by T I J A N
“Yeah.” Congo was panting, his hands on his hips.
Both were naked, and neither seemed disturbed by that.
I was trying not to notice. I really was, but his dick still had a half-chub, and Rebecca’s boobs were peeking out from under her crossed arms. She was suffocating them. I wanted to have her put her arms under them or something. It looked painful, and I don’t even have big boobs.
I glanced down. They were small. I felt sorry for them for a second.
The stalker girl was pitying snakes, and I was pitying my own tits.
Somehow, that seemed the most normal thing about this situation too.
Channing flashed a grin and pulled his phone out of his pocket. “What’d you think I was doing here?”
Congo’s head inclined, trying to get a better view of the phone. When he did, his eyes rounded, and he scowled. “No way!” He started for the phone.
Channing laughed like a little girl. He didn’t put it back into his pocket, but he didn’t hand it over. Congo was still coming for it, and Channing was jogging around, typing away.
The snake was completely forgotten, except by Rebecca. I caught her looking at it, almost crying. I would’ve gone to comfort her, but hello? She was naked, and it didn’t seem like that would be corrected anytime soon.
“Come on, Chan! That’s mean.”
“It’s payback for the shit you pulled with Marsch.”
Congo started to run after Channing, and he continued to evade him, dodging, running in tight circles, coming right back and then using Rebecca and me as shields.
We were in fifth grade all over again. I was annoyed.
“I did that for Chad, man.”
“But I paid the piper for you.” If Channing was mad, he didn’t sound it. Suddenly, he stopped. “There. Done.” He tossed the phone to Congo. “It’s gone.”
Congo caught it, studied it. “You fuckhead! You sent it to Moose!”
Channing never stopped smirking. “I sent it to all the guys.”
Blood drained from Congo’s face. “I’m never going to live this down. She’s naked in that image. Her tits are out.”
“What?” Rebecca was coming out of her snake-sympathy coma. She blinked a few times. “Huh?”
Channing kept laughing, but it softened. He nodded to the phone again. “Look at the picture, dumbass.”
He did, and his frown cleared. “Oh.” Congo laughed, showing Rebecca the picture. “It’s the snake.”
My eyebrows shot up.
Channing saw my look. He gestured to the dead rattler. “That one.”
It was a bad joke, but I still felt reassured. No one needed to see Congo and Rebecca. I didn’t need to continue seeing Congo and Rebecca.
“Good.”
Channing reached for his phone. “I deleted that one of you guys right away. I’m not a complete asshole.” He went back to the snake and kicked it over, sliding his phone into his pocket. “Wonder how long this guy is?”
Congo went with him. “He looks around four foot, I bet.”
Now that everything was done, I looked back and forth from Channing and Congo to Rebecca. I was okay with nudity. Hell, I enjoyed showing too much skin myself, but this—this was a different level of comfortable.
“Do you want to get dressed?” I asked.
“What?” Rebecca had gone back to her sad stupor.
“Your clothes.”
“Oh.” She looked down at herself, then shook her head. “Yes, normally it’d be rude to remain unclothed, but we walked out here like this.”
“Yeah.” Congo joined our conversation. “We didn’t want some fucker sneaking up and stealing our clothes.” He smacked Channing in the chest. “They’re locked up in the truck back there.”
“Your truck’s by my truck?”
Congo nodded, running a hand over his head and making parts of himself bounce from the motion.
“Oh God.” I turned away. I now knew for certain that I only needed to see Channing’s cock. Maybe my kid’s, if I had a boy, but that was it. I wasn’t aware that I’d been questioning this need to see other dicks or not, but I knew now. For certain.
I did not need to see another vagina either. My pussy. Channing’s cock. Our children. That was it. Well, maybe I shouldn’t get ahead of myself. There was always porn.
A vision of Congo mounting Rebecca flashed in my head. Nope. I wouldn’t be watching porn for a while.
“You okay, Heather?” Congo asked.
“Yeah…” I was going to have visions of those two in my head forever, but I’d be fine. Nudity wasn’t the end of the world. “I’m good.”
Congo sighed, looking down at himself. “Looks like he’s gone soft. Moose sent me after you. He was worried, wanted to make sure you had backup.” He motioned toward Rebecca, who came to his side so he could put his arm around her. “Becca followed me out here—”
Because she’s a stalker. Hello? We’ve all forgotten here?
“—and I’m not an intrusive asshole. I wanted to give you privacy, but she showed up, and one thing led to another.”
Channing smirked. “Yeah, right. You couldn’t find us, and you know it.” He glanced to me, and I knew we were both remembering the first time. Our situations would’ve been easily reversed if he’d come sooner.
“That too.” Congo shook his head.
We all began to walk toward the trucks. They really had walked naked to the springs. They didn’t go back for sandals or anything.
That wasn’t normal.
We had to go up a ridge, and everyone fell in a single line. Congo started to go first, but Channing made a sound and Congo fell back. Channing went first. I was second. Rebecca was behind me, and then Congo.
Think about the visual if it’d been any other line-up.
Channing and I went to his truck.
