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I can’t.
I just can’t.
21
Cade
“What the fuck is goin’ on?” I roar down the phone to Spike, pacing back and forth, my heart racing because my fucking woman hasn’t returned.
“She ain’t here. I’ve been waitin’ and waitin’, but she ain’t here.”
“Then go and find her,” I bellow.
“There are fuckin’ thousands of shipping containers here, and I can guarantee most of them are guarded. If I step past this point, they’ll fuckin’ shoot me. I am doin’ my best to figure out what the fuck went on.”
“God dammit, Spike,” I rasp, my voice lethal. “Find her.”
Hanging up the phone, I take the keys to my bike and charge out the door. Jackson reaches out, blocking me, his eyes full of concern, but I can see the logic behind them. I know he wants to make heads roll, but he’s also calm, collected and thinks about things in a way that right now, I am not.
“Do not fuckin’ stop me from goin’ after her,” I shove him back, panting with my fists by my side.
“If you do somethin’ stupid right now, you’ll fuckin’ end up gettin’ her killed. Do you fuckin’ hear me? Stop actin’ on emotion and use your fuckin’ brain. That’s my kid, you think it isn’t taking everything inside me not to go in there and do somethin’ stupid.”
“Get out of my way,” I bellow, shoving him so hard he stumbles back.
Jackson might be older than me, but he doesn’t back down. He moves like lightning, pushing his arm against my throat and slamming me against the shed wall. He’s panting, his nostrils flaring, and there is a deadliness in his eyes that has me pausing. He isn’t pulling punches, and he’s making sure I know it.
“Do not ever fuckin’ put your hands on me again.” He growls in my face. “We are goin’ to get her back, but not if you do somethin’ stupid.”
He releases me, stepping back, and I stare at him as everything in my body is screaming at me to fight, to run, to go and get her. I should have never let her go alone, I knew it would be a trap, I knew something would happen, and I let her go anyway. I fucking made the biggest mistake of my life and if something happens to her, I’ll never forgive myself.
“I will make contact, see what he wants.” Muff steps up beside me, his eyes stark and his expression firm. “Let’s just find out before we lose it. If he has hurt her, I promise you, we will make him wish he was never born.”
“Call him,” Jackson orders, not taking his eyes from mine. “Now.”
Muff takes the phone Jackson hands him and dials the number that connects us to Marshall. He answers right away, and the laughter that trails through the line makes my blood run cold.
“I must say,” he chuckles, “you have a fiery one. I didn’t think she was stupid, but it turns out, she is. She just can’t help herself, can she? Always has to stick her nose in where it doesn’t belong, and it ends with trouble.”
What the fuck is he talking about.
“If you laid one fuckin’ hand -” I begin, but he cuts me off.
“I didn’t touch her. She stayed by choice. She was given two warnings to leave that container, and she chose to stay. What am I to do? If she wants to be there, I’m not going to say no. She’ll go for a pretty penny, too.”
Jackson snatches the phone from Muff’s hand.
“What the fuck have you done?”
“Like I said,” Marshall answers casually. “She chose to stay.”
“You’re a fuckin’ liar,” Jackson grinds out, his voice full of fear and rage. “She would never willingly stay. What did you fuckin’ do to her.”
“What can I say, I guess she saw something she liked? A deal is a deal. I didn’t hold her against her will.”
With that, he hangs up the phone.
Jackson launches the phone across the compound, until it smashes on the ground. Then, he spins to me. “What the fuck would she stay for?”
