I woke up hours later chilled and alone. I don’t know how many hours had passed until I regained consciousness. I was lying on the floor of Abraham’s office and all the lights were off. Blinking, I tried to see, tried to focus, but it wasn’t easy. One of my eyes was swollen shut and the other felt like someone had taken a hammer to the eye socket.
Reaching up to touch it, pain shot through my side when I moved my arm. It hurt to take a deep breath so I stopped. I vaguely heard someone pounding on the bay doors and calling my name, but when I tried to stand up, I fell and banged the side of my face on the desk. I passed out again.
I woke to more pain jostling me about. Someone had me by the hands and someone else had me by the feet and they carried me from the garage. Juvante. Roman. Ryker. Cooper. They all stared down at me, faces masks of anger. They put me into the back of a car with Clarke and I tried to protest. I’d told them all to stay away from me. From this. “Go home.” I forced the words through my busted lips.
“Shut up before I black your other eye,” Juvante said. He drove old-lady-careful through the streets. “We’re your brothers. You can’t get rid of us.” He raised his eyes to the rearview mirror. “All of us are your family and where the fuck do you get off acting like you’re some goddamn superhero?”
He stopped the car outside of a motel. “Roman, get your ass out and check in. Clarke, rub two brain cells together to get some friction going and tell Ryan what you heard.”
“Chanos is already lining up for the chop shop.”
“That’s not all.” Ryker punched the car door. “Chanos is going to have you packing and jacking as soon as you heal.”
“He’ll use you as muscle.” Cooper added.
This wasn’t news to me. “I know.” I’d known that Chanos would want me to go back to jacking cars. What he didn’t know is that when push came to shove, I had no intention of doing it. I didn’t mind being his muscle and threatening lowlife shits who needed a lesson, but I wasn’t going to steal from or hurt innocent people.
Roman returned with a key and they all helped me into a room. I sank into the bed, thankful to be off the hard garage floor. Juvante took a seat at the small table and leaned forward. “I should have tried to stop you. Now look at you. Going off all Rambo and getting your ass kicked like a schoolgirl.”
I laughed and groaned. “Shit that hurts. Don’t make me laugh.” I licked my lower lip. “Worst part is over.”
Clarke bounced beside me on the bed and I groaned again as the movement jarred my ribs.
“Dumbass, sit on the other bed,” Roman ordered. After Clarke moved, Roman said, “We’ve all talked it over.”
“This isn’t your fight alone,” Ryker said.
“It’s all of us or none of us.”
“You’re not involved. None of you.” I waved my hand. “I took care of it and I’ll take care of Chanos. Everything’s fine.”
“How is everything fine? You broke Mama Leena’s heart, your girl hates you, you’re back in a gang and you got your ass kicked.” Ryker said.
“It’s part of the plan.” I tried to sound tough but it was hard to talk plainly through the busted lips.
“Screw your plan,” Juvante said.
“What are you going to do?” I squinted at Cooper.
It was Ryker who answered. “We’re the neighborhood unwelcome wagon. And we’re going to make that clear to Chanos. He takes you on, he takes us all on.”
I struggled to sit. My head swam and pain stabbed through my side. I fell back onto the bed, bringing my knees up to try and alleviate the pain. “Stay the hell away from Chanos and out of my business. You’ll mess everything up. I have to keep everyone safe.”
Juvante stood. “You don’t keep everyone safe by inviting the devil to live with you. After all this time with Mama Leena, you should have learned that by now.” He stared at the others, then jerked his head toward the door. “Let’s go.”
“Get your beauty sleep, sweetheart,” Ryker said as they filed out.
They left me alone in the hotel room. Fuck! I fumbled for my cell phone and scrolled through the contacts until I reached Zane and told him what was going down.
“Shit. I’d told them I’d be over. Pricks left without me.”
I ended the call and holding my arm against my side, made the slow trek over to the mirror. My reflection wasn’t pretty. I looked as bad on the outside as I hurt on the inside. But worse than that, I had the sinking feeling that despite trying to prevent it, my world was about to blow up and take everyone I loved with it.
Chapter Twenty-Six
TANA
Six o’clock and the house was still packed with people. I’d escaped into the backyard where I swung back and forth on one of the swings on Mark’s playset. I couldn’t believe that I was leaving. Though I was excited at the idea of starting college, starting anew, it felt like something important was ending.
The back door opened and Brooklyn walked over to me. “Hey, I was supposed to meet up with Cooper tonight.”
I grinned at that. “Cooper’s good looking and he seems nice.”
“He is, but he canceled on me because he had to go help Ryan and I thought you’d want to know.”
I put my foot out to stop the swing. I hated that my heart sped up at the mention of his name. I’d gone to find him at the garage but there’d been no answer and he wouldn’t respond to my calls or my texts. I should hate him for the way he’d acted with me but I could no more hate Ryan than I could jump off a roof and fly. “Why does Ryan need help?”
“He was beaten pretty badly from getting jumped back in. Juvante and his brothers are going to confront Chanos. Ryan called Zane because he’s going after them. I don’t like the sound of all this.”
“Do you know where Ryan is?”
“Zane said he was at a hotel but—”
“Take me there. Please.”
Muttering that this was a bad idea, Brooklyn and I headed to her car. She couldn’t drive fast enough for me, but thankfully she was fast enough to reach the hotel while Zane’s car was still in the parking lot. I beat my fist on the room door and when Zane opened it, I pushed past him.
I stopped after I walked in and blinked, my heart dropping to my feet. Ryan looked like hell. Seeing him that way made me feel physically ill for the hurt he must have felt. He was on the edge of the bed with his shirt off. He looked worn out. A five o’clock shadow covered his jawline. Dark bruises littered his body. His lip was swollen and split. I’d interrupted Zane in the act of taping up Ryan’s ribs. When he saw me, his eyes blazed with welcome and a fire of want before he doused it. He stared at me with a blank expression.
“You can’t do this Ryan, please.”
“Still not my girlfriend, Tana.” He groaned when Zane pulled on the tape.
“No, but I am your friend.” I knelt to help Zane with the wrapping. My hands shook as I touched the heat from Ryan’s body. My lower lip trembled and I fought to keep from giving in to the tears. “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“It won’t.”
“You don’t know that. Your brothers and you could all die if you confront Chanos,” Brooklyn said quietly as she swung her gaze from Zane to Ryan, her expression saying she clearly thought they were all idiots.
“Please don’t go.” I touched my hand to Ryan’s face. “I love you and I want you to walk away from this.”