Congo and Rebecca went to his and put clothes on. Her car was parked behind his, and Channing and I shared a look at that, but I wasn’t sure what to say, so I didn’t say anything.
Why Congo decided to have sex with her wasn’t in my wheel of answers, but she was a bomb waiting to go off. She was another whole situation they’d have to deal with, just not today apparently.
“Moose sent you to watch over me?” Channing called, standing inside his door. He grabbed some water from the back, handing one to me and tossing another to Congo as he came around to us.
“Yeah, he wanted me to tell you he got a call earlier.”
“A call?” Channing went through his phone. “I’m not seeing anything.”
“He didn’t tell me what it was, just said to have you call him.” He looked over his shoulder. Rebecca had taken up position in his truck, sitting in the passenger seat the way I was in Channing’s. Her face was impassive, no emotion.
It was odd.
Channing’s mouth flitted down a second before focusing on Congo again. “Okay.” He punched in the number and raised the phone to his ear, but kept looking back at Rebecca. After a second, he moved away from the truck so he couldn’t be heard.
We all fell silent, waiting for him.
Until Rebecca announced, “Richter burned down two of his warehouses.”
Congo whipped back to her.
I shot out of Channing’s truck. “What did you say?”
She wasn’t even blinking. “That’s why I came to find you, Matthew. To tell you about Richter’s plans.”
“Channing!” I yelled for him, waving.
I heard him saying something to Moose before hanging up. He came back over. “What?”
I flicked her the shocker hand sign. “The stalker just told us about Richter.”
“Heather.”
“No, Congo!” I snapped.
I’d dealt with her too much. This was a last straw.
“She knew something. She should’ve said it right away.”
The more I thought about it, the madder I got.
Channing’s safety.
Congo’s.
The guys.
The families.
The children.
My family.
“You know something, you spit it out! You don’t wait until after a fuck session with your latest obsession and after we’ve been standing around, taking our goddamn time!”
Channing’s hand curled around my arm. He wasn’t restraining me, but he wasn’t letting me walk up on her, and I really wanted to.
I paused, but she didn’t make a peep.
“Talk!” I yelled.
Channing kept me right in front of him. His hand curled around my other arm too.
Now she blinked. Finally. She registered I was pissed.
“Richter’s burned two of his warehouses down, and he’s going to blame you for it.” She looked right at Channing.
There was no change or inflection in her voice, but she blinked. Again.
“His plan is to set you up, and while you’re arrested, he’s going to move in and take over Roussou. By the time you get out, or prove you didn’t burn his warehouses down, he’ll have thirty of his men in Roussou, and it’ll be impossible for you to get them out.” She turned to me now. “He’s willing to hurt Heather too, if worse comes to worst.”
Congo was watching her like she was the rattlesnake Channing had killed. He eased away from her a foot.
Channing’s hands fell away from my arms. “How do you know this?” he asked.
“I overheard it.”
We waited.
Nothing. She didn’t elaborate.
Enough.
I was full-on raging now.
Smother the fucking fire, Heather. Keep it contained. Don’t get out of control.
Yeah. No. It wasn’t happening.
I went right up to her, my nose in her face, and I didn’t care if she bit. I’d bite right back, and harder.
“You come clean with everything. You hear me?”
Yes. My nose touched hers. I was blasting her with my breath, but to her credit, she didn’t flinch. Neither did I.
“I am not scared of you. You get that? You chose, Rebecca. You chose our side. If you don’t tell us everything you know, I will make it my sole mission that no guy in Roussou will touch you again.”
She blinked back at me. “You live in Fallen Crest.”
“Anywhere you goddamn live. Got it?”
She blinked. A third time. “Got it, but call me Becca, please. I feel like we’re going to be friends now.”
She was psychotic.
I glared at Congo. “She’s your problem. Get all the information out of her.”
I sailed past him, not caring how he reacted to my order. I went past Channing, got back into the truck, and I sat there. I had to calm down.
Be calm. Be controlled. But fuck it. I wasn’t calm at all.
I was already planning someone’s murder.
33
Channing
Moose was waiting for us when we drove back into the warehouse.
All the women and children were inside or somewhere else. I couldn’t see or hear anyone.
He stood up from the bench to greet us. “We moved everyone to one of Chad’s aunt’s houses.”
As safe houses went, that was ingenious. He had about sixteen aunts. Even I had no clue who they all were.
I got out and started inside, Moose with me. Hearing my truck start up again, I turned back.
Heather had the window rolled down. She was behind the wheel.
I started for her. “What are you doing?”
Her face was set in stone. Her hand tight on the wheel. “I have to go. I have to try to protect my place.” She spoke over what I was about to say. “And you need all of your men back here.”
Which meant she had a plan. I frowned. I didn’t like this. “Stay, Heather.”
“No.”
“Fuck—Heather!” I growled. This was not the time for a fight. Not now. Not here. Not today. “Get out of the fucking truck.”
“No.” Her eyes narrowed. “Let me go.”
Never.
“Heather.” I started for her.
