His eyes met mine as he said, “You look like you’re doing better.”
“I am. Thanks to you and your brothers.”
“Glad we could help.” His eyes narrowed. “I’ve heard you and Widow had an interesting conversation last night.”
“Um.” My eyes nervously skirted over to Widow as I answered, “Yes, sir. I did. I hope I didn’t overstep by talking to him about it.”
“Wasn’t you who overstepped.”
I did my best not to stare as the girl walked over and placed a plate of food on the table and winked. “There you go, handsome.”
“Thanks, doll.”
A jealous twinge came over me when the pretty blonde looked across the table at Noah and purred, “What about you, Shotgun? Can I get you anything?”
“He’s good,” I answered for him. “He’s got everything he needs. Thanks, though.”
With a forced smile, the girl gave Shotgun a nonchalant shrug, then turned and walked back over to join her friends. I don’t know what came over me. I’d never acted like one of those jealous girlfriend types, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself. Clearly amused by the spectacle, the guys started snickering. After several moments, Country leaned forward and said, “Yep, I knew I was gonna like her. That one right there is whiskey in teacup.”
“Glad you approve,” Noah scoffed as he shook his head. “My day has been made.”
The guys started laughing once again, and I might’ve been wrong, but I was pretty sure Noah chuckled a time or two himself. When the laughter died down, Viper took a drink of his coffee, then looked at me and said, “I gotta say, I was a little intrigued by your whole kidnapping idea.”
“You were?” A smile crept over my face as I turned to Noah and said, “Well, I’m glad to know somebody was.”
“I’ll admit, it’s a little far-fetched, but if we played it right, it could actually work.”
“It’s too dangerous, Prez,” Noah argued. “Besides, there are too many fucking plot holes.”
“Such as?”
“Too many loose ends to keep her alive. He would’ve killed her immediately and ditched her body. Made sure it didn’t come back to bite him in the ass.” Noah’s tone was stern and unforgiving as he continued, “The cops are gonna have questions that she’s not gonna be able to answer. Like who fed her? Did he beat her? Did he rape her? Fuck. The questions will be endless.”
The room fell silent as everyone at the table considered what he’d said. I thought that would be the end of my crazy idea, but it seemed Noah’s brothers weren’t ready to give it up. After several moments, Hawk ran a hand over his face with a low, muffled grunt, then said, “We can make it look like she was drugged or something. It would help explain why she didn’t know anything.”
“You want to drug her? Are you fucking kidding me?” Noah snarled.
“I’m not talking about a full-on drug overload. Just enough for the doctors to find a trace amount in her blood stream,” he answered defensively. “You know Doc can come up with something.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” I answered. “And as far as who was watching over me, why don’t we say he had one of those gang members do it? Maybe even the one you’ve got chained up around here somewhere? We could say it was him.”
Widow looked apprehensive as he looked over to Noah and said, “You’re not gonna like it, but if we do this, we’re gonna have to make her look a little worse for wear. Give her some dingy clothes and a couple bruises here and there.”
“What the fuck do you mean by bruises?” Noah growled. “No one’s putting their hands on her.”
“Easy there, killer. I’m not talking about a full-on throwdown, but she can’t come out of there looking like she’s been on a fucking vacation for the past few weeks.”
“What the fuck are you saying?” Shotgun slammed his fist down on the table in a rage. “That’s enough. We’re not doing this shit. No one is drugging her and putting fucking bruises on her.”
“Noah, it’s okay. I can do this. It’s just a few bruises.” I leaned over and whispered to him, “I could do it to myself, but—”
“Hold on, you two,” Viper scolded. “No one knows the Punishers roughed her up. We’re the only ones who know that, so we can get away without the fucking bruises.”
“He’s got a point there.” I smiled and said, “I guess I won’t have to get roughed up after all.”
“Maybe not, but there’s still a problem with this whole plan of yours,” Widow interjected. “How are we gonna get the cops over there, and who’s to say they won’t sweep it under the rug like they’ve done everything else where this Mathews guy is concerned?”
“I’ve still got everything I was able to pull off of Long’s computer. With that and Remington’s kidnapping, it’ll be enough to put him behind bars for a good long while,” Menace replied. “But Widow’s right. Been looking into Long’s partner. Way I see it, he could’ve gotten his hands on the information Long had on Mathews and that would’ve been the end of it. Clearly, he didn’t, and there’s probably a reason why. I don’t know who we go to, but if we don’t get all this in the right cop’s hands, we’re fucked, and all this shit will be for nothing.”