Carter had an excuse for everything. Now was no different. “It’s a gas station. How the hell was I supposed to know she’d be here?”
Micah let out a swift curse. “You see our cars. First clue.”
“I don’t know how much clearer we can make this. Stay. The. Fuck. Away from her,” Grayson rumbled, the veins in his neck throbbing.
“That includes her friends, you asshole,” Fynn added lethally, his voice deep and dark.
“You want her. Here,” Carter shoved Ainsley across the gas station parking lot. “She’s all yours. I’m done with her now.” My stepbrother’s blue eyes flashed to mine with the satisfaction of a serial killer who just got away with another murder.
Shawn and Porter chuckled as Ainsley stumbled and fell to the ground.
“How pathetic.” Porter spat on the blacktop at Ainsley’s feet.
Fynn scooped her up, his scowl flat and cruel. “Funny, I was thinking the same thing about the three of you. I can’t believe I ever considered you teammates. That’s what really gets me. You’re nothing to us, on or off the field.”
“Look at the lights,” Ainsley said as her head fell back, gazing at the floodlights surrounding the gas station. She was drugged out of her mind.
I pushed forward, somehow managing to wedge myself between Brock and Micah. I shot Carter a look of pure venom as I rushed to Ainsley in Fynn’s arms. No one stopped me this time. “What the fuck did you do to her?” I hurled at Carter.
The bastard grinned. “Nothing she didn’t want to do.”
Carter Patterson’s famous last words. “Bullshit! If you touched her, I’ll kill you.” Ainsley might like to party, but she had a strict policy against drugs.
Carter jiggled the phone in his hand. “Better watch what you say, sis. You’re on camera.”
I didn’t give two shits.
Grayson cracked his knuckles. “She’s not your sister.”
Carter must be glutton for punishment. “What? It’s okay for you guys to pass her around as your whore? But I can’t have a little fun with her best friend?”
“Your kind of fun ends with you behind bars. I’d be careful not to drop the soap though. I heard things get a bit slippery in the showers,” Micah sneered.
“Don’t fuck with me. When I’m done with you, Carter, you’re going to wish my mom never married your dad.” The threats just flew out of my mouth. I had no real ammunition to back it up, and yet, somehow having the Elite stand alongside me gave me too much courage.
It was dangerous.
I was relying on them, using them as a safeguard. I had to stop before I got hurt. Not by Carter. But by one of them.
Brock, Fynn, Micah, and Grayson all had the power to hurt me now. They had become important to me. I didn’t even know how or when it happened. They didn’t deserve it after lying to me, but I also understood why they had. In this world, the four of them could only trust each other.
Now they had me.
And I had them.
The Elite stared Carter down, silently begging him for a fight. They might just get their wish.
“Get her in the car,” Brock ordered Mads with full authority, his tone so low.
Mads didn’t hesitate. She took my arm by the elbow, leading me away from whatever would happen next. Fynn followed behind with Ainsley, loading her safely into the back seat of Brock’s car. I climbed in beside her.
I didn’t care what happened to Carter, Porter, or Shawn. My only concern was for Ainsley.
“Josie?” she moaned. “I don’t feel so good.” Her head landed on my lap as Mads opened the front passenger door and got in.
“I know. It’s okay now,” I assured Ainsley, stroking her hair, praying it would be. I rolled down the window slightly for two purposes. One, to let in some fresh air for Ainsley, and the other, so I could hear what was going outside.
Micah disappeared from my sight as Brock, Fynn, and Grayson moved toward Carter, Shawn, and Porter. The gas station had cleared out, leaving just four cars in the lot. Carter’s, Mads’s, Brock’s, and Grayson’s. “We’ve warned you what happens when you step out of line,” Brock snapped.