“Where are you?” I heard a door slam and then distant voices in the background. “Let’s go,” he ordered to someone.
“We will be downtown. If these fuckers want to make a scene, they can do it in front of Jenkins’s office.”
“Fuck. Keep safe until we get there.”
Dropping my phone into the cupholder, I took Kelli’s hand. It was cold, but it didn’t shake as she drove like we weren’t currently being followed. It could have been anyone. The damn Italians might have been following us this whole time. Or fuck, it could have even been someone working for the freaking senator for all I knew. At this point, I was clueless as to who the occupants of the SUV were, but I wasn’t going to take any risks.
“By any chance have you started stocking the car with an arsenal like Raven and Willa?”
Kelli snorted. “Nope, sorry. The only thing I have is the baseball bat on the floor in the back.”
Reaching behind us, I wrapped my fingers around it and pulled it into the front. “When you pull up in front of Jenks’s office, I want you to go inside. Act normal. Don’t even look their way,” I told her as she took the next right and drove onto Main Street.
“I’m not leaving you out here alone,” she argued as she pulled into a spot right in front of Jenkins’s law office. “I’m staying with you until the others get here.”
“Do as I say, Kell. Get your fucking ass in the office.” I got out of the car, the bat in my hand, and walked around to the driver’s side. Kelli glared at me through the window, and I opened the door. Taking her arm, I pulled her out and over to the front door of the lawyer’s office. “Go in there and wait for me. If Gracie is in there, then wait in her office with her. For the love of God and all that’s holy, woman, do not bring her out here.”
She tugged her arm free, glaring up at me mutinously. “I can help you.”
“You can help by staying out of trouble.” I dropped a quick, hard kiss on her lips then opened the door. “Go.”
She started to argue, but behind us, the SUV was pulling into a free spot on the other side of the street. My fingers tightened around the bat, and I wished for a gun. In the distance, I heard the distinct rumble of several motorcycles and pushed Kelli forward. Once she was inside, I pushed the door closed and stood with my back against it so she couldn’t come out.
From across the street, I watched the SUV. No one got out; no one moved around inside. I counted three heads, two in the front, one in the middle of the back seat. The tags on the back were California, but that didn
’t mean anything. Both Santino and Samson were California state residents.
As Bash and the others came into view, I crossed the street and pounded my fist on the hood. The tinted driver’s window lowered slowly, and I stared down the stranger behind the wheel. His dark-blond hair was on the shaggy side with sideburns. His nose was wide and flat, his lower lip pouched out. Definitely not Italian, not one of Santino’s men that I’d ever met. “What the fuck do you want?”
“What do you mean?” he asked, brows lifted in confusion. “You’re the one who came up to me, beating on my vehicle, man.”
I glanced past him to the guy in the passenger’s seat. I could see a resemblance to the driver, probably a brother. The same dark-blond hair was cropped short everywhere but on top. His nose was just as flat but not nearly as wide. A nasty, jagged scar that looked like his lip had been mauled by a dog stretched all the way to his chin. I would have remembered him if I’d ever seen him anywhere.
“Who the fuck are you, and why did you follow me and my girl all the way back here?”
“Look, guy, I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. We’re in town visiting family.”
Bash stopped and parked right behind the SUV, causing the driver and his brother to tense. Jet, Hawk, and Spider did the same, and the three of them got off their bikes. My brothers came up beside me, while Spider and Bash took the passenger’s side.
Putting his hand on top of the car, Jet leaned in, his eyes cold as he locked gazes with the driver. “What’s the problem, boys?”
“No problem. We’re just waiting on our friends to meet us. This dickhead is the one bothering us.”
“Tsk, tsk.” Hawk’s voice rumbled as he leaned in around me and Jet. “Name-calling isn’t nice. You should apologize before my little brother gets pissed.”
The passenger’s window rolled down when Bash tapped on the glass. “What?” the guy snarled, not nearly as calm as his brother.
Ignoring the menace in the man’s voice, Bash leaned in and opened the glove compartment. Grabbing the small handful of documents, he stepped back, flipping through the papers. “Cage is registered to Hank Badcock.” Spider and Jet snickered at the guy’s last name.
“Fuck, I wouldn’t have wanted to grow up with that name,” Spider laughed.
Bash’s lips twitched in shared amusement, but he didn’t grin as he leaned back in to look at the two in the front. “Which one of you is Hank?” They remained silent. “Neither of you? Did you steal this vehicle? Maybe I should let the sheriff know he’s got a stolen cage just running around his town.”
From the back seat, I heard a low voice, but I couldn’t make out what the guy said. Whatever it was had the driver lifting his eyes to the rearview mirror. Turning my head, I saw both Kelli and Gracie walking across the street toward us. I nudged Hawk with my elbow, nodding my head in the direction of his ol’ lady.
Seeing her, my brother bit out a curse. “For fuck’s sake. What are you doing?” he demanded, grabbing her hand as soon as she came up beside us. “Get your ass back in your office.”
She smiled sweetly up at him. “I’m just checking to see what all the fuss is about. Kelli said she and Colt brought friends back with them.”