Page 12 of Obey

He chuckled, the sound rusty and hoarse. “You think I’m going to go sleep while there’s so much to do? I heard there was a leadership meeting going on in here.” He turned his head and met my eyes. “And the last time I checked, I was part of the leadership team. Figured you could use me here.”

Something inside me, something that had been frozen since we lost Tinker, melted suddenly at that, and I pulled the man to me for a hug. Gem and I might have a difficult relationship, and I might not always know exactly where he stood in terms of my leadership, but at the end of the day, he was my lieutenant. My right hand. And I’d missed him.

“Thank you,” I breathed. “It’s better than you can imagine to have you back. Wait.” I pulled back and stared at him, confused. “I thought you were handcuffed to a bed in the hospital.”

A wry smile stretched his mouth. “I was, but the cops couldn’t hold me. Wanted to arrest me, and wanted it bad, but they had nothing on me. Didn’t even have a weapons charge. After all, I gave Saraya my gun.”

His grin grew, and mine grew with it. “Clever,” I muttered.

He held his hands up in denial. “I wish I’d planned it that way, but I can’t take credit. Still, they had to watch me walk out of there. Followed me, though, and they’re right outside. If you were trying to hide, I just blew your cover.”

“Our cover was blown the moment we got into a shootout with Devil in front of the bank,” I told him firmly. “Come. Sit. We have men on the perimeter of the property, keeping everyone else out. No one is getting in here without battling to do it.”

Gemini nodded, but then reached out and grabbed my arm. “The cops are compromised. Devil’s running the town. And we’re down men. Who do you have with you? Is Saraya safe? Did she find you?”

The blood chilled in my veins.

Because the truth was, I didn’t actually know.

“I had her, but Devil kidnapped her,” I said, skipping the unimportant part about her literally putting herself in his path for reasons I could only guess at. “I don’t know where she is or whether she’s safe.”

Gem, bless him, just grunted. “Guess we’ll have to find out, then. Heard through the grapevine that Mandy should be out in a week or so. They’ve got nothing on her, going to have to let her go.” He paused for a moment, a weighty, heavy sort of pause, and then said, “Which brings me to my next point.”

I turned to him, my frozen blood starting to pump slowly again. I’d known Gemini for a long time, and I knew this tone. He was about to give me news he didn’t think I’d want to hear.

“Spit it out, Gem,” I said gently. “What do you want?”

His face grew gentle, then, and thoughtful. “I want out,” he said simply. “I’ve taken two bullets and too many fists over the past couple days, and it made me realize how old I’m getting. Isn’t as easy to come back as it was, once. Isn’t as easy to say this is just life and go along with it. I... I want a life, Knight. I want a real life. I want to take Mandy somewhere nice and buy a house. Have a family that doesn’t carry guns.”

I started to speak, but he reached out and grabbed my shoulder.

“We’ll stay for this war. We’re going to help you win it, help you get your girl back. I want to see Devil groveling on the ground for what he did. Want to see him dying at my hands. Or yours. I’m not picky. But after that, if Mandy and I both survive, I want to take her somewhere and marry her. I’m tired of looking over my shoulder all the time.”

The world cracked and turned sideways... but then righted itself.

I understood exactly what he was saying. He had a girl he loved, and could see a path that didn’t have to include guns and murder. And I didn’t blame him for it.

Because the truth was, if I’d had that option, I would have taken it.

I reached out and grabbed his shoulder in return. “Gem, you’ve never been anything but loyal to me. You’ve been the best second I could ever have asked for. And if that’s what you want, that’s what you’ll get. You and Mandy both deserve it. When we win this war, I’ll buy your house myself, and that’s a promise.”

It would mean I had to go forward without him. But I wanted him to have the life he’d dreamt of, and if I could make that happen...

I was going to do it.

He grinned at me like an entire world had been lifted off his shoulders, and then grew serious. “Enough of that. What are we doing, and how are we going to get Saraya back? That girl has enough strength to fell an entire forest, but I don’t want Devil to keep her any longer than he already has. Let’s get started.”

CHAPTER 6

SARAYA

I WAS HAVING ANOTHER dream about Knight, only this time it wasn’t a cuddly, happy sort of dream.

This time, it was more like a nightmare.

He was screaming at someone else, shouting into the darkness around us, and though I couldn’t understand what he was saying, I knew exactly what he was feeling. He was terrified and furious and desperate and...

Looking for me, I realized. He was looking for me in the darkness. He’d lost me—someone had stolen me—and he was screaming into the void, trying to figure out where I’d gone and whether I was safe or not. Trying to figure out whether he could save me from whatever scrape I’d gotten myself into. I’d never seen anyone look so desperate to find another person, to the point that he was almost crazed.