Creed
Pushing my way into the Carrion’s building, I stopped in the doorway to let my eyes adjust a bit to the sudden brightness. There were two men waiting for me in the front entrance.
“Where is my son?” I asked, my voice icy and calm.
The two men said nothing. Instead, they just blinked at me like they hadn’t understood my words. Rage filled up my chest, pressing against my bones until they creaked. “I said where is my son?”
“Stop it, you big fat, stupid jerk!” It was Josh’s voice. Before I could stop myself, I was running for him, my legs pumping like mad to reach him. One of the Carrion men had my boy by the arms, dragging him away from me. I don’t think so! I slammed into him at full speed, my eyes wild. The man holding him collapsed to the ground, out cold.
There were shouts, then the sound of something crashing to the ground. Apparently, my men decided not to wait for me to cause a scene; they made one themselves instead. Bax probably heard Josh screaming and couldn’t stay out there anymore. Someone else spilled out of an open doorway, and I slammed my hand into his nose with a sickening crunch that echoed through the mostly empty building.
Bax was there, shouting orders. “Try not to kill anyone, men; we’re not trying to start a war with the Carrions.” As usual, Bax was thinking more clearly than I was. If what they say is true, and I end up with the Edge, I would want Bax as my second, I think. I shook that thought away; this was no time to get caught up in daydreams of the future.
I glanced around for Josh, but he’d disappeared somewhere in the chaos. He was probably hiding under something, trying to stay out of the way. “Where are you, Josh?” I called, my voice ragged and raw.
“Here, Dad!” I ran around the corner towards his voice. He was hiding under a table, waiting out the fallout of whatever mess his dad had gotten him into. Although he was a pain in my ass, the kid did well in a bad situation. I had to give him that. Another of the thugs came around the corner, slamming hard into my shoulder. Ignoring the pain, I pushed back, sending him tumbling to the ground.
I wanted to murder all of them. If it wasn’t for the tiny voice in the back of my head that screamed about not starting a turf war with the Carrion, especially at this vulnerable transition time with the cartel, I probably would have.
But my rage was growing steadily inside of me. Where the hell was Ivy?
“I tried to save us; I did,” Josh said from his hiding place under the table. “But Ivy wouldn’t let me use the gun. She took it away from me as the men broke into our place.”
I growled. Of course she did. That woman had no sense and no spine. Why did I want so badly to find her? She was a liability; it was best to leave her here. Let Carlos have her. But that thought only made the rage worse.
“Where is she, Josh? The sounds of fighting spilled in from behind me; I could hear Bax’s voice over the din. We had to hurry. But I couldn’t leave without Ivy…
“She’s in his office, back here. Are we going to help her, too?”
“Yes, but only if you keep your mouth shut.” I followed his lead, hoping my men weren’t too close behind.
And suddenly, there she was. Seeing Ivy was like being hit by a ton of bricks. How had I forgotten how fucking hot she was? How could I have forgotten the gravity, the pull of her body to mine, like magnets? She stood just on the other side of the glass, her whole body as tense as piano wire.
She stood there, shivering, her hands and wrists wrapped in bandages. She looked shocked, tired, and worn out. But somehow, Ivy was still the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. I stared at her, filling my eyes with the sight of her. The rage cooled ever so slightly in my chest, replaced by yearning like I’d never felt.
My Ivy.
She was mine.