Inside Danger (Outside The Ropes Book 2) (8 page)

Miguel grabbed my arm, with panic. “I’m just delivering the message so Damien knows I did my part. James said I had to tell you since he hasn’t set up anyone to go after him, it had to be you.”

I stepped out of his grasp. “Message delivered. Now you can go.”

“Regan, he’ll kill James if you don’t stop whatever you’re doing. And if he finds out it was you, he’ll kill you too.”

Not if he was dead, he couldn’t go after anyone then. That thought kept replaying in my head, and it was so close to happening.

An angry confidence filled me and I nodded to Miguel. “I’m not doing anything.” What I meant was I wasn’t stopping anything, but I wasn’t about to admit that to him.

I turned and walked out the front of the building with Demetri following close behind.

THE MOMENT DEMETRI CLOSED HIS CAR DOOR I turned to him, barely containing my anger. “You need to fill me in now. How does Damien even know someone’s after him?”

Demetri grunted, turning on the car. “I don’t take orders from you. I don’t need to tell anything.”

I was about to fly across the seat at any moment and strangle him. “I hired you. And I’m paying for it. Tell me what’s going on.”

His lip curled as he laughed low. “Finally, there you are. I wondered how long.” He shrugged his shoulder as he lit his cigarette. “Don’t know how Damien knows. News to me, but it does change things.”

“What does it change?” My mind was clicking, perhaps Gage had done something that tipped him off. Gage needed to know that Damien was aware that people were after him.

He slowed to a stop at a red light, the road empty around us. The lit end of his cigarette burned bright as he sucked in, he pulled it from his mouth and exhaled a cloud towards me. “Maybe nothing. Maybe everything. Probably speed things up. I’ll take you to the house and then figure out.” He flicked his barely smoked cigarette out the window as the light turned green.

We turned onto the back road that led to Rusnak’s compound. The roar of motorcycle engines drowned out the heavy metal that Demetri listened to.

Turning around, three black bikes popped into view directly behind us, out of nowhere.

“Fuck.” Demetri leaned forward, pulled a gun from under the seat and gave it to me. “Take the wheel.”

He twisted back before I even responded. I grabbed the wheel as the car started to veer off the road.

One of the motorcycles broke from the pack and sped to our side. The helmeted rider reached one arm into his leather jacket. I jerked the wheel, hitting the motorcycle before the man removed his hand.

The car ricocheted off the bike. I dropped the gun to grip the wheel with two hands and right us on the road, the impact vibrating through me. The bike, empty of the rider, skidded on its side off the road into the grassy ditch. The other two bikes were still behind us.

The back window shattered and I ducked low, but kept both hands on the wheel as Demetri accelerated the car, aiming a shotgun out the back.

I took everything in at once. The road in front of me, empty. Only one bike left behind us, but the rider had a gun aimed at our car.

Demetri fired, just as the gun in the motorcyclist’s hand sparked. In an instant, the rider fell off his bike, rolling as it tipped over and flipped into the ditch. Demetri grabbed the wheel, whipping the car in a tight u-turn that forced me to grip the seat and ceiling to stay put, a hurricane of adrenaline tearing through me.

The car picked up speed as we approached the only human mass on the road, our headlights spotlighted on the man as he raised himself up on his elbows. Then he was under the car, a sick thump and squishy crack as the wheels rolled over him—front then back.

The car screeched as Demetri hit the brakes, slamming us to a stop. My arms were out, bracing the dashboard to keep from smashing into it, but not enough to keep me from whiplash.

He backed the car up and stopped, stepping out into the night with a gun in hand. He walked over to the body and shot once, it barely made a sound. Then he walked down the road and fired the gun into a ditch too deep for me to see in.

Sliding back into the driver’s seat, he said, “One more, there.”

He drove slow to the first driver, the one I had hit with the car. He didn’t get out, but extended his arm out the window and shot down the embankment. The body jerked as the bullet hit the exposed neck, blood exploding from the spot. But the way the body was twisted, especially the angle of the head, made me think the bullet useless. He was already dead.

“Get out. Help me lift,” Demetri said, exiting the car.

