Double Time (Sinners on Tour #5)(128)

Trey stepped out from behind Ethan and waved a cell phone at the guy. "That would be me. If you put her down now, they might not shoot you when they get here."

"And Jace and I might not take turns punching you in the fucking face," Eric said, coming out of the building to stand beside Trey.

Jace stepped out of the shadows and cracked his knuckles.

"And then there's me," Sed, who rivaled Ethan in build, said from the doorway. "No one messes with a Sinners' girl and gets away with it."

"I wasn't going to hurt her. I just wanted her out of the way." The guy's wild eyes darted from one person to the next.

"Isn't he with one of the opening bands?" Jace asked. "Hell's Crypt?"

"Dim Reaper?" Eric asked.

"No, they stopped touring with us a month ago," Jace said. "Hell's Crypt is the new one. With the movie monster theme. Vampire, werewolf, Frankenstein. Kinda lame."

"Really lame," Eric said.

"Shut up," the guy wailed. "We are not lame."

"I don't even know who you're talking about," Sed said.

"Wait," Trey said. He snapped his fingers and pointed at him. "I know who this guy is. He was at Exodus End's contest audition. The one that Reagan won."

"I never even got the chance to audition," he bellowed. "I was supposed to be the one onstage with Exodus End, not her. She took what was mine."



       
         
       
        

Reagan moaned and slapped herself in the face with a clumsy hand. "What?" she mumbled.

The guy fumbled with something in his pocket. While he was distracted, Rebekah let the cymbal fly. It bounced off his head with a loud clang. Ethan took the opening and made his move, dashing across the parking lot as fast as his legs would carry him. Brian was closer. He got a hand on Reagan and slid his free hand under the guitar string to protect her throat as he wrenched her out of the kidnapper's grasp. Before the guy could wrestle her away from Brian, Ethan tackled him to the ground. The dark part of Ethan tried to take the upper hand and beat the ever-loving shit out of this crazy bastard, but he breathed through the rage and just held the guy's struggling body down to wait for the police cruisers to arrive. He turned his head to see how Reagan had fared.

Trey held her on his lap and stroked her hair as he spoke to her. She seemed groggy but coherent. "We're going for a ride in an ambulance. Doesn't that sound fun?" Trey asked her.

"I'd rather ride in the limo." She groaned. "Damn, my head hurts."

"How's your neck?"

"I don't know. I feel sort of numb. And tired. And nauseous." She turned her head and stared at the guy who had Ethan's knee in his back and his arms pulled up behind him at a sharp angle. He wasn't going anywhere. Reagan shook her head and laughed. "I can't believe I've been afraid of Pyre this whole time. In a fair fight, I could take him down myself."

"I've got him pinned, if you want to take a cheap shot at him," Ethan said.

"Maybe later," she murmured.

"Are you okay, Reagan?" Sed asked, looking from her to Pyre as if he couldn't decide if he'd rather comfort her or kick the shit out of Pyre.

"I'll be fine. I'm just tired." Her eyelids fluttered and Trey gave her a harsh shake.

"Try to stay awake. Okay?" he said. "I'm pretty sure that stuff can kill you if you breathe in too much."

"I didn't mean to hurt her," Pyre said. "Just get her out of the way. So I could have my chance. I never even got a chance. I'm sick of being in the opening band."

Ethan tugged Pyre's arms up another inch, which shut him up immediately. A pair of police cruisers pulled to a halt near the tour buses. Two officers entered the scene with their hands at their gun belts.

"Ethan Conner, professional bodyguard," Ethan identified himself. "I've subdued the perpetrator."

"I'll say," one of the officers said as he removed a pair of handcuffs from his belt and grabbed one of Pyre's wrists. 

Pyre was handcuffed and pulled upright to sit on the ground. He didn't look the slightest bit threatening now. More pathetic than anything. The officers started the interview process to get everyone's story straight. Ethan had to talk to one of them while the paramedics looked Reagan over. Besides a severe case of nausea, a headache, and a few small cuts and bruises, she seemed to be fine. That didn't mean Ethan liked to be interviewed for an incident report while Trey got to hold her hand and tell her everything was going to be all right as she recounted her own version of the events to the other officer.