Page 17 of Ruin

He needed me a whole lot more than Brock did right now.

CHAPTER 13

SARAYA

I HELD KNIGHT’S HAND like it was some sort of tether to the real world. A safety mechanism that might keep me alive and breathing through the night.

In truth, I held his hand like it was the thing I’d been searching for all night—which it was—and even all my life—which I was beginning to suspect. This was a man who not only put his own safety on the line to take care of other people, but continued to do so again and again and again. He’d come to Brock’s house on, I assumed, some information from Gemini at some point and hadn’t asked any questions because he’d thought he would find Gem and me and most definitely Brock here.

He’d come for us, and he’d found only me, but he wasn’t giving up on anything else.

We ran through the door toward the driveway and our route to Gem, my heart in my throat and my lungs seized up with fear. I’d left Gemini in very bad shape and on his own, and though I’d known at the time that I didn’t have any choice, the guilt of it was gnawing at me. It was cold out now, and a dew was starting to fall, which would mean he’d be wet as well as wounded. Getting stiff. Probably scared, even, though I doubted he would have admitted it.

I never should have left him alone. I should have found a way to get him up and onto the bike, get him to safety. Or waited with him until...

Until what?

The voice in my head was sharp and expectant, like it was already tired of hearing me go back and forth on the subject, and I knew that voice was right. I hadn’t had a choice. I’d done what I had to do.

And now I had Knight, and he was going to help me save Gemini.

We paused on the porch, our eyes on the darkness around us, and waited, listening and barely breathing.

“Who were the guys chasing you?” he whispered suddenly.

“I’m guessing some of Devil’s gang,” I replied. “As I haven’t pissed anyone else off lately. I’m betting they were keeping an eye on Gemini and saw me go to him, then followed me when I left. But I bet they didn’t know who I was.”

He snorted softly. “I bet they didn’t. They’d never expect a girl as small as you to be handling a bike the way you were handling it.”

I glanced at him, half pleased and half doubting. “Are you saying I shouldn’t be able to ride a motorcycle as well as any man?”

He squeezed my hand gently. “I’m saying that bike is far too big for you, and I’m impressed you could handle it as well as you did. But the fact that you were handling it probably made them think you were a man, rather than the tiny girl they were searching for.”

I narrowed my eyes, not quite pleased with this, but then heard the sound of an engine in the distance and yanked my gaze back toward the road. Whoever those guys had been, they were still out there, and I was betting they were searching for me. They’d found Gem, yes, but he wasn’t who they’d been looking for, and until they had me, their mission wasn’t complete.

That was going to make this whole thing even more complicated.

“How are we going to do this?” I whispered.

Knight pulled his phone out. “First I’m going to check in with the rest of my men. I left them a mile from Devil’s clubhouse, and I haven’t heard from them since. I want to make sure they’re okay. Then you’re going to take me to the last place you saw Gem. We’re going to pick him up and get him to a hospital, quick as we can. And then... Then I guess we’ll figure out what we’re going to do next, and how we’re going to do it.”

A man with a plan, I thought. Thank goodness, because my own mind was running in fifteen different directions, and I didn’t know which of them was right or even helpful.

“Remy,” Knight said suddenly from beside me. “Give me some good news.” He hit speaker so I could hear what Remy said and held the phone in between us.

“I don’t have any,” Remy said, his voice rusty and hoarse. “Everything went to shit. The cops came rushing in and surprised us. We didn’t even know they were involved, but there were at least ten cars full of them. Got most of the guys. They’re in lockup now, though I don’t know what the hell they’ve been charged with. We won’t be able to get them out again until tomorrow. I barely got away, but I saw Mandy in the back of one of their cars. And Tinker’s dead. She was able to shout that much to me when I got to her before I ran.”

Knight paused for so long that I wondered whether he was going to answer at all. Then he cleared his throat, putting all the bad news behind him, and barreled on. “Okay. We’ll worry about the guys tomorrow. Remy, Gem’s out there on his own. Someone attacked him and Saraya in the clubhouse and they fled on foot, but Gem was too wounded to go on. He sent Saraya ahead to get a bike, but Devil’s men found him while she was gone. He’s beat up pretty bad. Saraya, where is he, exactly?”

“On the main road through town, about a mile from the house where he had the bike stashed,” I replied, not even having to think about it. I could see the place in my mind, get there with my eyes closed.

I hoped it was enough of a marker for anyone who hadn’t seen it, though.

“He’s right by the side of the road,” I added. “You can’t miss him.”

Now I just hoped he was still there, waiting to be found. I hoped he was still alive.

“I’ll find him,” Remy said quickly. “That big a body isn’t going to hide easily.”