"Ever know a real scumbag... Lo, was it?" he asked, sitting back down. "And not in passing. I mean know them. Break bread with them, share fucking holidays with them. And have to listen to that shit, listen to them brag about all the twisted shit they have done? The men they have tortured and killed? The women they have raped and ordered be raped? If you had even a clue what that was like, you would understand this."
"Sure, but why now?" Lo pressed and I was vaguely aware of Bry climbing on top of Ray and starting to beat the ever-loving shit out of him. Which, well, I couldn't fault him. I had beaten that man myself.
Jstorm moved from Lo's side and went to stand by the men to, I imagined, make sure she stopped Bry before he killed the man.
"I couldn't let him get his hands on her," Al said, waving a hand toward where I still had Dusty pulled against me, her body having completely collapsed against me, her chest jerking in such a way that she must have been crying, albeit silently. "It's bad fucking enough to know the bastard did that shit to women but not knowing of it at the time. It's a complete other to be ordered to bring a woman to be beaten and raped and killed."
"But you did bring her here," Lo specified, trying to understand.
"Once he had his little audience with her, I figured I could sneak her out and say she escaped. This place is only impenetrable from the front. The back of the building is loaded with windows and shit for the old classrooms."
"You could have let me run away," Dusty said, surprising me enough to drop my hand. Her voice had been loud, seeming to explode outward from her. And, so used to her speaking so quietly, to murmuring and whispering and tentatively speaking her opinion, it was shocking. "I got away. I was out and you dragged me back!"
"Sweetheart," Albert said, shaking his head. "There were four guys in that yard. They would have told Dom that I let you go."
"Alright," Lo interrupted. "So what now?" she asked, looking at Albert.
It was right about then too that Jstorm, with a string of profanities, tried to get Bry off of Ray. When he didn't respond to any of that, she lifted her heavy combat-booted foot and slammed it into his hips, knocking him off.
"I take over. You take your people and leave. You never hear about us again."
Lo pursed her lips. "That could work. Just a warning, we're putting out word to all the local dealers to keep an eye out for new people on our streets. To say they won't handle it nearly as amicably as we are right now would be an understatement."
"We'll stay out of Navesink Bank," Albert said with a nod and, despite not knowing the man from Adam, I believed him.
"You stay twenty miles out of Navesink Bank in all directions or we come back with one of Jstorm's creations. They're of the big bang variety," she specified with what seemed like an almost maternal smile to the younger woman.
"Understood," Albert agreed.
Lo kept her eyes on Al, but addressed me. "Why don't you guys go ahead and head out?" she suggested, reaching in her pocket and tossing a key. "Bry, you too. We'll drop you at the hospital once we're back in town," she added.
I didn't hesitate, I grabbed Dusty and I dragged her with me, finding her oddly uncooperative. But we were given an out and I was fucking taking it. I pulled her through the halls, nodding my head at Shane as he caught my eye when we passed the room where they were holding Dom's, now Al's, people.
Then we exploded outside and I didn't stop until I hauled her up into the backseat of the SUV I had driven to Camden in and slammed and locked the doors. Bry gave me a look that said he didn't want to, but would give me a few alone with her and stayed outside the car.
"Dusty, honey, breathe," I demanded, trying to keep my voice calm, but more than a bit of desperation seeped into my tone.
She wasn't even looking at me, her eyes huge and seemingly unseeing. My hand reached out and pressed into her stomach hard. "Breathe," I repeated.
That seemed to get through as she sucked in air greedily, her belly expanding. Her eyes moved to me, looking at me like she was seeing me for the first time.
And then the dam just... broke.
Her eyes welled up and she face-planted into my chest, her arms wrapping around my center hard enough to make it difficult to breathe.
"It's okay," I murmured, hands sliding around her, slipping up her back, and sifting through her hair. "I got you," I added, pulling her forward and onto my lap.
"How... did..." she started, sniffling hard in a way I shouldn't have found amusing, but she was alive, unharmed, and in my arms. So I was going to go ahead and be charmed by it.
