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Chapter 67

Chapter 67

Imogen

"So, I'm thinking we'll put these two series…"

Everything was supposed to be fine. I was setting up my new library with Kyle, everyone needing to sit tight until this shit was over, but then I heard the rattle of metal shutters as they slid down over the windows.

"What the hell is that?" I asked my mate.

"They're securing the building." His expression changed completely, becoming grim as he strode out of the room.

"Securing the building? Why are they securing the building? Kyle?" I left the books I was holding on the shelf and went after him. "Kyle!"

"Stay up here!" he shouted over his shoulder, then stopped. "Actually, maybe you should come downstairs. If the situation has changed?—"

"How could the situation have changed?" Kyle stopped then, turning around slowly, his expression making clear that he didn't want to answer that question. "I thought… I thought Asher was dealing with Phil elsewhere."

He didn't answer me, instead pulling out his phone to take a look at the screen. His expression told me what had happened before he did.

"He didn't. Whoever he got involved, they couldn't…" My mind raced, seeing it now, that old recurrent dream. Phil lumbering through the forest after me, larger than life, his hands claws as he… "Something went wrong."

"Something went wrong," Kyle confirmed in his best ‘be reasonable' tone, "and the best thing to do is to join the others and stay calm."

No one ever tells you to stay calm unless there's ample reason not to. I shook my head but kept my protests to myself. I'd said too much already, hadn't I? Asher knew what Phil was like, knew he'd become a threat, and I'd dissuaded him from making that problem go away. For good reasons, but still. In the end, I met Kyle's eyes and then nodded.

"Looks like they want us all in the gym," he said, reaching out to take my hand. "Let's head down there now and find out what's going on."

My feet felt like they barely touched the carpet, skimming over it as we ran downstairs and joined the throngs of people massing towards the gym entrance. Ursula stood in the doorway, a professional smile fixed on her face as she greeted people coming in through the door, Elodie on the other side doing the same thing. It didn't work, though. I saw women wrap their arms around their children, tugging them closer, hunching over them as they moved inside, some whispering fiercely to the others as they entered. The whole group jumped when the doors clicked shut, only to turn to face Asher as he strode forward to take position at the front.

"You OK?"

I nearly flung myself at Lucas when he appeared by my shoulder, my hands reaching up automatically, wanting to touch him everywhere, reassure myself he was alright. He pulled me close and pressed his nose into my hair. Kyle squeezed my hand and so did Luc as Asher started to speak to the crowd.

"Everyone must be concerned right now," Asher said. "I wish I could say there is no cause for alarm, but we've become aware of an external threat to the building."

"Phil rang Asher," Lucas hissed in a low voice, pitched only for our sleuth to hear. Somehow his voice was the only one I could really listen to, not Asher's. "A bloke from the community brought Phil to the forest, but he managed to get the drop on the courier before anything could be done about that prick." His meaningful look made clear what he meant. "Stole the guy's car, wallet and… phone. Phil rang the last number Jesse called?—"

"And got Asher." I stiffened then, almost able to imagine how that conversation went. My gaze skimmed across everyone's heads, locking with Asher's. For just a second, my mate paused in his instructions, but he quickly recovered, forging on.

"And the address to this place. Jesse had it punched into Google Maps so he could come here after… it was done."

"And now he knows exactly where we are."

My chest heaved, because it wasn't hard to see it. Phil leaping up from out of the crowd, just like he had that night in the car park. I pulled free of their grip, one hand going around my now mostly healed one. My fingers found the shadows of the bruises he left and Kyle shook his head when he saw it.

"He won't lay a fucking finger on you," he growled, some of the women nearest us shifting and turning around in response. "He won't. When we built this place, we talked to a lot of contractors that work in highly secure spaces. There's no way he's getting in…"

So why were we all clustered in here like mice hiding in the walls as the cats roamed outside?

"Imogen." Asher appeared before me as everyone started talking at once. Their voices, the sound of a baby's wail, felt like nails on a chalkboard, but his voice cut through. "I need someone to organise some snacks and drinks. Would you be OK doing that?"

"Yeah, of course."

My replay came out before I'd even thought about it, but I found myself nodding in confirmation.

"Kyle, stick with Imogen," Asher ordered.

"I'll stay with her too," Lucas replied, stepping closer to me.

"Mate, I need you manning the CCTV feed. I'll be able to give you some other staff to assist but…"

Lucas pushed his glasses up his nose and then nodded.

"Yeah, right, of course." Then he turned to me, pressing his head against mine as he pulled me closer. "Stick with Kyle at all times. Promise me that."

"I promise," I replied with a weak smile because I had zero intention of doing anything else. If the guys thought this building could be trusted, then I'd stick right here.

"Good." His lips pressed against my forehead, and I felt the warmth of that mark long after he pulled away. "I'll see you soon. Phil will get taken away in handcuffs and left to rot in jail until his trial, you'll see. We just need to get through this…"

And everything we planned, dreamed would come to fruition, that went unsaid, as if voicing it would somehow taunt the gods into snatching it back from us. I squeezed his hand and then stepped back, letting him go.

