Owned: A Mafia Menage Romance(211)

She looked up and met Auger’s light brown eyes. His big hand covered Bryce’s shoulder and he looked at her with unconcealed tenderness and pity. He seemed so sad, so soft for her, like he used to. If there was anybody in the world who understood how much she loved Bryce, it was him. He felt it too. She knew it.

“It always seems worse than it is, Bryce,” she whispered. He just shook his head and wouldn’t look up.

Auger held her eyes until the realization started to dawn on her. Bryce wasn’t exaggerating. This was not a drill. This was it. The end of the line. Fear coiled in her chest and squeezed her lungs.

“Oh no,” she heard herself whisper hoarsely. Her hand trembled against the countertop so hard that it made a knocking noise. Auger reached out and gave her fingers a hard squeeze. Then he angled his body to the side, blocking her off from Bryce, trying to make a shield for the news he knew was coming.

“So… the plan is… what, to run? We shouldn’t have to run, man. We can fix this.”

Bryce shrugged. He finally lifted his eyes and Auger to see the truth was there. “Running is all we have left. Actually, it’s our smartest move… They don’t know anything about us, really. They do know where we live, though… they’ll take it outta you guys if you’re here when they get here, and I’m not. And I’m definitely not sticking around… If I’m outta here, you better be outta here too.”

“How did this happen? You just told us about it yesterday…”

He half-shrugged, his eyes cutting guiltily sideways. From the slope of his posture, it looked like this weight had been secretly crushing him for some time.

Callie nodded and breathed a heavy sigh. Hope dissolved like the last light going off in a big room. They didn’t know anyone else in the city to turn to. Her own failures crowded into the front of her thoughts.

I never got the food blog going.

I never got a better job.

I never even learned to use that camera!

We should probably consider ourselves lucky we have the cash to get back to Fox county. If that is even an option anymore...

“I feel… like shit…” Bryce groaned from between his bruised hands.

“Yeah,” Auger sighed. “Me too, man.”

Callie tossed the pans in the sink and turned on the tap to fill them with water out of habit. The magnitude of what Bryce was suggesting was just starting to settle in. Give up Chicago, turn around, run home. Cut off all paths that led away from Millslake. It felt stifling: as though a hundred doors suddenly slammed shut.

But Bryce probably didn’t want to hear her whine about how much she was really looking forward to making a trendsetting website right now. If he really thought Orion’s guys were coming… He probably thought they were coming for blood.

Bryce is in a lot deeper than he’s letting on, she realized suddenly.

Walking to the sofa, Auger jammed a pair of jeans in his big army-surplus duffle and surveyed the bay window with his hands on his hips. It would take him all of four minutes to pack. He didn’t have anything. Nudging his discarded track pants with the toe of his sock, he exposed the envelope beneath them. He bent over and picked it up, turning it over in his hands.

“How long do we have?” Auger asked suddenly, turning around. Callie flipped the tap water off to listen.

Bryce rubbed his bleary eyes and squinted over his shoulder. “What?”

“Do you really think Orion’s guys are coming here?”

Bryce nodded silently, his lips set in a hard line.

“For sure, no bullshit?”

No answer. Auger stared at Callie hard, his expression reminding her of the hundred times he had come up with crazy plans before. Her stomach clenched.

“Well, how long do we have to get outta Dodge?”

Bryce shrugged. “Figured we’d have to leave by dark, just to be safe.”

Auger nodded, swiping his phone off the coffee table. His jaw was set in a hard, resolute line. “Bryce, do not do anything until we get back. Callie?”

She hesitated, then gave him a curt nod, understanding what he was silently telling her.

“There’s nothing you guys can do, man…”

“Just trust me,” Auger said, his eyes shining like a copper blade. “I got this.”





CHAPTER 7


Auger

Ripping a white, fluffy towel from the bar, Auger scrubbed at his long hair and then wiped down his legs before finally allowing himself to pick up the buzzing cellphone. Despite his misgivings, the word Yes made his guts jump, just a little.

He stared at the tiny LED screen for a few more seconds to make sure it was real, to make sure he really was going to do this.

FROM: Winsor Cooke