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Hound nods before looking down at his phone.
“What’s not allowed?” the man asks when he lifts his eyes.
“What do you mean?” Kincaid asks, leaning against the desk Max normally sits at where the computer system is.
“Impunity,” Hound clarifies. “Those who go, do they have to worry about crossing lines and ending up on the other side of the law? Any man or woman who chooses that branch of Cerberus needs to know what they’re really facing.”
“This is one of the details we’re working out,” Shadow answers. “Although it’s dangerous work, Cerberus would never send you into something that could land you in prison.”
“Just dead,” Hound says, his voice just as strong with those two words as they have been with every question he’s asked so far.
No one says a word because we all know that we risk our lives whether we’re working a case in South America or if we’re providing security for a trip into town because one of the women saw some craft on Pinterest that they feel like they just have to do.
“What we do is dangerous,” Kincaid says. “Anyone who joins that chapter will be supplied with anything they need to be successful in it, but it’s more of a mind game than brute force. Keep that in mind when making your decision. That’s all for now. We’ll give you more info when we have it.”
Hound doesn’t waste any time getting up and leaving the room. As much as I’d like to stick around and try and figure out what the fuck is going on with those two men, my need to get back to Beth is greater.
I shove down the fear that threatens to settle when I don’t find her in our room, but it grows when I go out into the living room and don’t see her there either. The kitchen turns up the very same results as does the pool area and the club gym.
“Have you seen Beth?” I ask Misty when I go back into the kitchen.
“Haven’t seen her today,” she tells me. “Did you try the sauna? She spent some time in there while you guys were away.”
I’m out of the room before she can speak further because I did look in the sauna when I checked the fucking gym.
I try to tell myself she’s around here somewhere, but my hand is shaking when I pull out my phone. The call rings once before it connects to her voicemail, and I hang up before it gets to the end of the message.
I fire off a text to her, trying to keep it civil.
Me: Looking for you. I can take you to the shelter now. Meeting is over.
I watch those three annoying-as-fuck dots for more than a minute before her return text pops up.
Beth: I’m already at the shelter.
I could spit fire with as angry as I am.
I grab Rocker on his way out because I heard him talking about running into town before our meeting started and ask him for a ride.
I simmer in my anger all the way to the shelter.
“She’s new to all of this,” Rocker reminds me before he pulls up in front of the shelter.
“I told her not to leave by herself,” I growl as I unbuckle my seatbelt.
“But did you tell her why?”
Chapter 28
Beth
Less than an hour ago, I was all “I am woman, hear me roar” but the sight of the dark SUV pulling up in front of the shelter makes my hands tremble.
We’re in the middle of a break, with Brielle gearing up to shift from her math class to work on a paper due for her English class. I knew I was going to have to leave soon, and just the thought of going back to the clubhouse made me feel like I was going to get into trouble. The sight of Derrick climbing out of the vehicle, and the other black SUV driving away, tells me I might just be right.
Tears prickle at the back of my eyes when I think that he might just get inside the SUV I drove here without a backward glance and use a spare key to drive away in it, but he doesn’t climb inside.
He does like he’s always done when I’ve been inside and he’s been here too—he leans against the hood, only this time his eyes are directed at the house as if he’s trying to will me to come outside.
“He looks pissed.”
I jump at the sound of Brielle’s voice so close.
“I left the clubhouse alone.”
“Not allowed to go anywhere unattended?” Brielle asks. “That’s how it starts.”
“How it starts?”
She shakes her head. “Can’t go anywhere alone slowly transitions into can’t even leave the house. The first hit comes with an apology, and you really think they’re remorseful, but the ‘I’m sorry’ turns into, ‘why do you make me hurt you?’” Eventually, they just end up screaming and yelling when they hurt you. Once they stop blaming you with their words and just hurt you for fun, you’ll know it has gotten really bad.”
