“—don’t have to explain right now.” I offered her a small smile. “We have a two-hour flight you can fill me in on. For now, we need to go look for the boys.” Just as the words left my mouth, the door smashed open and Bishop stood on the threshold, shirtless with blood splattered all over his abs and his chest drawing in and out. His shoulders lifted and dropped as he sucked in each breath. I jolted to him, going on instinct to see if he was okay, but his eyes cut to mine and I flinched. His eyes were black orbs of hell and in that moment, he was barely recognizable. I stilled, my fists clenching together.
“Bishop…”
He shook his head at me, and then kicked the door open wider to let Nate, Jase, Hunter, and Saint walk in behind him. They looked like they had just stepped out of World War III.
“Fuck,” Nate coughed out, stepping backward to stabilize himself.
There was a long pause until Tillie finally broke the silence. “Do you want to hold her?”
Nate’s eyes closed, a hiss escaping between his teeth. He dropped to his knees, the silence was enough to haunt me.
I began slowly drifting to Nate, ignoring the pull I was feeling between Bishop and I. “Nate?” I whispered, although my voice came out shaky. “You can hold her…”
“Can’t.” He shook his head, choking on his words and standing back to his feet. “Not like this. We need to leave. Now.”
“He’s right,” Bishop agreed. “We only got rid of who was there, and amongst all the bullshit, Katsia slipped away.”
“Well, of course she did.” I rolled my eyes. I hated her.
“She doesn’t know Micaela is alive. We just have to make sure we can sneak out before then.”
“And what the fuck makes you think you should be alive?” Nate seethed, his eyes cutting to Tillie. The energy in the room immediately shifted. Unease oozed through me.
“Nate!” I snapped. “She’s the mother of your child and my fucking best friend!”
“She was nothing more than a walking sack of amniotic fluid. She doesn’t need to be alive anymore. Her job here is done, oh” —he cut his eyes to me— “and I don’t fucking trust her.”
“Trust her?” I yelled, a little too loudly because Bishop came closer to me. “You fucking loved her!”
Nate barked out a laugh. “Watch the way you use that word, sis. You and I both know that if I loved her, I wouldn’t have been sinking my dick into Tatum every day of the fucking week.” His eyes narrowed at me, and I shot daggers back at him. He wasn’t only being rude, but he was lashing out. I expected something to happen with him in the brief moments we were standing here waiting to decide to find the guys, but I didn’t expect him to lash out quite like this—I especially didn’t expect him to take his anger out on Tillie. I could see it now, though. The change in his demeanor. The monster that always lurked beneath the surface, cloaked under his cool swagger, was now prowling back and forth with fire seething between its lips. The rage that was pelting off him was igniting smoldering flickers of anger inside of me.
“That was a shit dig, Nate,” I mumbled in disapproval, shaking my head. Bishop threw a shirt on, and it was then that I realized why he didn’t wear one. So he didn’t get blood on it. He was way too good at this, obviously.
“We need to leave, now,” Tillie said, not giving Nate a reply. “There is underground access that can take us straight to the airstrip, but we have to leave out this window.”
“Done,” Bishop started to the window, grabbing my hand on his way.
“Nah uh.” Eli shook his head. “I’m with Nate. I don’t trust this bitch.”
“Trust me or not,” Tillie finally said, giving the baby to Daemon. “But I’m all you have right now.”
Eli looked to Nate, who then looked to Saint and Jase. I shot Jase a glare who then nodded. Hunter joined him.
“You ambush us, woman, and I’ll show exactly why you should be afraid of me—you hear?” Nate answered, slowly making his way to the window.
Tillie nodded, her eyes going to her feet before she’s leaping out the window. Daemon handed the baby out to her and then followed. Nate went to jump out, but my hand flew to his chest. “Hey! I get that you’re angry and confused but try to simmer the anger down. We don’t know what she has just endured, Nate. Try not to be an arse.”
He winked at me, gripping onto the edge. “I’m always an arse, sis.” Then he leaped out the window.
“That’s it. I’m calling it. He has schizophrenia.”
“Your turn.” Bishop pointed out the window.
“Bishop…” I whispered. “Look at me.”
He wouldn’t, his eyes remained on the window. “Get out of the fucking window, Madison.”
“What have I done now!”
“Jesus Christ, girl! For once, just once, can you do as you’re fucking told!” Hunter gripped my arm and shoved me toward the window. “Get out. Now!” I shrugged my arm out of his grip and jumped out. My feet hit the dusty ground with a thud and vibrations shot up my leg from the impact. Nate took my hand and pulled me into him.
“What’d I do now?” I asked, looking up at him. Daemon was on the other side. He took my other hand.
“He’s had real life hit him in the balls over the last thirty minutes.”
“What does that mean!” It wasn’t my intention for my question to come out as a whine, but it did.
“It means don’t fucking ask until we’re back on our soil.”
Then Nate pushed me into Daemon and scrubbed his eyes with the palm of his hand. Nate had never handled me in any threatening way, but again, the energy felt different tonight. There was an obvious change in the dynamic and I was dreading coming to terms with whatever was about