My adrenaline didn’t leave much room for thought, it whipped through me, keeping me alert and steady.

He opened the trunk as I rounded the back of the car and handed me gloves and a box of trash bags. Opening the one in his hands, he lined the trunk then taped it down with masking tape. The fact that Demetri drove around with this stuff in his trunk gave me an odd sense of comfort.

Following his lead, we worked together to line the entire space with three layers of trash bags. Then we approached the body and Demetri checked the pockets and pulled out a wallet, sliding it into his own coat.

I held my breath as Demetri grabbed his arms and I grabbed his legs. We lifted the stiff body into the trunk and I forced my thoughts down, knowing I couldn’t handle any of this if I paused to think. We did the same with the other two men, Demetri pausing to take their wallets as well. We tossed our gloves on top of them before closing the trunk.

Wiping his hands on his pants, he turned to me. “We’ll come back for the rest later.” He spoke as if we were talking about groceries instead of a wreckage that could link us to murder.

Murder. My mind clung to the word, taunting me. And my stomach heaved into my throat, choking me.

Demetri scoffed as I coughed and spluttered, unable to clear my lungs and take in air.

“Stop. Get in car. No time for that.” He pushed me away from the trunk to the passenger side door.

My feet were moving, but I tingled with lack of air and couldn’t focus on anything around me.

Once seated, I tried to get a grip on my breathing, but this was beyond any panic attack I’d ever had. It wasn’t physical it was mental. My body clashed with my brain, both warring for control, unable to blend together.

Frigid night air whipped around the car through the shattered back window as Demetri sped to Rusnak’s place. The drive was short, we were less than a mile away.

Demetri was holding his shoulder at an odd angle; he didn’t lean it back on the seat and kept it hunched forward. I scanned over him, his dark shirt was stuck to him and shredded.

“You’ve been shot.”

He snorted. “Yes. Not bad though.”

I kept quiet as Demetri stopped at the guard shack and the gates to Rusnak’s slid open. After we entered, he drove off the driveway, over the grass, to a large barn by the shooting range we had been at earlier. He parked the car in the barn, getting out to open and close the doors manually by sliding them on their hinges.

Demetri walked me to my room in the main house. “Wash up, get changed, and meet me here.” He disappeared into the room on the opposite side of the hall.

I hung tight to my adrenaline, burring my thoughts to get through tonight, and went into my room to follow Demetri’s orders.

We were in a different car, cruising down the highway. Demetri had cleaned himself up but his shoulder was still stiff, although I only noticed because I looked for it.

“Who were they?” I asked, giving my brain an inch of room to function.

“That’s what we find out now. I think I know.”

I liked that he said we, it made me feel slightly stable in a very unstable situation.

“Does it have to do with Damien?” Maybe my meeting with Miguel had been a set up.

“Don’t think so. They knew about Anatoli’s place. I think is bad business.”

Rusnak could be involved in all sorts of things, there was a good chance this had nothing to do with me or Gage. But, there was a chance it did. I pulled back in my thoughts, not wanting to get a head of myself.

“How do we find out?”

He met my eyes for a frozen moment and then said, “We talk to Ollie first.”

The minute we turned into the warehouse district I knew we were going to that strip club. But I didn’t care. I was determined to do what I needed to do to find out what was going on.

We walked through the back door, down the familiar hallway that pulsed with music and smelled of alcohol and bodies. Demetri led the way, confident in where he was going. He entered into the room that I had first met Nick in.

Silas and Rusnak sat on the couch, and Gage sat on the chair opposite them. They were huddled around the low coffee table in front of them but sat up as we entered, their gaze shifting from Demetri to me.

“Dem, you brought the girl along?” Rusnak lifted his brow with a curious smile.

I couldn’t see Demetri’s face from my spot behind him, but he grunted and shook his head. “We had incident tonight.”

Silas closed the dark case they had on the table, zippering it up as he slid it beside him. But Gage kept his face blank as he leaned back in the chair, splitting his attention between us.

“Come sit, sweetheart.” Rusnak’s voice easily relit my fuse.

“Regan,” I reminded him between clenched teeth.

His smile spread as his eyes narrowed. “Right, Regan. Sit down.” He dropped his eyes to the spot beside him, but I stood still.

