I was already at the top of the stairs. “I don’t have time for this.”
“You can’t take the Challenger. You’ll be spotted. Give my guy a few minutes to get back here and we’ll all go.”
I knew he was right but I didn’t want to wait.
“Five minutes,” André promised.
Fuck. “You’re not comin’ in with me.”
“Fine.”
Fifteen minutes later, I was outside an apartment I never thought I’d have to come to again. Trying to control my anger, I pounded on the door. Twenty seconds, thirty… “Siren, open up.”
Nothing.
Goddamn it. I knew she was in there. I knocked again, softer this time. “C’mon, darlin’. I wanna know you’re okay.”
Silence, then, “Go away, Talon.”
I leaned my forehead against the door and relief washed through me at the sound of her voice. “I’m not leavin’ till I see you.”
No response.
“You know I’m not playin’. Two ways this can go down. You can open the door or I’ll do it myself. Either way, I’m gonna see you. What’ll it be?”
The lock clicked and she opened the door three inches. Ocean-blue eyes that used to look cautious looked dead—frighteningly dead. Anger and adrenaline surged and my fists clenched. I was going to fucking kill Randy.
“Take the chain off,” I slowly annunciated.
“Where’s your accent?” Her usual soft voice gone, she asked the question without an ounce of emotion.
I stepped back two feet. “Move.” Her face disappeared and I slammed my boot into the door. The chain popped, the piece of shit door swung open and she was in my arms.
I took my first full breath in three hours.
My hands in her hair, I pulled back to look her over. “You okay?”
“Yes.”
My heart rate slowed marginally when I didn’t see any evidence of new bruises but I couldn’t swallow past the tightness in my throat until I knew. “He touch you?”
She shook her head but she wouldn’t make eye contact.
“Look at me, damn it.”
When she lifted her face, she looked so damn checked out, I almost didn’t recognize her. “You have to leave.”
Rage boiled to new depths. “What did he do to you?”
“Nothing. It’s what he’s going to do to you when he finds out you came here.”
“I don’t give a shit about him. Pack your bag and grab what you wanna keep, ’cause you’re not comin’ back this time.”
She didn’t move. “You need to go.”
“Siren,” I warned. “I’m not leavin’ without you.”
She stared at me like she didn’t even see me. “I don’t want to go with you.”
Even though I knew she was lying, its impact was staggering. “You already made this decision. You left him,” I reminded her.
“Leave.”
Any other woman, I would’ve thrown her over my shoulder and walked the fuck out. But this was Siren and she wasn’t like any woman I’d ever met. I didn’t want to force her to leave with me. I wanted her to want to leave with me. “I know you don’t want this.”
She turned her head and focused on the carpet. “Someone will tell him you’re here. He’ll come back. You have to go.”
I lost it. “I don’t give a shit! You think he has a fucking chance of getting close to me?” I yelled.
She picked her head up and her gaze strayed over my shoulder.
“A big fucking chance,” Randy snarled.
I was so damn hung up on her, I hadn’t even heard him come up on my six. I spun around. “Where’s your cut?”
Randy walked past me and put his arm around Nic’s shoulders. Two more bikers moved silently into the apartment on either side of the door. “Just because I don’t always run with the big boys doesn’t mean I don’t have them at my back.” He leered down at Nic. “Isn’t that right, babe?”
“Right,” she said mechanically.
Three against one. I could take them. We’d probably even make it out of town before Randy could call in reinforcements. But then what? Spend the next decade looking over my shoulder?
I couldn’t do that to Nic. But I wouldn’t leave her here either if she wanted to go. “Siren, your call.” I inclined my head at the muscle behind me. “You want to come with me, they’re not a problem.”
Randy started laughing and I’d had enough. I spun and kicked the asshole on my right in the balls. The idiot on my left lunged and got my elbow in his throat. Before he went down, I grabbed his head and brought my knee up. The satisfying crack of cartilage sounded through the apartment as adrenaline pumped through my veins. I dropped the second one and finished off the first one with knife strike to the neck. When I faced Randy again, he wasn’t laughing anymore. I met Nic’s terrified gaze and held my hand out. “Your choice.”