She kicked the truck in reverse, spraying me with dirt from the tires. Then she lingered. “I have to go, Chan.” Her eyes were suddenly sad, staring at me through the dashboard window. She gave me that sad smile too, the one she didn’t know she wore when she thought about Naly. “You know I do. You need your men here. I need to be there.” She gave me a look.
“What are you planning?” I asked.
“I’ll need extra protection, I get it. So I’ll call in some reinforcements.”
I had a feeling about where she was going with this, and I didn’t like it. Not one bit. “Heather,” I said again, a warning in my tone.
“What better protection than the media? Maybe it’s time I ask Sam, Mason, and Logan to come visit.”
“Are you kidding me? You call them and you’ll make it worse. Sam’s pregnant. Mason’s in the middle of the football season, and Logan’s in law school. They can’t come.”
But…
“You go there,” I offered instead.
“What?”
Shit. I knew she wouldn’t, but I had to try. “You go visit them.”
“Fuck, no.”
If she could kill me with a look, I’d be dead three times by now.
Tightening her hold on the steering wheel, her eyebrows locked down. “I’ll call and see if they can come. If they can, I won’t tell them what’s going on, just that I want them to stay at the house with me. Even if it’s for a weekend, it’ll be worth it. Richter won’t touch me if I’m surrounded by them, and you know it. They’re outsiders. He won’t risk the exposure.”
I shook my head. “I don’t like it. You’re bringing them into this war. If something happened to Sam or the baby, Mason would kill me.”
My insides twisted around a cold-edged knife. Heather assumed they were an added layer of protection, but she was wrong. Richter wouldn’t care. Not in a war. It just meant she would be vulnerable, and nothing could happen to Heather. Nothing.
“I’m going to call them.” She began edging backward again.
I started for her. “If you call them, I’ll tell Mason what’s really going on.”
She wasn’t stopping. If I ran outright, she’d gun the engine and go. She’d crash through the barricade even, but this was my ace.
If I called, it’d be pointless. Mason would never allow it.
She jerked back in her seat, hitting the brakes. Her mouth fell open. “Are you kidding me?” Her eyes narrowed, and she closed her mouth, thinking.
I didn’t like that look, not at all. She was still planning something.
A second later, she said, “They’ll still come.”
“No, they won’t.”
Heather’s mouth flattened in a determined line. “Let’s see, shall we?”
I’d created a monster.
She hit the pedal and the truck shot backward.
I stood in the middle of the road and watched as she continued backing up. She wasn’t even looking.
I knew the second she was going to whip the truck around. Her eyes held mine, and she mouthed “I love you” just before her hands tightened on the wheel. She hit the brakes and jerked it around.
The truck lurched, rocking on its tires, and then Heather accelerated again.
Moose stepped up next to me. He didn’t speak; I just gave my order.
“I want five men on her. One of them has to be Lincoln.”
He nodded. “On it.” He radioed ahead for the guys at the gate to let her through, and for two to follow right away. He moved back, pulling out his phone to call the rest. They’d be at Manny’s when she showed up.
Becca sidled up next to us. “Let me protect her. I’d like to take on that responsibility. I feel somewhat protective of Heather, like she’s going to become a younger sister to me.”
I’d forgotten she and Congo were still here. They were waiting just behind us.
“She just threatened you at the springs.”
> She raised her head. “I want to prove her wrong. I know you all think I have certain issues, and I’ll admit to most of them, but I’m someone worth having around. Let me prove it to you.” She skimmed over Congo, and I was thinking he was more the you than myself.
I sighed. “Congo?”
He lifted a shoulder. “She was the one who brought Richter’s plan to us, but I’ll take her on. She’ll be my responsibility.”
I didn’t trust her. I jerked a hand at Congo. “You go with her.”
A smile began to spread over her face. I stepped into her personal space, just like Heather had at the springs, but I was a lot taller, stronger, and way more lethal.
“If anything—and I mean it, anything—happens to her or Congo, I am holding you responsible. That means whatever happens to them will happen to you threefold.”
She flinched.
Good.
“Got it?” I almost spat on her.
She nodded quickly. “Got it.”
“Then get the fuck out of my face.”
She didn’t need any other encouragement. She was speeding away in seconds, and I growled at Congo.
“If she’s the one to hurt Heather, or allow Heather to be hurt—”
“I got it.” His mouth was a flat line. “You’ll hold me personally responsible.”
“You’ll do it.”
He stopped, frowning. “What?”
I spelled it out. “You. If she does anything to Heather, I’m going to make you enact the revenge on her, and you’re going to have to do it over and over again.”
I wasn’t beyond killing, but I liked to dish out my revenge in slow and torturous ways. Congo knew this because he’d been right beside me, sometimes watching, sometimes protecting me, and sometimes being the one to hold someone down.
He clipped his head in a nod. “I got it, boss.”
“Good.” I motioned for his truck where Becca had gone. “Get out of here then.”
He left just as Moose was coming back.
I started on him. “And why the fuck did you not call about the warehouses?”
He hesitated just briefly before lowering his head. “I didn’t know what he was planning, just that two of his warehouses were on fire.”
“Anything that happens to our enemies, I get told immediately. I want to know before it happens? Got it?”