“We don’t even know the truth,” Axle growls. “She almost put us all at risk when she went against him.”
Me? Are they talking about me? No. They can’t be. I haven’t done anything.
“We only know Herrin’s version of the truth, since she didn’t get to talk to any of us. Hell, she’s been in hiding for years. You still trust him? Still believe he’s telling the truth?” Rush drawls, acting like this is casual, but I notice the subtle way his fists clench.
Whatever is going on is really pissing him off.
“I hate Herrin too,” I admit when the tension seems to get suffocating between the two. “He’s an asshole.”
Axle’s glare melts into amusement, and Rush laughs lightly as the tension starts to ebb.
“Don’t let just anyone hear you say that,” Axle says with a puff of laughter, shaking his head.
“She can just blame it on the trauma for a while,” Rush snickers.
The door opens, and my breath lodges in my throat when Drex walks in, looking freshly showered. Drex’s eyes drop to the empty bowl of soup I had earlier. It was the best taste in the world, and Sarah left to go buy more.
“You still hungry?” Drex asks quietly, looking over at me. Four days has wreaked havoc on my appetite. I was starving, but had a hard time eating. I finally managed to get it all down. I also know my body isn’t exactly lovely to look at just yet, considering I lost the weight in weird places, such as my legs and arms. Not so much anywhere else.
Rush speaks before I can say anything. “Anything left for me?” he asks Drex.
Drex smirks while cocking an eyebrow, and Rush curses while running a hand through his hair.
“Fucking knew you shouldn’t be the one going in. Did you at least find out anything?”
Drex shrugs. “Sledge can fill you in. Anything happen while I was gone?”
“Your girl called Rush out,” Axle says with a grin.
Rush rolls his eyes while standing and walking out, and Drex cocks his head in question… toward Axle. Yeah, he’s still acting like I’m not in here.
“You don’t want to know,” Axle says with a dismissive wave of his hand. “I need to go check in on Drake. They’re going to take him off some of the painkillers today.”
“Is it common to keep him so drugged up?” I ask Axle, ignoring Drex like he’s ignoring me.
I feel like I’m on the damn elementary playground.
“We pay for abnormal care. No one wanted Drake in any pain, and the doc said it was unlikely he was conscious when they took you due to the trauma he suffered.”
“He was definitely unconscious,” I confirm.
Drex sucks in a sharp breath, and I look over at him. It’s almost like he looks relieved.
“Good,” Axle says softly. “The one time they tried to wake him up, he was crying out in a lot of pain. It was right after the first emergency surgery on his right leg. He couldn’t really tell us anything, and the doc was worried about his blood pressure from the stress of the pain.”
I grimace at hearing that, and Axle frowns.
“He’s been mumbling ‘that fucker’ a lot in his sleep. We thought he knew who took you.”
I shake my head. “He’s referring to Cecil probably. Right before the wreck, I had assumed Cecil was coerced by Benny to turn over information to the feds. Obviously now I’ve reworked it to where he was working for Ben and not Benny.”
Axle looks surprised. Drex looks furious.
“You figured it out?” Axle asks.
I nod. “Yeah, it made sense after working with Drake for a bit. What I can’t figure out is why involve the feds? Is the other guy linked to this inside the FBI? If so, how didn’t Ben know about the Hell Breathers’ FBI problem? I mean, I guess it could have been a deep cover operation where only a few other FBI guys knew, but if you guys figured it out, one of their own should have been able to. Right?”
“Stop,” Drex growls, glaring at me as Axle swallows whatever he was about to say. “Don’t think about it. Don’t even try to think about it. Just fucking forget anything and everything dealing with this.”
His eyes are icy cold and almost verging on murderous. I don’t like that look. Especially when it’s pointed at me.
“So you’re back to not trusting me?” I glare back. “Really? You’re such an asshole.”
I cross my arms over my chest, and Drex stalks toward me. I don’t move or flinch. He stops short, then looks at Axle.
“I’ll go check on Drake. You stay here. And don’t let her fucking talk about any of that shit,” he snaps.