“Get her out of here. We’ve got business to discuss.” Gage spoke up, deep voice even and low.

“I don’t mind her staying.” Rusnak flashed a look at Gage and then rearranged his face for me, back to smiling, but his voice had an edge as he repeated, “Sit.”

“If she’s going to stay, the least she could do is take off her clothes, give us a little entertainment. What else is she good for?”

I snapped my head to Gage. “Fuck you.” My nerves were too raw from earlier events, my control nonexistent. I understood him having to ignore me, but he didn’t need to be cruel. This was crossing the line.

He cocked his head, lips gliding up into a dark smile. “Fuck me? I’ll be by your room for that tonight, sweetheart.”

It took a moment to register, a second for the words to ignite and explode in me. Then I was all reaction, all my tension from tonight erupting. I lunged towards him, pushing him with a quickness and force that must have surprised him. He caught himself before he toppled over in the chair and rose to his feet. He towered over me as he grabbed my hands to keep me from striking him.

Demetri pulled me away, putting me behind him as he demanded, “Stop.” He gripped my shoulders, making me meet his eyes before he continued, “You stop. We leave in moment.”

I nodded and took in a deep breath, not daring to look at anyone else.

Demetri dropped my shoulders and turned back to the group. “These men,” he laid three ID’s on the table, “had issue with us, but they can’t tell what was no more.”

They leaned forward and studied the ID’s on the table.

Silas tapped one ID. “That’s the man from the other night.”

Gage’s eyes popped up, meeting mine for a heartbreaking, fire igniting second before moving to Demetri. “Where are they?”

“In car. But their bikes need clean up.”

Rusnak stood up and walked Demetri to the door. “Call Billy, take her back, we’ll be there soon.”

He held the door open for us. As I passed by, he shot me a hard look and spoke with an even harder voice, “I’ll talk with you tomorrow.”

Demetri turned down the radio as we merged on to the highway. “Why you let him into your room?”

My simmering anger went flat at his words. “Who?”

“Lawson.”

I shook my head, unable to form words.

“I never let someone talk to me like that. You shouldn’t either.”

“I don’t. You saw that.” My shock was receding, uncovering my anger again.

“I saw you act like child.”

“I’m not exactly thinking things through right now, not after what happened.” I tried to defend.

“You did good earlier, when it mattered.” He inclined his head in recognition, but then gave me a disgusted look. “But you let him get to you. He had control.”

I breathed through my reply, still stuck on Demetri knowing about Gage and I, trying to work out how to ask about that.

“I would kill someone who talks to me like that.”

That snapped my attention back to him and what he was saying.

He laughed at my expression. “I’ve killed people for less.” It almost sounded like a question as he smirked my way.

“Are you joking?” I honestly couldn’t tell, but he was still laughing.

“What you think?”

I didn’t have a clue. But I decided I didn’t really want to know the answer so I shook my head, looking away. My clouded brain couldn’t think of a tactical way to ask, so I just came out with it. “How did you know Gage came into my room? Who knows?”

He shrugged his shoulder. “Everyone that wants to know, knows.” He tapped the corner of his eye, “It’s my job to know.”

After a moment of silence he added, “But nobody cares. I only mention because of how you acted tonight. I had thought you stronger is all.” He turned up the volume, ending our conversation.

I sat in my room, trapped in my own mind, working out what I should do next. I needed a plan.

The door opened, and I jumped to my feet, anger blazing at the sight of Gage. Before he could close the door behind him, I pointed to the hall. “Get out.”

He shook his head, but didn’t step further into the room. “You know I didn’t mean it.”

“I don’t care what you meant, you said it. And I’m done with this game you’re playing.” I crossed the room to him, shoving him out the door.

He gripped my shoulders, forcing me to stand still. “It’s not a game. You know that,” he whispered, determined.

I pulled away from him. “Whatever. It’s over. If it’s too dangerous for you to even treat me halfway decent in public, then it’s just too dangerous.” I was mocking him, speaking the words flippantly.

He tried to step back into the room but I closed the door, keeping us in the hallway. I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep up my strength alone in the room with him.