Within seconds, I was dragged off him and the rag was ripped from my mouth. Deck’s arms came around me as he cradled me to his chest. I could feel someone’s hands on my wrists, undoing the belt, and the instant I was free, I wrapped them around Deck’s neck and sobbed into his shirt.
I sobbed for what I’d done. For the lies. For the purging. For bringing Deck and his men into this. I cried for us; for the years we’d lost. But most of all, I cried for my brother because I was finally realizing how bad this was and the hope I had when Deck told me he was alive was now drowning in the fear of what he was involved with.
Vault … they owned me. They owned Connor and Kai, and now London.
“I can’t get out. Can I?”
Deck stiffened as his hand stroking the back of my neck stilled. “No.” And that was Deck. He wouldn’t give me false hope. He knew what I was involved with was too big for him. “But I won’t let them have you. If we need to disappear, I’ll make it happen.”
Yeah, and that was Deck, too. He’d do whatever it took. Tanner was dead. He was the only one who knew that Kai told Deck about them. That I knew the truth. Until the message Tanner sent was read. “Tanner sent a message.”
“Kai said he would. Come on, baby. Let’s get you out of here.”
The men moved around us and I smelled gasoline then Deck lifted me in his arms and walked out of the school’s shed.
Halfway down the parking lot, I heard a loud explosion and then Kai, Vic, Tyler and Josh were beside us.
Grey clouds billowed in the air. Fire crackled. I breathed in the smell of smoke. It was the burning of all the lies. It was the purging I’d been seeking all along. I finally felt free from Robbie. From the parts of me I hated that were weak and still lost to the pain of what I’d kept alive.
The ashes of that part of me were swirling around us and then were lost to the breeze. I looked up at Deck and stroked the side of his face. “I’m only a rainbow because you make me that way.” His eyes were still dark and haunted by what just happened, but there was a hint of the sweet I’d found in Deck and I smiled. “Love you, baby.”
DECK KEPT ME locked bedside him in the backseat, while Tyler drove and Josh sat in the front. Vic went with Kai.
I winced when the cut on my back rubbed on Deck’s arm and he immediately loosened his grip and looked down at me, brows low over his eyes as concern etched his face. I reached up and touched his chin like it was the most delicate, expensive diamond. “Did I ever say thank you for saving my ass, sweetpea?”
I think he was too worried about me to take to my sass because he just looked at me. I sighed and rested my cheek against his shoulder.
“Boss?” Josh looked over his shoulder at us. I noticed him give me a once-over as if he was checking to make certain I wasn’t bleeding to death. Like Deck would let that happen; I gave a half-smile when his eyes reached my face. He grunted. Josh was a weird guy. Quiet and no sense of humor and yet I saw something lingering in him as if he was fighting the need to laugh or smile. “You want our guy to look at her?”
That got my attention. I was the only her.
Deck nodded.
“Hey, wait a sec. Who is our guy, Deck? And why is he looking at me?” Josh turned back around.
“Rick,” Deck said. “A doctor. And you’re being looked at because I said so.”
“You know, sometimes it would be nice if you weren’t so damn … direct. Couldn’t you ask me how I feel about it? Maybe threw in a ‘babe, I love you but … ’”
Deck huffed, obviously not in the mood for even a slight grin. “Josh, get him over to my place ASAP.”
“I’m fine, Deck. It’s a couple scratches and bruises.”
“You see your face?”
“Well, no. It’s not like I’ve been too concerned about what I look like at the moment.”
“You need a doctor.”
I leaned forward and looked in the rear view mirror. I met Tyler’s eyes who pursed his lips together and shook his head. I knew what it meant—I wasn’t winning this one. I had a minor scratch on my neck and a pretty bad bruise on my forehead.
Deck watched me, eyes narrowed. I knew he was waiting patiently for my argument.
I crossed my arms and stared out the window. “Fine, but you owe me copious amounts of orgasms.”
Tyler burst out laughing. Josh grunted. Deck was silent.
He put his arm around me then pushed my head down on his shoulder. I reached over and linked my fingers in his. He squeezed and it was all I needed to feel his comfort seeping into me.
Within a half hour, Kai’s car pulled over on the side of the road and he and Vic got out looking really unhappy. And Vic looking unhappy was pretty damn scary.
Of course, everyone got out. Deck told me to stay put, which I didn’t. He scowled at me but didn’t interrupt Kai who was giving the bad news that he was unable to intercept Tanner’s message through the internet.
“Shit,” Tyler said and kicked the tire at the same time as he hit the roof of the car. Seeing Tyler react like that somehow didn’t suit him.
“Alternatives?” Vic asked.
“Manually go in and delete it from the main computer before it’s reviewed then sent to France.”
“France?” Deck asked.
“Where Vault is based.”
I knew Kai giving us the location was huge.
“What is it that Vault does, Kai?” Deck asked. “Besides, kidnap and torture people.”