“Sounds good,” I say, looking straight at my best friend. I can see the tension in his face. He’s operating on pure adrenaline right now. I can only hope that we can get in and out as quickly and painlessly as possible.
For everyone’s sake.
Stalking up to the driveway of the house, I see a faint light coming from a front window. It’s the only light in a sea of darkness. I hear my boots crunching on the gravel driveway, and cringe at the noise I’m making. Shay is at my rear as we move around the side of the crap shack. I can only imagine the type of people Evans sends here. My body shudders at the thought of this filth even getting close to Elle.
Reaching the back of the small building, I make out the silhouette of a dark Sedan. My nerves are shot, and a nagging voice in my head says that I need to let Shay take the lead in this. I’ll lose my head the minute I see Elle. If she has even one little scratch on her, I’ll maim the son of a bitch slowly. And with great pleasure.
I hold my hand up to stop Shay’s retreat. I can hardly see anything, but thankfully the moonlight allows a little sight.
“I need you to take the lead,” I whisper to him. I see his shadow nod as I move out of the way. I take my right hand and reach to my holster sitting on my left hip. My shaky hand grips the butt of the cold steel. It gives me a small amount of comfort; the knowledge that with one quick draw, I can end this if I want to. I can end him.
“You ready, B?” Shay murmurs.
“Just f**king get on with it. She needs us,” I spit out just as Shay’s size twelve boot kicks in the rotting wooden door in front of us, the crack of splintering wood filling the air. He barges through the doorway, gun drawn, pointed straight at Gibbon’s head as he advances on him.
“Stay where you are, you piece of shit!” His words are venomous, full of hatred for the desperate man standing in front of him. Gibbons’ hands are both up in the air, feigning surrender. I scan the room, quickly finding Elle curled up in the corner on a rusty metal bed, facing the wall. I can see her whole body shaking. Knowing Shay has my back, I stuff my piece back in the holster and rush to her side.
“Wait there, hon. I’ll get your arms free first,” I say softly. Her hands are bound together tightly behind her back, her pain obvious with every movement. I pull out my utility knife from my pocket, cutting through the ropes and freeing her hands. She shuffles herself around until she’s rolled over and I can see her face.
I see red.
Anger grips my throat as I see the whole right side of her face is grazed and bloody. It may have been cleaned up, but she looks a mess. Devon chooses that moment to bust through the front door with his shoulder, making a grand appearance and startling Shay. Gibbon’s sees his chance and moves to grab his gun. Jumping to my feet, I run straight into him, tackling him around his waist and knocking him on his ass and sending his gun scattering across the floor.
Then I lose it. I start pummeling his face, my knuckles crunching into his cheek, his nose, his skull. I can’t stop myself. He double crossed all of us. He had the f**king balls to kidnap Elle from right under our noses. All of my anger from the past few months bubbles to the surface. Hearing Elle’s sobs and pleas for me to stop can’t snap me out of it. The pain spreading up my hand doesn’t stop me. Even Shay putting his hand on my shoulder, his silent command to stop, doesn’t work. Devon steps in and pulls me away, finally breaking through my murderous haze.
I look down at the bloody unconscious body of Gibbons beneath me and spit on him. He’s worth less than the shit on my shoes.
“Bro, walk away,” he says calmly.
I shake my head violently. There is no room for calm in this situation. Calm left the building three hours ago when he first laid his hands on my girlfriend.
Standing over him, I know what I have to do. I reach for my gun again, pulling it out and pointing it directly at Gibbons’ head.
I’m staring at a double crossing piece of shit; a man so desperate that he’d cross two of the most formidable criminals in the country, Victor and Evans. My conscience is having the battle of its life inside of me. The little devil and angel that sit on your shoulders are no longer friendly; they’re fighting each other tooth and nail.
Realizing what is happening, Elle screams behind me, “No, Brax!”
“Dude, think about this,” Devon says quietly from beside me.
Fuck!
“Brax, please don’t,” I hear her pleading voice say. “Baby, you can’t come back from this. He’s worthless, he’s nothing, but he’s not worth throwing your life away.”
My hand drops down to my side, still gripping the gun. “He hurt you, Elle. He took you from me. It’s my job to protect you from scum like him!”
“He didn’t hurt me too much, I’m just a bit roughed up from falling over outside. It was all about the money. He was desperate for money,” she implores as she starts to cry again. Her eyes bore into me, anticipating what I’m about to do and pleading with me to reconsider.
I’m stuck, smack bang in the middle of wanting to do the right thing, and following my gut instinct. It’s a conundrum I never thought I’d have to face, especially in front of the woman I want to spend forever with.
“Darlin’, I need you to go with Shay and get well away from here. I need to deal with him alone,” I say, not taking my eyes off him.
She runs in front of me, taking a brief look at Gibbons’ beaten limp body lying on the ground before lifting her hands up and cupping my face. Looking at me through wet eyes she gently brushes her bruised lips against mine. I wince from the pain radiating through my jaw. I’ve got to give it to him, that bastard has a good left hook. But even that pain can’t deter me from the beauty who is standing in front of me; a beauty who should never be touched by the dark side of life.
“Babe, I need you with me. I don’t need to spend the rest of my life only seeing you on weekly visits while you rot away in a jail cell,” she says shakily.
Dammit.
“Elle, I need to deal with this. Go with Shay, and I’ll be straight behind you, ok?” I plead with her. “I’ll be right out, darlin’,” I say quietly, leaning down to kiss her soft wet lips again before kissing her nose, then her forehead. I look over her shoulder to Shay, lifting my chin, to tell him to take her now before I change my mind.
“C’mon on, babe, let’s get you back to the car so I can check you over. That cut on your head looks nasty.” He takes a step towards her, gently grabbing her shoulder as I move away from her, out of her reach. She doesn’t need to see what happens next. Hell, if I had my way she wouldn’t have any knowledge of this man at all.