When he turns and storms out of the room, Axle cocks an eyebrow at me.
“You’re right,” he says, shrugging. “The feds don’t make sense.”
My smile curves up, and he and I start running any possible scenario that would involve the feds.
The problem is me. I thought I fit into this puzzle, but thanks to Ben, I know I was an unexpected coincidence. I’m really starting to hate the word coincidence. I also became the wildcard that exposed part of their hand.
Someone is going to be pissed, and a bigger target is going to be on my head when they want to seek revenge for fucking up their elaborate scheme.
The question is… who?
Chapter 27
DREX
“The doc said she could go home yesterday. Why are we keeping her here?” Axle asks me as Eve whimpers my name in her sleep.
I gently crawl into the bed beside her, and she stops whimpering the second her head is resting on my chest and my arms are around her.
She’s been in here a week, but I don’t want to risk her leaving too soon.
“I’ll let her leave tomorrow. She had a headache today,” I explain.
“She had a headache because of the dickheaded way you’ve been acting,” he growls. “Hell, you barely stay in here when she’s awake. The fuck is your problem?”
I don’t answer that. In fact, if I wasn’t holding Eve right now, I’d be punching him in the face to show him how much that question pisses me off.
“Get anywhere with that list Liza brought you?” I ask to shift the conversation.
He rolls his eyes. “No. I’ve looked over every name we have. Eve’s right about the feds not fitting in.”
My blood boils. “I fucking told you not to let her talk about that shit. Have you still been talking about it?” I snap.
Eve shudders against me, and I internally curse myself while pulling her closer. The second she sighs peacefully, I turn my glare back on Axle.
“She’s fucking smart. You should hear her out. She was piecing this thing together before Ben. She’s right about the feds being involved, and that’s what we need to focus on. Why would Ben want Cecil to give them info when it wasn’t enough for a warrant?”
“They did get to raid one of our places with a warrant,” I remind him. “Stop fucking talking about it with her. I want her far away from all this shit.”
“She’s right in the middle of it,” he groans, exasperated as though I’m being difficult.
“I’m perfectly aware,” I growl. “Doesn’t mean I want to drag her in it deeper.”
“Not sure she’s going to give you much of a choice.” The bastard seems amused right now. “She’s stubborn. She also seems to be adapting to our world a hell of a lot quicker than anyone I’ve seen. It almost seems like she was just dropped off in the wrong world for the first part of her life.”
That has me glaring at him harder. “The last fucking place on earth she belongs is with us.”
His expression sobers. “So you’re giving her up again?”
Blowing out a heavy breath, I kiss her forehead as she nestles into me again. “I fucking wish. But no. She’s stuck with us. At least until this is all over, shit is handled, and she’s ready to get back to her own life.”
“And if she chooses this life?” he muses, probing for more info than I plan to dole out.
“Anything else from the video footage? I know people have been watching it all week.” So what if I’m deflecting. I’m not going to start having heart-to-hearts in a fucking hospital room while Eve is sleeping on top of me.
The asshole rolls his eyes while leaning back in his seat.
“We know it was Ben instead of Benny who planned the massacre shooting at your house, but I don’t think it was ever intended to kill you. I don’t even think they wanted Drake dead. I do, however, think they spooked Drake on purpose so he’d lead them right to you. They planned it all out, got things in place, and then forced him to come to you, knowing how paranoid he is. Drake doesn’t do a lot of shady info over the phone, something everyone knows about him. It makes sense, considering they showed up right after he did.”
“Why do I feel like we’re trying to crack the fucking Da Vinci code?” I groan.
“Because this shit is all kinds of woven together and fucked up. Your girl was a wild card that set Ben over the edge. After she went to you, whoever was holding his leash lost control over him. Ben’s mom supposedly ran out on them four years ago, because the woman thought he was sick and twisted like his father. But he alluded to actually killing her on the video. That’s fucked up. Your girl has been the only female in his life for years, so he has an unhealthy obsession with her.”