Time to Bounce (Carter Brothers #6)

Chapter 7

May your coffee kick in before reality does.

— Coffee Cup

GABLE

I felt like utter shit for what I’d said.

I should’ve been nice about it, but seeing her there, especially that night, scared the holy hell out of me.

“ You ready?” Tyrone asked.

I looked at the building that we were raiding in ten minutes.

“10-4,” I replied.

“ Little harsh with her, weren’t you?” Tyrone asked.

Maybe . Probably .

“ Not at all,” I snapped, disagreeing with him on general principle. “ You know why she couldn’t be here.”

The warrant we were executing was going to be brutal.

I fully expected a lot of shit to happen in ten minutes, and the last thing I wanted was Athena to be there when it all went down.

“ Yeah , but you could’ve just asked her to leave,” he suggested. “ She would have if you’d been sincere.”

I thought about the last two weeks, and how Madman had talked about her nonstop, and shook my head. “ No , Madman is being a fucking creep when it comes to her.”

Which he knew.

“ Yo , Carrie , you ready?”

‘ Carrie ’ was Callena Baron , an agent with the FBI , and my ‘girlfriend’ for the night.

She was going in as my backup as I waited for the castle to be stormed.

“ You should probably apologize about how you acted.” Callena suggested. “ If you like her, you must apologize. I know how that looked.”

“ It’s okay, we’ll figure it out later,” I said, trying not to give a shit.

The problem was that I did give a shit, and she was all I could think about already. Now , her face would haunt me.

Tyrone fit his bulletproof vest under his shirt, then slipped his cut on over it.

I had done the same earlier.

Callena had hers on under her sweatshirt, giving the three of us a little peace of mind as we made our way from the parking lot of the bar to the clubhouse.

“ How far out is the truck?” I asked, my eyes scanning the area.

“ Around the block,” Tyrone murmured. “ Let’s go inside.”

We did, and I was unsurprised to find the men there, waiting to party.

It was the day I was officially a part of the club.

“ Look , Prospect is here!” someone called.

I looked over to see who’d spoken but couldn’t place them.

I turned back around in time to get picked up off my feet by Tyrone / Merchant .

“ Hey , buddy,” he crowed, playing the part perfectly.

Callena came up to my side and leaned into it, also playing the part perfectly.

“ Who’s this?” Hybrid’s eyes gleamed. “ Another present for us to watch?”

I gritted my teeth to keep the anger in check.

I fucking hated that these sick fucks had seen Athena like that.

Seen me like that.

“ Sure ,” Callena purred.

I grinned, trying to act like I didn’t give a single fuck about it, but inside I was seething.

The night wore on like that, and eventually, the club got bored and ordered the whores out.

Several came out of a room to the side of the clubhouse’s main area, and my heart clenched for a completely different reason when I saw the youngest woman. She had to be all of sixteen.

But the photo I’d seen of her at twelve had shown her not as developed.

Now , at sixteen, she looked womanlier.

Fucking sick perverts.

All of them.

Merchant’s eyes met mine, and I watched him touch the button on his shirt collar.

It took all of a minute before the doors were blown off the hinges.

Seconds before the doors were breached, Callena , Tyrone , and I put our earphones and glasses on.

The stun grenade that rolled into the room shocked everyone in it, man and woman alike.

Everyone but the three undercovers.

“ Go , go, go!” I yelled.

Forty -five minutes later, everyone had been arrested, women had been taken to a hospital, and only one man had escaped.

Madman .

“ Darryl Horton slipped out the back,” Tyrone looked pissed.

He wasn’t the only one.

“ How did he get out?” I asked, looking at his men. “ I thought FBI had the back entrance.”

“ They did,” he scowled. “ Apparently , there was a third exit no one knew about. Wasn’t on the city’s plans.”

I gritted my teeth.

“ Any ideas where he’ll go?” Callena asked.

“ I tried really hard not to get friendly with him,” I admitted. “ He was fucked in the head already. I also tended to set him off. So to keep the peace, I chose to stay away as best as I could.”

“ You don’t think he’ll go to your girl, do you?” Callena asked. “ You said that he was obsessed with her.”

My heart froze.