"The tenant in the other penthouse. He thought something was up and looked out the window and saw you get snatched. He called me. We called Hailstorm. You saw the rest."
"What... is... Hailstorm?"
"That's a good fucking question," I agreed, looking out the front window as Lo, Jstorm, and Malcolm walked out first, carefully followed by my family and then the rest of Lo's people who spread out, turned to face the building with guns out still, and walked backward toward the cars, creating a human wall.
Trained.
Highly, highly trained.
Whatever the fuck Hailstorm did, I bet they did it well.
My father tapped slightly on the window as he passed, giving me a nod, then moving off to his SUV.
Bry climbed in the other side of the backseat, Jstorm moving past us to another SUV and Lo and Malcolm hopped in as well.
Then, like we had just stopped for a quick late dinner, we all pulled off and left.
As for me, I didn't pull a breath until we were back on a main street again. As if similarly afflicted, no one else seemed inclined to break the silence either.
It wasn't until we cleared out of the county lines before someone finally did. And that someone, unsurprisingly, was Bry.
"Hey Sunshine," he called quietly, extremely hesitantly, using her hated middle name. I knew he was feeling guilt. Though, really, it was just an impossible situation and she was, after all, okay. "Don't be mad at me, Dust," he urged, needy, desperate for forgiveness.
"I'm not mad at you," she mumbled against my chest.
"You can't even look at me," he pointed out.
"I was looking at you plenty in there. Trying to silently communicate to you to..."
"Shut the fuck up before I got the both of us killed," he agreed, nodding, making her head pop up to look at him. "I know."
"And yet..."
"I knew nothing was going to happen, Dusty. I wouldn't put you in danger on purpose. You fucking know me better than that. I just... that mother fucker had men beat you and steal your safe little haven from you. And then had you fucking kidnapped on top of it all? I couldn't just stand there like a bitch and not say something about it."
"I kind of mouthed off to Dom too so I guess I can't blame you," she said, swiping at her cheeks, not even attempting to move away from me and I wouldn't have had it any other fucking way.
"You?" Bry asked exactly what I was wondering. "You don't mouth off to anyone."
"Apparently when people make jokes about raping me, I do."
I could see Bry pale, likely feeling the same sinking feeling in his gut at the very idea of her having to listen to that shit.
There was a long, tense pause as Bry looked at her, brows drawn together. "You're not freaking out," he observed, looking utterly confused by that.
"I've been, ah, getting used to being dragged around against my wishes," she admitted with a wobbly little smile as she looked up at me.
"Remember the last time you were out?" Bry asked, getting my attention and hers too as she looked back at him. "We were out to a late lunch because that's when the diner was the most empty and we figured it would be okay."
"Bry..." she said, shaking her head, obviously not happy with the memory.
"The way you were shaking and that look of absolute fucking terror in your eyes, Dusty, I never thought I would ever see you outside again without that look. And here we are after you got fucking kidnapped and you don't have that look." He paused there, exhaling a deep breath and giving me a short glance. "I have you to thank for that," he said, accepting a reality I knew was killing him. I was good for her. I helped her where he couldn't. "I'm happy for you," he added as he looked back at her, his eyes relaying some message the way only siblings or old friends could, something I couldn't decipher, but it had Dusty reaching out and taking his hand, giving it a squeeze before dropping it again and resting it on my chest.
It was right about then that I saw Lo.
She was completely turned around in her seat and watching us, strange whimsical little smile in place.
"Oh, don't mind me," she said, shaking her head. "I need some popcorn or something. I love me a good romance. Why is no one kissing?" she added with a teasing laugh.
Apparently Lo- badass lady boss of fucking Hailstorm who had just negotiated a deal that saved two people I cared about after neutralizing an entire gang and watching a man be murdered, without even a blink- was a fucking romantic.
Go fucking figure.
"So, what now?" she asked when everyone sat there somewhat uncomfortably at her previous comment. "I mean, I figure you two will do the happily ever after thing," she said, smiling at me and Dusty. "I want an invite to the wedding, by the way," she added and Dusty laughed, making a smile pull at my lips. "But what about you?" she asked Bry.