Roar (Military Bad Boy Billionaire Romance) (Soldiers of Fortune Book 4) (22 page)

Logan laughs; “Jesus man, we’re not dead
yet
-“

“This isn’t anything I meant to keep from you, it just happened. and it couldn’t be helped.”

“Bryce, Jesus, spill it alr-“

“It’s Peyton.”

The room goes
dead
silent. Logan says nothing, and I swallow heavily; “It’s Peyton and
me
, actually.”

The shrouding silence continues, and I wince. Fuck, this is it; the calm before the Logan storm when he explodes; “Logan, I-“

And then he starts laughing.

Fuckin’
laughing
.

“Look, I-“

He snorts, choking on the laughter; “Jesus that took you long enough.”

I frown; “
Huh?
” A million thoughts blow through my mind at once, but there’s only one thing I can think to say; “You
knew?
”

“Bryce, for fuck’s sake, yes I knew. Of
course
I knew.”

I’m actually at a loss for words; “But-“

“But I didn’t kill you?”

I’d laugh, if I wasn’t still totally fucking confused about what was going on; “In a nutshell, yeah, pretty much.”

I can hear him sigh; “My sister means the world to me, man.”

I shake my head; “Logan, I know, and I’m so-“

“Just shut up for a second. Look, you’re the strongest, most loyal, and most dedicated guy I know. You’ve seen and been able to walk away from shit that would’ve cut most guys off at the knees, but you’re still standing. A guy like you with a girl like Peyton? Are you kidding me? She’d be lucky to have you.”

There’s a moment of silence where I try and process all of this; “Hold up, so you’re
not
mad?”

“Am I
mad
? Fuck yeah I’m mad.” He sighs; “But I’m only mad because you weren’t man enough to make it work, and you let her get away.”

“It’s more complicated than-”

“No, it’s not,” He says sharply; “It never is. You still care about her?”

I clench my hands into fists, and the fact that I’m stuck in here away from her comes rushing to the surface. And suddenly, I’m just saying it; “I love her, Logan; more than anything in this world.” And as soon as I say it, I realize how true it is. I don’t just
love
Peyton Rivers, she’s
everything
; she’s the end game for me.

I can hear him chuckle behind me; “Good fucking answer.” He clears his throat; “Look, I don’t have to come up with some hardcore, menacing shit to scare you with about what happens if you hurt her, do I?”

I laugh; “Believe me, I’ve already run through anything you could possibly come up with in my own head. Consider the job already done.”

I can hear him snort; “Deal. Now let’s figure out how the fuck we’re going to get out of here and go find my sister.”

“Take your time; you don’t want to go all-in right away.”

I groan as the big man’s fist slams into my gut, doubling me over as far as I can go with my wrists chained to the wall behind me. Benson chuckles and shakes his head as Anderson’s fist connects with me again, making me see black spots with the air already gone from my lungs.

“
Easy,
Anderson, easy. The idea is to
hurt
him, not knock him unconscious on the third hit.”

Anderson’s face is still a mess - and I mean a fucking
mess
- from that night at the cafe, and it’s really the only consolation I’m taking from any of this right now. Black bruising still rings his eyes, and a stiff white plaster bandage covers his nose, making him appear like some sort of cartoon character. He makes a face at Benson before turning back and leering in close; “Aww, am I going too hard, you little pussy?”

I grin through the nausea and the throbbing pain in my gut as I look up at him; “Wait, aren’t you the crying guy that offered to
pay me
not to hit you again back at the restaurant?”
 

Logan snorts from the wall next to me, and I watch Anderson’s piggy red face go a shade darker as he turns and slams a fist across Logan’s face. He turns back to me, wiping his hand off with a towel; “Yeah, Benson, I’m gonna have to take my time here.” He leans in close, his black-rimmed eyes narrowing at me and making him appear ghoulish; “But I ain’t gonna take my time with that little lady friend of yours, you get me?”

The grin drops from my face, and red mist clouds my eyes. Instantly, I’m thrashing at my chains, heedless of and ignoring how fruitless a motion it is, because all I can think about it killing him with my bare hands in that moment.
 

Anderson laughs, stepping just out of reach of my bound fists and grinning wildly at me; “Oh yeah, me and her? We’re gonna have a
real
good time together.” I jerk forward again, snarling at him as the chains bite into my skin. Anderson laughs and then swings again, connecting with my face and knocking me back against the wall as he lets out a laugh.

