Page 34 of Obey

Well, except Devil. He could end up deader than dead for all I cared.

I turned to see that Frank was actually on his phone still, nodding and biting his lip. He gave one last nod and then hung up and looked at me.

“What?” I snapped. “Fuck, man, use words!”

Instead of saying anything, Frank held up his phone so I could read the text:

Saraya escaping. Has my bike. Heading to you. So am I. -S

My heart tried to beat its way right out of my chest at the words. Saraya escaping. What did that mean? That she’d already escaped, or that she was in the process of it? Was this confirmation that she was out?

Why was it so damn vague, and why had he been on the phone only to show me a fucking text?

And next question: They were coming to us?

It made sense, in a way. They had to run rather than sitting around waiting for us to come rescue them. If Saraya had escaped Devil, she was going to need to get the hell out of the area before he found her again. But we couldn’t afford for them to come here. Sure, we were on our home turf, but we also had wives and kids here. Lots of unarmed people. And most of the clubs I’d called to back us up weren’t here yet. We hadn’t thought we were doing this for several days, still.

We weren’t ready.

And if Saraya and Sioux led Devil to my doorstep, it was going to be a bloodbath.

“They can’t come here,” I muttered, pushing past Frank and heading out into the room where Remy and the others were waiting. “We’ll have to meet them in the middle.”

“What’re your plans?”

“We head out to meet them. Let Saraya and Sioux through. We take Devil and his crew right there, right now. Someone stays here to shelter the girls when they arrive. The rest of us are ending this war tonight.”

There were a lot of reasons it wasn’t the right move. My crew wasn’t at full strength yet and most of the clubs that were going to be backing us weren’t here. Having a war in the middle of the night was going to be messy and very risky.

But the risk was true for Devil, too, and I was betting he wouldn’t be rolling with his entire crew. If Saraya had escaped, he would only go after her with his most trusted friends. No way would he let the whole club know his girl had escaped him again. If we could catch him while he was undermanned and kill him...

Then the war would be over before it started.

“Who’s going to stay?” I asked, speaking to the group of men in the bar. “Who’s staying here to protect Saraya and Sioux when they arrive?”

A heavy silence fell over the group of men, no one answering, and I knew why. They’d all seen what Devil had done to Saraya—and then Tinker. They’d heard what he’d done to Brock. They knew this was going to be a war to end all wars, and they all wanted to see Devil dead. Not a one of them was going to volunteer to stay back, even if it was for Saraya.

Then, to my shock, Gemini stepped out of the hallway. He had several guns strapped to his chest and a knife in his hand. The man was still banged up and bandaged from the attacks he’d been through, and had a very obvious limp, but his eyes were full of fire and commitment. “I’ll stay,” he said quietly.

“Gem, you don’t have—”

“Saraya saved my life,” he interrupted. “She went when I told her to go and got help to me when I needed it. I’d kill Devil myself for what he’s done to her, but I’m in no shape to ride with you into battle. So, I’ll do whatever I can. If that means staying here and protecting Saraya when she returns, I’ll do it. It would be an honor to be trusted with her again.”

The speech was courtly and overly formal, and I could tell that he’d been rehearsing it. He’d known that it might come down to this, had somehow guessed what we might face, and had prepared to be the man I needed the moment I needed him.

He’d stepped up once again as my lieutenant.

I walked to him and pulled him into a gentle hug. “I couldn’t ask for anyone better,” I whispered. “Take care of my girl.”

“You know I will,” he muttered back, clearly embarrassed at the show of affection.

I pulled back, laughing, and then turned to the rest of my men. “Saraya and Sioux are on their way here, and Devil is after them,” I said, knowing that I didn’t know either of those things for sure but that they were as close to the truth as I could manage right now. “We’re going to stop Devil halfway, and we’re going to kill him. Let’s go.”

CHAPTER 16

SARAYA

I HAD BEEN RUNNING forever.