“WELL, HOW’S THAT for a greeting?” I asked hands on my hips. “No, ‘Hi, Lila, I’ve missed you,’ or ‘Sorry to put you through so much over the last few weeks,’ or, how about, ‘Hey, thanks for coming to save my savage ass’?”
“Kind of hard to save me when you’re locked in the same cell I am, darlin’,” Cade replied wryly. “Now, what are you doing here?”
“Isn’t it obvious? We came here for you!” I shouted, throwing my hands up in the air.
“Why?” Cade asked, and I swear, I was seconds away from pulling his hair.
“Why?” I screeched. I know, not my finest moment, but I could not believe him. “Maybe because we’re getting married in five days. Because I watched a video of you getting hit by a car and saw your motorcycle after it had been blown up.”
“What did I tell you, Lila?” he asked, his tone kinda scary.
“What do you mean?” I asked meekly, even though I knew the answer to that question.
“I told you that I was going to be off the grid, but that I’d be back for the wedding. I told you I was on club business and I wouldn’t be able to talk to you. Do you remember all that?”
I nodded.
“Then, I’ll ask again, what in the fuck are you doing here?”
I really don’t like his tone.
“What was I supposed to do, Cade? Pretend I didn’t see the video? Ignore the explosion? Play wedding planner while you were being kept hostage by a rival MC?”
“Yes, Lila. Yes.” He sounded really exasperated. “What you were not supposed to do was enlist your buddies on a goddamn suicide mission.”
“I wouldn’t call it a suicide mission . . .” I protested weakly.
“And you, Braswell, what the fuck were you thinking? Bringing them out here?” he asked Bran with a glare.
“Hey, I told them to let the cops handle it,” Bran said.
Cade swore under his breath.
“Of course, you did.”
“Leave Bran out of it,” I said, stepping closer to Cade.
I took in his disheveled and dirty appearance, and how the restraints on his wrists had rubbed his skin raw. My eyes filled and my stomach clenched.
He looked at me, his eyes narrowing on my forehead.
“What the hell is on your face?” he growled.
“There was an incident with chocolate cake,” I muttered.
“And they were pulling her around by her hair,” Carmen offered, and I spun around to give her a what the hell look.
She shrugged.
Just then, we heard the locks being disengaged.
Cade looked at each of us and said, “Get against the wall.”
I wanted to argue, but figured it best to follow Cade’s direction, so Bran, Carmen, and I put our backs up against the wall and waited to see what happened yet.
Cueball, Trot, and Scam walked in. Seriously, these guys needed to up their street names, cause the ones they had kinda sucked.
One second, I was watching them warily, wondering what they were going to do, then all hell broke loose.
Cade let out a long rumble, followed by a shout. His biceps bulged and he yanked his arms, hard. The chains broke free from the wall and he rushed forward, taking Cueball by surprise and head-butting him so hard, I got a headache.
Trot tried to circle behind Cade, but Cade’s leg shot out and he kicked him into the wall.
Carmen and I gasped, then watched as Bran intercepted Scam before he could join the fray. We huddled together as we watched Cade and Bran kick Diablo ass. It was over within minutes and the men were grabbing us and pulling us out of the room.
Cade shut the door behind us and engaged the locks, leaving the three men inside, then turned to us and said, “Let’s go.”
“Wait, we have to get Bubba,” I said, pointing at the old man in the corner.
Cade gave me a frustrated look, then hurried to check the old man’s restraints, his own chains hanging off of his wrists.
Bubba looked at all of us, eyes wide, then his gaze landed on me and recognition registered on his face.
“I’m handcuffed to the chair and the guy with the key is in there,” he said, nodding toward the room we’d just left. “Go on without me, I’ll be fine.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “We can’t just leave you here.”
“Lean to the side,” Cade said, and when Bubba listened, he put his foot on the seat of the chair and gripped the arm with his hands, then yanked it repeatedly until it came off.
Cade slid the cuff off of the arm and helped Bubba stand.
“Now, let’s go,” my man said, and we happily complied.
Cade led the way up the stairs, with me, Carmen, and Bubba following, and Bran bringing up the rear.
He paused at the top of the stairs and held up his hand, indicating we should wait, then he peered around the corner and waved his hand, giving us the all clear.
We ran down a back hallway, leading away from the common rooms that we had been in before, and out a side door. Once outside, Cade did his hand gestures again, and once he was sure there was no one around, we darted out to the fence.
This time, I took the lead and led us to the gate and out to where the van was parked and waiting.
I was so happy to see it, I wanted to give her a kiss, but settled for patting her lovingly as I opened the door.
We all got in and as we were driving away, Cade said, “I can’t believe you thought I was pussy enough to get taken by a bunch of second-rate bikers.”