Renny (The Henchmen MC 6)

They had to do what they had to do.

"Me, Repo, Cash," he said, rattling off who he knew he could never keep at the compound even if he commanded it.

"I have personal stake here," Duke reminded him, meaning the God-awful beating Penny had gone through.

Reign looked around, torn, not wanting to leave the women and kids. "I'll take care of them," Renny said, voice firm. "And Mina is here and Lo. We can have half of Hailstorm here in half an hour too. Besides," he reasoned, "They won't even know who the so-called victims are for hours or even days. There's no way Ricky will even know what happened. And even if he did, there's no way he could get guys here faster than you can get there and take care of him once and for all. Don't worry about here. Worry about making those fuckers pay for what they did to us."

I had never really gotten to see Renny the hot kind of angry. When he was lost in his head, it was a cold, detached sort of rage. This was not that. This was what it was like to see him enraged over the loss of his men, to be wild with the thirst for retribution, for blood. Even if he couldn't have it on his own hands.

He didn't want to stay behind any more than the others did. But there was no way Reign would leave the compound without at least one of the men there. And he also knew that Duke had a grudge to settle and, perhaps, a better skill set for the job as well.

I looked over at Lo, seeing something in her eyes that was all but foreign to her- worry. She had been running Hailstorm for a long time. She sent people off onto dangerous missions all the time, knowing damn well there was always a chance that someone might not come back.

But this was different.

She was watching Cash go on such a mission.

And as hard as Lo could be at times, everyone knew that Cash was her sun and moon and universe. He was her happily ever after, her alpha hero from all the romances she had been devouring for ages.

Even the chance of losing him was scaring the hell out of her.

As if sensing that, Cash moved forward, snagging her arms and backing her up against the wall, dipping his head down toward her ear and whispering something.

Reign and Repo shared a knowing look, the two being the only ones with pregnant women and young kids to worry about, then they moved almost in unison down into the hallway to give their wives the news.

Penny slid down from her perch on the arm of the couch and onto Duke's lap, tucking her head under his chin as his arms wrapped her up tight.

It was a heady mix of emotions in the room- the strong, vibrating adrenaline, the thirst for revenge, and the almost oppressive weight of sadness and worry.

My gaze slid to Renny to find him already looking at me, his eyes knowing, like he knew exactly what I was feeling.

There was a strong, almost overpowering urge to go to him, to feel his arms slide around me. He wasn't leaving and we were new, but I could only imagine how Summer, Lo, Maze, and Penny felt. And my heart hurt for them.

But just when the urge was almost too overpowering to fight anymore, there was a loud slamming sound from the back of the building.

Renny's lips quirked up. "Puppies got spooked," he said, sounding amused. "Guess we gotta go let them out so they don't pee the floor."

With that, he moved to go to do just that.

Feeling like I was intruding on private moments going on in the common room, I followed him, stepping inside the room as he did.

"What's going on?" Reeve asked.

"What's with the gun?" Cyrus said almost at the same time.

"What do you need from us?" was what came from Lazarus, making my gaze slide to him, finding him a little more tense than usual, his hands curled into fists at his side- ready, prepared. It must have been how he looked right before a fight.

"There was an explosion across town. We're fine here. No threats. Go back to bed."

"Renny," I said, raising a brow at him. From what I understood, probates were the low men on the totem pole and subject to crazy or demeaning jobs, but they were still members of the club for all intents and purposes. They were supposed to be in the loop.

He looked at me, likely reading all that on my face and sighing.

"Fine," he said, shaking his head at me. "Apparently my woman here thinks you need to be in the loop."

My woman.

I felt my belly go a little liquid at that.