Then I remembered that she was leaving this weekend.

While she was gone, I’d find him.

Then , when she got home, she’d be safe.

Tonight , I’d stay outside her house to make sure she stayed safe.

Tomorrow , I’d start the hunt.

I should’ve known she’d catch me.

I’d tried to hide in the shadows, but the stupid cul-de-sac she lived on was impossible to hide on.

Plus , she hadn’t been home when I’d rolled up hours later.

I’d started to call Maven and had pulled over in her neighbor’s driveway, when I saw her car puttering up.

She got out of her car with another pint of ice cream and turned directly toward me.

I cursed and rolled the bike backwards with my feet, right into her driveway behind her car.

“ What are you doing here?” she asked warily.

“ Some stuff happened tonight, and I want you to be very cautious,” I said carefully.

She set her ice cream down on the back of her car, then leaned her hip against it and said, “ Tell me why I need to be cautious.”

I thought about protecting her from Madman , not telling her the depth of the shit we were both in, but chose to give her the information to help protect herself.

“ Darryl Horton , Madman , the one who approached you at the bar that night…” the night that changed me forever. “ We were able to arrest every member of the Aided Aimers except for Madman . He escaped through an exit that wasn’t on the city’s plans, and we didn’t have covered.”

Her eyes widened. “ What does that mean?”

“ It means he’s missing, and we have to find him,” I explained. “ It means that we won’t stop until he’s found.”

She bit her lip.

“ I don’t think you’re in danger,” I said. “ But I just want to make sure you’re aware that you could possibly be.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “ Anyone could’ve come over and given me that information. Why did you?”

Because I’m an asshole, and I wanted to see you.

“ It’s just business.” I shrugged.

Her shoulders drooped. “ Oh .”

She picked up her ice cream and turned her back on me.

“ Do you mind if I do a walk-through of your place?” I took a step toward her.

She shrugged. “ Sure .”

I followed her to the door, and watched with relief as she unlocked two locks, then immediately turned off an alarm.

When she let me in, she locked the door behind me and waved her hand in a go-ahead gesture.

I went through the house, checking under beds and in closets, before checking every single window to make sure it was locked.

They all were.

I stopped at a photo of Gavrel and Athena and felt my heart ache.

I fucking hated that she was alone.

I hated even more that she was being reminded that she was alone with this trip she was taking.

Something she’d planned with her brother when he was alive.

Forcing myself to leave, even though I wanted to pull her into my arms and protect her with my dying breath, I headed back to the main room where she was now half done with her ice cream.

“ Dr . Pepper ice cream?” I asked curiously.

She shrugged. “ It’s new. I thought I’d try it. And last time it melted while we were…”

She didn’t finish the sentence, but she hadn’t needed to.

“ Any good?” I asked as I walked toward the door.

She held out the spoon to me, and I had to force myself not to take a bite.

Not because I didn’t want to try it, but because she’d been so sweet to offer it to me.

“ No thanks,” I said, my hand now on the door. “ Please be aware of your surroundings. I’ll have a blue and white outside your house tonight to watch over you. When you leave tomorrow, they’ll give you a ride to the airport.”

She was already shaking her head. “ No . No ride. I’m driving my own car.”

I nodded once. “ Okay .”

I opened the door and walked out of it.

She followed me, her fingers going to the door to wrap around it.

I started toward my bike, ready to roll it down the road to hide it in a different spot before I made my way back, but her voice stopped me cold.

“ Gable ?”

I looked over to her as I was about to step out the door. “ Yes ?”

“ Are you sure you can’t come?” she asked softly.

Too softly.

“ I can’t,” I apologized, trying not to let my frustration with the situation leech into my voice. “ I have to work.”

The look on her face would haunt me for the rest of my life. “ Oh , okay. Well , I’ll just leave the itinerary here, just in case.” She smiled, holding it out to me. “ I’ll see you around, Gable .”

I felt like I’d just kicked a puppy, but I took the paper anyway.

I looked down at the piece of paper that showed her entire itinerary for the two weeks she and Gavrel had planned out for Japan .

And I was tempted.

I was so tempted to drop everything and leave with her.

But I couldn’t go. I wouldn’t rest until Madman was behind bars.