Chapter 23

CHASE

"She's safe, Shane's out. Let's go get my girl," I grit out. Having her away from me in a situation like this has set my teeth on edge, yet I'm so proud of Brooke. She did it, and quicker than I expected.

Moments later, we're out of the van and storming up the stairs to the apartment, ready to have her in my arms again.

Asher knocks on the door lightly—we could kick it open, but that creates noise, and we want to be in and out of here as quickly as possible without anyone noticing.

One of the guys opens it, confused as he sees Asher standing there, his gun raised to his head. A quiet, muffled pop sound hits, and the guy falls to the floor. I hear the guys scrambling inside, one of them shouting something, but I don't acknowledge it. I step past Asher and the dead body on the floor, raising my gun and swinging it around to shoot the first person I see.

I take him out with ease, swinging around to the next as a bullet flies past me from Jax's weapon and hits the next guy. The other guy is still sitting at the table in shock at what's happening. Idiot. Asher's gun goes again, and the guy's head sinks to the table, his blood pooling over the poker chips.

I start looking around the hall, looking for the bedroom, before I finally find it. I whisper her name just in case, and a door unclicks. She stands against the doorframe, arms up, looking like a seductive little minx. "You called?" she says cheekily. Fuck me. This girl is going to be the death of me in that outfit. I walk over to her, pulling the blonde wig from her head, wanting to get rid of the thing spoiling the image of perfection before my hand goes around her throat. I push her into the frame hard, kissing her deeply so I can leave her breathless. She immediately responds, purring as her hands find my body, and Jax awkwardly clears his throat.

"Shut it, I'm kissing my girl, that's all."

He laughs. "Sure, like you two weren't about to get all freaky in a house with four bodies and one passed-out, naked guy."

His head swings in the direction of the bed, and I look and see him.

"Why the fuck is he naked?"

She giggles, pulling my head back to her. "Don't worry, Chase, nothing happened. I told him to get naked to let him drop his guard." I find myself struggling to breathe as images of this asshole against my girl make my vision go black as I slip into that rage-filled hole I find myself in often.

I storm over to him and grab him by the neck, punching him again and again. I feel his nose crack under my fist, warm blood pooling between my knuckles as I keep hitting him until I hear my girl crying out my name, her fingers against my arm. "Baby, stop. Chase, stop. We need him alive."

The fog lifts as I raise my head to see Brooke looking at me. There's no fear, no shock, just a need to make me understand in her eyes. I nod dropping him to the bed as I take a step back.

She pulls my hand to her. "Fuck you're bleeding. We can't leave any DNA, Chase—what the fuck were you thinking?" she scolds me, and I can't help but smirk at my tiny little hellcat scolding me for bleeding. I pull my shirt off, wrapping it around my fist to stop myself from dripping blood over the floor.

I look up and see Asher, pride and respect in his eyes as he looks at my girl.

"How do we clean up?" Brooke asks, "We can't exactly set fire to an apartment block filled with people."

Jax laughs. "Definitely not. I got this one this time. Dev owed me a favor. He's sending his guys up to clear this one." He presses the button on the side of his phone, making it go dark, and I figure he just messaged someone. "They'll be here within an hour."

"Nice favor to call in." Asher grins.

"Well, I was running out of time to call on it and figured this was the best use of it."

"What did you do for Dev?" my curious girl asks.

"I helped him track down a girl once."

"She still alive?" Brooke's eyebrows go up as she asks this.

"Yes." He chuckles. "He just wanted to make sure she was okay. I think she was special to him, and he wanted to check in. I don't really know more than that."

She nods, quiet in thought.

"Is that why he offered it to me?" I ask, and Jax nods. "He doesn't like owing anyone. He figured this was the best way to get rid of the debt and texted me, letting me know my favor was paid to you."

Asher walks over to Shane. His eyes are dark as I watch his thoughts grow in his head. He's thinking of inventive ways to torture this guy. I know I'm fucked up, but Asher sometimes even scares me. His darkness doesn't come and go like mine. He doesn't have someone to help ground him in situations like this, but then something surprises me. Brooke leaves my side and walks over to Asher. She holds his hand delicately, breaking him from his thoughts.

"I'll be right by your side the whole time, okay? I'm not going anywhere. We're gonna do this together."

His face softens as he pulls her into a hug and kisses the top of her head. "Thank you," his voice whispers out.

She nods. "Let's get out of here."

Maybe my girl isn't just good for me. Maybe she's good for all of us.