The amount of blood pooled around him after he’d been shot twice in the chest meant death. At least I thought it did.
Legend and Grinch both position themselves in front of Grace, a wall of muscle shielding her from even seeing her captor.
I do my best to hide a smile, grateful no one is looking my way. I wouldn’t be able to explain how my black soul is feeding off the chaos unfolding.
Thumper inches closer, the same look of confusion on his face that I must be wearing. He was there in El Salvador, but he was taken by the men that shot Angel. I have no doubt, had he been left behind, that he would’ve attempted to save the man.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Thumper snaps before wrapping his arms around Angel in a bear hug.
Angel stands stock-still, his eyes still roaming around the room, assessing any threats as he endures the embrace.
It’s Kincaid’s turn to step forward, the man tasked with regaining control of his clubhouse. The man doesn’t look impressed with Angel being in such proximity to the ones he loves, but instead of asking him to leave, he turns and arrows toward the huge conference room at the back of the clubhouse.
Like the trained soldiers they are, every Cerberus member moves in that direction, circling Angel and forcing him to join them.
Muffled sobs come from Grace. Faith, Legend’s woman, has taken his place and comforts Grace with light pats on the back and whispered words I’m unable to hear.
Cara, the only other person in the room that recognizes Angel, looks around for answers she will never find.
I wait until the conference room door slams closed before making my way to it.
I knock, only for Dominic, Kincaid’s older brother, to open it.
“This is club business,” Kincaid snaps from the front of the room.
A split second later, the door is closed right in my face.
Chapter 5
Angel
“You need to calm down or you’re going to be asked to leave,” a guy snaps as he holds a Cerberus member back.
If I had to guess, the pissed-off man has staked a claim on that crying woman.
I recognize her from a job a while back. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised to find out that she ended up here after I sold her.
She wasn’t part of my job, and sometimes I have to play the role I’m given. Selling women, being uncertain of what will happen after they’re gone, doesn’t normally bother me, but the angry man looks like he’d give his life for her, and that makes me feel a little guilty in the role I played in her demise.
“That man—” he snarls.
“Didn’t fucking touch her,” I hiss back.
I hate nothing more than wasting fucking time, and if we don’t get to the point quickly, I’m liable to lose my fucking cool.
“Maybe not, but you watched her fucking shower after abducting her,” he rages. “You did nothing to help her. Fucking sold her to some fucking creep and just went on about your fucking day.”
“Someone better start fucking explaining,” another man yells, seemingly just as angry as the first guy.
“He’s a mercenary,” Kincaid says.
My eyes snap in his direction. I don’t like being on anyone’s radar, much less the president of some desert do-gooder club.
“I was working a case. What I do isn’t any different from what—”
“That’s not going to help your case,” Thumper interrupts.
“We’re nothing like you,” someone else spits. “Cash doesn’t control what cases we take. We don’t hurt others to get the job done.”