“What are you moping about?” Levi says. “You’re just as bad as he is. Shayne is too fucking good for both of you. She was hurting last night after Roman’s little stunt and all you could do was walk away because you’re too fucking proud to admit that you’re falling in love with her.”
“The fuck did you just say?” I demand, whipping around to glare at my brother through the wire mesh window, desperately wishing that I could punch my fists straight through it and strangle the bastard.
“You heard me,” he throws back. “You’re in love with her and it’s turning you into a little bitch, and instead of manning up and accepting it, you’re pushing her away and making her feel like shit over it. What’s the matter, big brother? Too afraid to admit that you’re only human?”
Fury ripples through me and I grip the window cover and slam it shut, blocking out his big fucking mouth. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He clearly got knocked around too much as a kid. Roman and I sure did enjoy using him as a punching bag as a kid, perhaps we hit him a little too hard.
I stare out the window as Roman drives around the gas station, finding the best place to park to keep the truck hidden from the road and all I can do is huff. Levi might be onto something, but there’s no way I’m about to admit it to him. He's right. I feel things shifting between Shayne and me. She’s not just the girl we took; she's something real, something I don’t want to lose. But in this world, to love is to be weak. Roman knows that all too well. Every girl he’s ever gotten close to was destroyed under my father’s thumb, and if I allow myself to really fall for her, I don’t doubt that she will end up as nothing but a pawn for my father to use against me.
Roman brings the transport truck to a stop behind the gas station and we’re quick to pile out. “Maybe we should just leave him in there,” I suggest as Roman unlocks the back door.
“Nah,” he says. “Then we’ll have to come back and bail his ass out later and I’m too fucking tired to make another trip. We could just knock him out and stuff him in the trunk.”
“Sounds like a—”
“Get fucked,” we hear from inside the truck. “If either of you assholes try anything, I’ll open an artery while you sleep.”
Roman rolls his eyes and opens the back door. It doesn't take long to ditch the transport truck for an old Jeep that's barely holding it together and before I know it, we’re flying down the highway toward the city.
We drive a few hours and Roman navigates toward Shayne’s old apartment as though he knows the directions by heart, but after stalking this place for three months before taking her, I guess it’s fair to say that we do. I know every fucking building surrounding hers, every fucker who lives within her complex, and where the best places are to eat in the neighborhood. Those few months leading up to her kidnapping were fun, but nothing was better than once we actually got her.
Roman pulls into the underground garage and I can’t lie, it’s a relief to not have to park far away and walk our asses over here just to see her like before. We find the Escalade almost immediately, but it’s not hard. The car sticks out like a fucking unicorn taking a shit in the middle of a country club wedding in this neighborhood.
He pulls up beside it and the moment my feet hit the asphalt, I glance across the back window and double-check that our friend is still exactly where he’s supposed to be, but it’s not like Shayne was going to do anything with it apart from stare at it while her knees gave out. Though she’s getting better at accepting our fucked-up lifestyle. Hell, I think it even excites her, which does nothing but get me rock hard.
Wanting to get back to the castle, we take off up the dodgy stairs and break out onto her floor only to find her apartment door broken and propped open. We take off faster, storming toward her apartment, each of us in a boiling rage, unable to handle the fear and terror of the unknown.
If someone fucking hurt her, I will burn the whole fucking world down just to make it right.
I break out in front of my brothers and slam my fist against the door, letting it swing open with a devastating blow only to be met with a piercing scream.
We barrel into the small apartment, the fond memories of the night we took Shayne pulsing through my thoughts. A girl sits in the corner of the kitchen, her arms wrapped around her legs as her whole body shakes, the collar around her neck telling me that Shayne picked up a stray. “Who the fuck are you?” I demand, rushing deeper into the apartment with my brothers hot on my heels.