Page 29 of Hades

I flipped him off and he laughed, breaking the tension that filled the inside of the car. Hades kept his hand on my thigh even after he turned his attention back to the road that was more dirt and trees than anything else.

The sounds of civilization grew fainter, which normally would’ve had me on the verge of a panic attack, but I was calm. Or maybe it was the way his hand branded me that made me calm. Even when we pulled up to what looked like a regular house, just secluded as fuck, I didn’t freak out. The house was at the top of what felt like a mountain but was probably just a big ass hill because I was pretty sure there were no mountains in Nevada. “Wow,” I sighed as the place came fully into view. The outside was rustic, a faded shade of red that had seen better days. It was much smaller than the last place, and when Hades opened the door, I realized just how small.

“It’s small, but it’ll have to do.”

Small was a goddamn understatement. There was a mudroom that took up half the space, and just beyond it was a bathroom and kitchen. “Where’s the bedroom?”

He pointed up and that’s when I spotted the ladder that seemed to jut up into the sky. I climbed up quickly and gasped at the three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of an endless sea of trees. I could see all around for miles so yeah, it was safer.

But it was so fucking remote I wasn’t sure I’d get any sleep until this shit with Viktor was over once and for all.

Chapter Sixteen

Hades

The house was small as fuck, but I still took my time making sure everything was secure. This place had a lot of fucking windows, and I checked each one carefully because I needed to calm the fuck down before I went upstairs to Raven. She was shaken by the sudden move, and I couldn’t blame her because that had me fucked up too. After last night I’d expected a lazy morning of fucking. Not a phone call from Diesel telling me to get the fuck outta Dodge because the Russians were asking questions.

As I went through the routine of locking down the place, my mind kept going to the question she asked that I couldn’t or wouldn’t answer.

You think there’s a mole in the MC?

That was the only fucking thing that made any sense, but it also didn’t make one iota of sense. The MC was a tight unit and we knew each other well. We lived and worked together, knew the baggage we all came with and the hell we’d all been through, as a MC and as men. Still, I couldn’t stop thinking about who it could be that was feeding info to the Russians.

It was on my mind when I finally got the house locked up tight and joined Raven up in the loft bedroom. “We’re all tucked in,” I told her, startling her from her thoughts. “If anyone comes up here, we’ll see them long before they see us.”

She nodded without turning around, her gaze fixed on the black sky and the endless darkness the trees provided. “Yep.” Her shoulders were bunched up tight, arms wrapped around her waist and her voice was shaky as fuck.

I was too keyed up to sleep, so I opened one of my two bags and pulled out my guns. Cleaning them and checking the ammo was a good way to make me feel like I was doing something useful while giving me something to focus on other than who the fuck was working with the enemy.

“Why are you doing all that?” she asked, pointing to each gun laid out on the cloth.

“To make sure it works properly when we need it to. Don’t want a gun to misfire or worse, fail to fire.”

She turned completely and I felt her gaze on me as I went through the familiar motions of taking one gun apart, cleaning it and putting it back together before moving on to the next one. “Is that a real issue?”

“Not for me,” I shot back before finally looking up at her. “Because I clean my shit.” I ran through all the probable scenarios of a security breach up here while Raven curled up on the bed with a book she found at the old cabin. The scenarios allowed me to get out some of the tension and the aggression building up inside of me.

Those Russian assholes had come really close to finding us. Too close. I promised Raven and her brother I wouldn’t let anything happen to her, and I meant that, which meant I needed to focus. And stay calm because she was fucking terrified.

“You’re angry,” she finally said, tossing the book aside.

“What makes you say that?” I responded without looking at her.

She huffed out a laugh. “Because I know you. Also because I have eyes.”

“Beautiful eyes.” I looked at her then and her gaze was fixed on me with an intense expression on her face.

Shock. Disbelief. Desire. And then the wall went up and she rolled her eyes. “Who knew you were such a sweet talker?”

“Definitely not me,” I said honestly. “I’m more of a ‘nice tits’ kinda guy.”

She barked out a laugh, shaking her head with amusement. “Now that, I believe.” Her gaze shot to the windows when the pitter patter of rain began to fall, relaxing only when she realized it was weather, not a threat. “Sorry, I’m being ridiculous.”

I shook my head, tucking all the guns except one back into the bag. “A deadly, international trafficking organization is after you, I don’t think being a little jumpy is ridiculous, Raven.”

“It’s rain, I should know better,” she shot back. I guess that was where we were both similar. We liked to be in control, and all this uncertainty was getting to us. It felt like we were sitting ducks.

“Yeah, but being aware of your surroundings is an excellent defense mechanism to have when dangerous people are hunting you.” I watched her with one brow arched, daring her to challenge me again.