couch cushions. He cared about Jo-Jo too. We all did.
The patio door opened, and Roslyn stepped inside, holding a glass of iced tea. She must have poured it from the pitcher that had been left on the table outside. She handed the drink to cooper, and he slugged it down in one long swallow. He set the glass on an end table next to his elbow and leaned back against the couch once more.
“Now what?” Phillip asked, standing in front of the TV.
“Now I go get Sophia back.”
He nodded. “Bria said Harley Grimes and Jo-Jo know each other?”
“Yeah,” I said. “He, Sophia, and Jo-Jo have a history together. If you could call it that.”
“What sort of history?” cooper asked.
“Grimes kidnapped Sophia years ago. He beat her, tortured her with his Fire magic—including ruining her voice—and then did a whole lot of other unspeakable things to her before Jo-Jo hired Fletcher to rescue Sophia.
And when Fletcher did, he made sure that Grimes knew that if he ever bothered Sophia and Jo-Jo again, he would wish he hadn’t.”
“But Fletcher’s dead,” Bria pointed out.
“I know. Grimes must have found out about his death and figured that the coast was clear. That’s why he came to the salon today, and that’s why he took Sophia again.”
No one spoke for a moment.
“I’ve heard of Grimes,” Phillip said. “Lives up on some mountain above Ashland, along with a bunch of his men.”
Phillip kincaid was more than just a pretty face. He was also the owner of the
I fixed my gaze on him. “Tell me everything you know about Grimes.”
He shrugged. “Not much. Just that he lives out in the woods in some sort of camp up on Bone Mountain.
Grimes and his men sell guns in and around the city, hire themselves out as muscle, things like that. Someone also told me that they even make their own moonshine, get all liquored up on it, come roaring into Ashland every once in a while, and tear shit up, despite some halfhearted attempts by the police to stop them. Only Grimes doesn’t run from the law so much as put bullets in anyone who gets too close to his camp and his operations.”
Now that Phillip mentioned them, I realized that
I’d heard some of the same stories about a moonshine swilling, gun-running gang holed up on top of one of the mountains. I just hadn’t realized that it was Grimes and his crew. The guns must have been the mysterious business that he’d been talking about earlier. The one that had been booming ever since I’d killed Mab. Yeah, I could imagine that a lot of underworld folks had bought a lot of guns in their efforts to kill one another these past few months.
Good to know, but I needed more information if I had any chance of rescuing Sophia, like exactly where this camp was. I had a feeling that I’d find all that info and more at Fletcher’s house. The old man had kept files on everyone who was up to no good in Ashland, and Harley Grimes would have been sure to be at the top of Fletcher’s watch list, given what he’d done to the Deveraux sisters all those years ago.
“Thanks for the info, Phillip. I appreciate it, but I’ll take it from here.”
I started toward the patio door, but Bria moved to block my path.
“What are you going to do now?” she asked.
I shrugged. “What I do best. kill Grimes, Hazel, and everyone else who gets between me and Sophia.”
Bria lifted her chin. “Fine. But I’m coming with you.”
“No, you’re not.”
She slapped her hands on her hips in defiance. “Yes, I am—” Bria suddenly winced and dropped her hands to her stomach, as though she’d pulled a muscle.
My eyes narrowed. “What’s wrong with you? Are you hurt?”
She grimaced, but she didn’t answer me.
“Bria . . .”
She sighed and pulled up her T-shirt. A large, nasty, fist-shaped bruise blackened her side to the left of her belly button. “While you were chasing after Sophia, one of the guys in the salon hit me a few times before I put a couple of bullets in his chest. It’s no big deal.”
“Oh, no,” I sniped. “Probably just some cracked ribs from the looks of that.”
“I don’t think they’re cracked,” she said in a defensive voice. “They weren’t even bothering me until a few minutes ago.”
“That’s because the adrenaline hasn’t completely worn off yet. Believe me, even if they’re not cracked, they’re still going to be plenty sore soon enough. Now, come over here, and sit down.”
Bria grumbled, but she let me guide her over to a blue recliner in the corner and sank down onto it. She winced again. If that simple motion hurt, it wouldn’t be long before her bruised body stiffened up more, and she wouldn’t be able to do anything without feeling the pain of the fight.
“You’re staying here,” I said. “You’re in no condition to fight, especially not against someone like Grimes.”
Bria’s face scrunched up with mulish determination, and she opened her mouth to argue, but I cut her off.
“Please?” I asked in a soft voice. “Sophia’s already gone, and I almost lost Jo-Jo. I don’t want to lose you too.”
Her lips flattened out into a thin line, but she reluctantly nodded. That alone told me how much she was already hurting. “All right, all right,” she said. “What do you want me to do?”
“call Finn, and tell him what happened, then stay here and watch over Jo-Jo. I don’t think that Grimes will come after her again, but I don’t know that he won’t either.”
Bria nodded, and she squeezed my hand. “Just promise me that you’ll be careful.”
I squeezed back. “I promise.”
“I’ll stay too,” Roslyn volunteered. “And I’ll call Xavier and let him know what’s going on.”
“Thank you. And I need one more favor from you.”
“Name it.”
I looked at Roslyn. “can I borrow your car?”
She reached into her shorts pocket, pulled out her keys, and tossed them over to me. “Only if you promise to ram it over the bastard who took Sophia.”
I grinned. “consider it done.”
I didn’t tell Roslyn that running over Harley Grimes with her car was too good, too quick, and far too merciful a death for him. Oh, no. I was going to give Mr. Grimes my personal brand of attention—Spider- style.
The others agreed to stay put, keep an eye on Jo-Jo, and hold down the fort in case Grimes or any of his men showed up at cooper’s. It was a long shot that they would, but I hadn’t thought armed men would burst into the salon this morning either.
I headed outside, but I wasn’t alone. Phillip followed me. He matched me stride for stride as I stepped off the patio and started around the house.
“What do you want, Phillip?”
“I want to go with you.”
I stopped and gave him a flat look. “Not going to happen. Jo-Jo’s not out of the woods, cooper’s exhausted, and Bria’s injured. Someone needs to stay here and help Roslyn with them, and that someone is going to be you.”
“And you need someone to watch your back,” Phillip
countered. “Look at you. You’re a bloody mess right now.
Hell, you don’t even have any shoes on.”