“OK, enough of this.” Benson steps forward and pushes Anderson aside, and as I shake my head clear of the hit, my eyes suddenly focus on the glass and metal in his hands and I freeze.

He grins at me as he holds the needle out; “Hold him.”

Anderson storms towards me and doubles me over with another slug to the gut before he slams his forearm across my neck and holds me hard against the wall. My arms are chained outstretched on either side of me, and I start to roar as Benson steps closer to me, the needle in his hand and his eyes on my open, outstretched arm. Logan is thrashing at his restraints now, his eyes wild as the look of helplessness washes over his face.

“Remember what I promised you, Connors?” Benson steps closer and taps the needle against my arm. And suddenly, I don’t even need Anderson holding me down, because I can feel that suffocating, arresting feeling of helplessness start to grab ahold of me. I’m frozen, breathless and drowning as the metal and the sweet release it holds inside drags across my skin, and I’m staring at it with a mind-numbing blend of fear and hunger.

“I’m gonna ask you one more time, Connors; where the
fuck
are my diamonds.”

“Get the fuck away from him!” Logan growls, but I barely hear him as the rest of the world slides away into darkness. There is nothing except Benson’s voice and the sweet release the demon inside craves just millimeters away.

“
Where
are they.”

“I don’t- I- They’re gone.” I force the words from my mouth.

“Wrong answer.”

The needle moves up my arm to the crook of my scared elbow where the veins stand out the most. And I can
feel it
, and Goddamn if I’m not
ready
for it.

The door to the cell slams open and a man in a Blackriver tactical vest runs in; “Sir?”

Benson whirls, fury on his face; “
What
is it?”

The man swallows; “Sir, there’s- uh, there’s something heading right at the front gates you should come see.”

Benson frowns and starts to turn back to me; “Then
deal
with it, captain.”

“It’s a tank, sir.”

Benson turns sharply; “
Excuse me?
”

“A tank sir, and it’s headed right at us.”

And then I’m laughing. Logan looks at me like I’ve lost it, but I just grin and wink at him as Benson runs from the room; “Your sister is Goddamn nuts, you know.”

We’re coming.

The tank bellows and rumbles around us like some sort of nightmare creature, belching black smoke and probably leaving a trail of nuts and bolts from here back to Fairuza Kartal’s house. But that doesn’t even matter, because the looming double-door to the fortressed monastery is coming
right
for us.

Or rather,
we’re
about to crash through
it
.
 

We can’t
shoot
it - as if we even knew
how
in this thing - but we’re barreling at it as fast as forty-five tons of steel and iron wrapped around a diesel engine can. And I’m pretty certain that when push comes to shove between a Soviet-era metal tank and a 12
^th
century wooden door, the tank is going to smash some shit
up
.

Or at least, let’s hope so, or this is going to be the most embarrassing rescue attempt of all time.

“You ready for this, darling?” I glance over towards Sasha, who looks absolutely insane sitting in the driver’s seat of the tank. With the goggles, the scarf around her neck, the cigarette dangling from her lips, and that persistent aristocratic accent, she almost looks like some sort of eccentric fighter pilot ace from the same war that this tank is from.

“Ok, I think I get it now,” I say, shaking my head.

“What’s that?”

“Why you and Bryce got along.”

She grins; “Enlighten me.”

“You’re both completely nuts.”

Sasha laughs as she turns towards me and winks; “Oh, dear, I am
far
crazier than that man could ever hope to be.”

I wince as bullets being to pepper the outside armor of the tank as we break through an old wooden fence and make the final approach, but Sasha just laughs and guns the engine into the highest gear, belching smoke as the thing roars towards the massive wooden gates of the stronghold; “Hold onto your ass,” She mutters.

The doors come rushing towards us, and I shut my eyes as my fingers dig into the seat beneath me;
here goes nothing
.
 

There’s a wrenching shudder as the massive tank goes crashing through the doors, splintering ancient wood and mortar across the courtyard as we come barreling through. There are men in black uniforms running everywhere, bullets falling like hail on the outside of the tank, and I can feel the rush of the adrenaline slamming through me. Sasha’s hooting out loud and she revs the engine as she points us towards the wall of the main building.