"We need to go," Asher told me. "There are reinforcements coming and?—"

"I'm sorry." He stopped and frowned at my words, peering into my eyes, despite the fact people were calling his name. "I'm sorry. You were right. You could've… sorted this situation out and none of this would've happened. I'm?—"

"Do not say sorry." His voice was as taut as a guitar string, ready to be struck. "Don't. You didn't want our relationship tainted by another person's blood." My eyes met his and it felt like they burned with blue fire. "You were right." His smile was small, fragile almost, which did not mesh well with what I knew of the man. "In some ways this is perfect. When he tries to force his way in here, the police will arrest him again. Phil will get put away, forever if I've got anything to say about it." His hands went to my arms and they felt like the only points of warmth in the entire room as he rubbed them up and down. "We just need to get through this and then everything we want will be ours. Believe in that."

Believe in me, that was the unspoken message, and I forced myself to smile back, nodding quickly. One last hurdle, just one and we'd be safe.

"I'll go and rustle up some snacks," I said. "There were boxes of chips and biscuits in the store room, and I can make up some urns of tea and coffee."

"That would be amazing."

One more forehead kiss and then he was pulling away too, leaving just me and Kyle.

"So we need to brew up a massive batch of coffee?" Kyle kept his tone deliberately light.

"Right this way," I said, walking out of the gym.

The corridors were quiet, too quiet, that ghostly feeling that big places take on when emptied making me feel unreasonably jumpy. I reached for Kyle's hand, clinging to it as we walked down the hall towards the kitchen.

"Kyle." Both of us jumped ten feet when Ginny appeared from around the corner. "Thank god I found one of you. A bunch of people have arrived out the front of the building."

"That'll be the be—our families," Kyle replied, craning his neck to look out past the foyer, but the glass doors were screened off now.

"Are your family bikers?" she asked, and as if to underscore her point, we heard the muffled roar of multiple motorcycles revving their engines. The sound grew and grew, feeling more and more sinister. Mike occasionally went to biker parties, but I didn't think he or Phil were associates or anything, so who were these people?

"Bloody hell…" Kyle shook his head sharply. "The phone tree really did get activated. Some of our… distant relatives have MC contacts, and they must've decided to get involved."

He looked down at me.

"I need to go outside and find out what's happening."

"No." My hand clamped down on his forearm, able to see too many horrific scenarios just then.

"It's OK." He turned and placed his hands on my shoulders. "I know these guys. They're rough, but their hearts are in the right place. Good guys to have in a fight." Ginny let out a ragged sigh, and I found myself doing the same. "I'll be back shortly. Just go sort out the coffee and then head straight back to the gym."

I didn't want him to go, but I saw his bear. No matter what shit Phil thought he could pull, nothing would stand against the might of a massive freaking bear stamping its paws on him. I nodded and let him go, turning to Ginny.

"So this is all very exciting." She was using the same jolly tone nurses used when giving kids their vaccinations or something, like she knew this would be painful but was trying really hard not to show it. "I mean?—"

"Ginny!" God, was everyone on edge today? A woman jogged up to us, looking flushed. "Nathan is having another asthma attack."

"Again? Goddammit, I knew those preventers weren't working well enough. How bad?"

"We started administering Ventolin, but…"

When Ginny turned to me, I knew what she was going to say, so I said it for her.

"Go. I'm just grabbing tea and coffee. I won't need you unless I spill hot water on myself. I've got this."

"You sure?" The nurse asked, but she was already edging away. A child with his airways closing down trumped babysitting me and I told her that. "OK, I'll be back as soon as I can."

But she wouldn't. When the two of them rushed away, that same deadly stillness settled back over me like an oppressive weight. I pushed through it, walking quickly towards the kitchen, not really feeling like I could take a breath until I got to the doorway.

Only to find I wasn't alone.

"Stay here." Mary's terse tone was familiar. It was the panicked one mothers used when they were terrified for their kids but needed their compliance. She gestured to the space under the workbench. "We're playing hide-and-seek and you need to hide here."

"Won't Dad be able to find us?" Scott asked in a wavering voice, but he pulled his little brother closer.

"Not if you stay in here. He can't get to you if you stay in the kitchen. Just wait until Imogen arrives. She'll look after you and make you some more pancakes, OK?"

My heart clenched in my chest as I saw her blink back tears, Scott's face way too pale.

"But what about you, Mum? What about you?"

"I'm just going to talk to your father."

She was trying to be strong, I could hear it in her tone, but if I heard the moment when her nerve failed, so did her son.

"No, Mum!"

His hand shot out, grabbing at her pants, but she was forced to brush him off.

"Not for long. I'll be right back, I promise. Just stay here and?—"

"We'll make pancakes?" I stepped forward, and their focus shifted abruptly to me. "You got it. Scotty, can you go into the pantry and find some flour for me?"

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