Ride or Die (Rejects Paradise 4)

I raise a brow, shaking my head. “And I highly doubt that they even realized it was you.”

“Right,” he grumbles, making a hint of guilt sink heavily into my gut. Christian sure as hell knew it was Colton but luckily for me, he’s kept quiet on it, though I don’t know how he’s going to feel about me having Colton walk right into his home.

We get to the door, and being the gentleman that he is, he opens it for me. I step through before him, instantly getting the eyes of every Wolf in the Den. They think nothing of it until Colton follows me through the door, and suddenly a hundred men are getting to their feet.

I roll my eyes, holding up a hand and putting a stop to their bullshit before it can get any further. “He’s with me,” I tell them, slowly glancing around the room and trying to catch each of their eyes and doing my best to look like the kind of bitch they only see in their worst nightmares. “A shot against him is a direct shot against me. Anyone who has an issue with that will have me to deal with. Is that clear?”

Grumbles sound all around the Den, and I hear grunts and curses under breaths saying that this isn’t how we do things around here. I’m the boss around here now. Bringing an outsider into the mix might be against their rules, but fuck it, I make my own goddamn rules.

Colton follows me through the Den as I lead him toward the bar to where Christian is sitting with Jaren having a murmured conversation. “Took your fucking time,” Christian says, standing and looking straight at Colton, who clearly doesn’t appreciate his stare.

I discreetly slide myself between the two men and raise my chin to meet Christian’s hard stare. “Cut the bullshit. Can we just get this over and done with? I’m missing school.”

Christian rolls his eyes as though the prospect of going to school is so beneath him that it’s almost comical. Either way, he doesn’t back down and raises his eyes back to Colton. “You have a lot of balls walking in here after you shot at my brothers.”

Colton scoffs. “And you fuckers had a lot of balls going in there and shooting at them.”

Christian looks down at me. “Your boyfriend isn’t loyal.”

“My boyfriend is a lot of things, but disloyal isn’t one of them. He was there trying to save my best friends, my brothers. He knew what it would do to me if they were to get hurt.”

Christian holds his ground a little longer and then finally relents, backing down and letting out a slow breath. He glances around the room and raises his voice so every fucker in the Den can hear him. “You heard the girl,” he tells them. “Let’s get down to the basement and get this shit over with.”

Christian looks back at me and tilts his heads, inviting us to follow him, and as we do, the rest of the Wolves fall behind.

“I don’t like this,” Colton murmurs beside me. “What the fuck is in the basement?”

I shake my head, knowing one thing that we’ll find down here, but as for what else lives down there … that’s a mystery to me. “I don’t know. I didn’t even know this place had a basement,” I tell him. I guess I’d assumed that they had a factory or warehouse like Colton does when it comes to this stuff.

Christian glances back at us, a smirk playing on his lips. “Trust me, this place has more horrors than you could ever imagine.”

A cold shiver runs down my back, and I find my hand slipping back into Colton’s. As we creep through the hallway and down a flight of flimsy stairs, my blood begins to run cold. It’s creepy as all hell down here.

There’s a chill in the air, which only seems to make it worse, and as we reach a large metal door with a heavy lock and chain on it, I find myself glancing up at Colton. He doesn’t seem to be affected by this and I’m reminded of the fact that his soul is just as covered in darkness as mine is, perhaps even more.

The soft rumble of footsteps behind us quiets down as we wait for Christian to undo the lock, and just before he pulls the heavy door open, he glances back at me. “Are you sure about this? Once you walk in there, you won't be able to go back. The things you’ll see … they’re not for the faint-hearted.”

I grin up at him, feigning confidence. “And pussy out with all these men at my back? Yeah fucking right.”

Christian nods and glances back at Colton. “Suit yourself.”

With that, the door is pulled open, and a gust of cold air comes rushing out, smacking me in the face. “The fuck?” I grunt as Christian walks in. I follow him through with Colton at my back and realize that it’s some kind of a freezer in here.