
Hiding
It felt like he’d been frozen alive.His body refused to obey his mental commands.His muscles were wooden.Whatever had been in that syringe Norris had injected into him, it had put him down for the count but it hadn’t killed him, and that mistake had cost the guy the ultimate price.
Slowly, gradually, Welsh rolled onto his side and pushed himself up into a sitting position.His body ached in ways he’d never felt before.Plus he had a splitting headache from Rhyne pounding him unconscious.If it hadn’t been for Norris giving him the disadvantage…
Taking a deep breath, Welsh tried to steady himself.He should have known Norris would side with Rhyne.Well, the lab tech was no longer going to be a problem.That begged the question, what was he going to do with Rhyne?
Rhyne.
His anger grew, becoming white hot.Fucking Rhyne.The man’s attack on him was unprovoked.Worse, it confirmed Welsh’s original belief.
Rhyne wanted the woman for himself.To hell with sharing.Double to hell with selling.
“Well, to hell with him, too.Swapping is too good for that fucker.You don’t turn against one of your own.If you do, we turn on you.”He chuckled.“You fucked up big time, Rhyne.Cargill and his nest are due into town in a few hours.When he gets here, we’re coming after you.You and your woman with the tasty blood.But before we tear you apart one limb at a time, you’re going to get to watch what we do to her, so it’ll be the last thing you’ll see before you die.”
He was almost on his feet when another thought hit him.
Nash.
He had to find out where Nash stood.“I gotta get back to the house,” he muttered.“I gotta see if Nash had anything to do with this.If I find out he knew that Rhyne had planned this whole thing so they could take possession of the girl and use her just for themselves…”
The idea that the two men might have been plotting against him hung like the darkest pall over his aching head.Nothing was worse than discovering the others in your nest, the guys who were supposed to be your greatest allies, had become your enemies.
He started to return to the hospital to get the bike when he spotted the flashing red and blue lights in the distance.The cops were already on the scene.Welsh debated whether or not to go ahead and try to claim the bicycle when he remembered that, in this day and age there were a shitload of hidden cameras spying on everything and everyone.The police might already know what went down in the admissions office, which meant they’d know he’d been there.On the positive side, however, they didn’t have a name to match the face.
He reached for his cell phone to call for a ride share, only to find his pocket empty.
“Fuck!Where did it go?”Welsh frantically searched the ground around him, without success.There was no way of knowing where he might have lost it.The only thing he was certain about was that it had to have been during the scuffle, either when he was inside the hospital and fighting off Norris, or out here when Rhyne blindsided him.
“Guess I’ll have to walk home,” he admitted to himself.“Damn.And I’d just refilled it.”
Taking in his surroundings, he finally located which way he had to go and began walking.
* * *
Grace stared at the old but upkept pale green wood frame house when Rhyne pulled onto the driveway.It was easy to see it had been built back in the 1950s, including the single-car garage.
Reaching inside the console, Rhyne withdrew a remote to activate the garage door.It opened like the eyelid on a giant eye.When it was high enough, he drove the vehicle inside.
“Careful getting out.It’s a tight squeeze.”
He wasn’t wrong.The passenger door almost scraped the two concrete steps that led up to a back door.She took care getting out so she wouldn’t scrape the car’s paint.
Rhyne came up behind her.“Go ahead.The door’s unlocked.”
Grace went inside.As she’d expected, it led into the kitchen.Oven, sink, and cabinets to her right, small eating nook with a table and three chairs to her left.A few yards in front of her, the open living room area, and a hallway beyond that to the left that had to lead to the bedrooms and bath.
Rhyne brushed past her with a soft, “Excuse me.”She watched as he went to one of the cabinets and opened it to extract a box of plastic garbage bags.He jerked one from the roll, replaced the box, then headed for a back room.Grace followed him into the first one.
It held a twin-sized bed, the one blanket haphazardly thrown up and over a pillow.No sheets, no pillowcase.There was a nightstand with a lamp and a phone charger.
And that was it.That was the extent of the room’s contents.
Spartan didn’t begin to describe it.
