CHAPTER 03

W hy was I the first one awake?

Better question: why was Ryder still asleep at ten-thirty in the morning? In the nine years we’d been together, the man never slept past seven. It was disturbing really.

I took another long drag from my cigarette. Sprawled on the hood of our car, I stared up at the clouded sky. My body vibrated with anxious energy. We’d been so busy for fucking weeks that it didn’t feel right to just relax and do nothing. What was I supposed to do with myself?

Shouting made me sit upright just in time to watch Ryder drag Olivia out of the motel room and deposit her on the sidewalk. Her dress was backwards, her shoes were in her hand, and her hair was a mess. Ryder, on the other hand, looked sexy as hell with ruffled bedhead and his jeans sitting low on his hips. I approved.

But watching Ryder point at the disheveled, angry blonde thing and tell her to stay might’ve been the funniest shit I’d seen in a while. So much so that my tired ass folded over damn near giggling. Fuck, I needed more sleep.

Sliding off the car, I went back to our room.

“Bartender dropped off your car, darlin’,” I told her as I passed. “Your girlfriends made a hell of a fuss about you goin’ home with two strangers.”

That’d been a hell of a wake-up call when I’d passed out on the hood of the car. The bartender was easily twice my size and well-rested whereas I was hungover and not in the mood for small-town protective nonsense.

“I’d hardly call this home,” she snapped. We’d call her attitude a consequence of Ryder throwing her pretty little ass out.

“Works just fine for us,” I retorted and went inside, closing the door. She’d be good on her own.

Ryder… that was another fucking story. He hurried around the room, stuffing shit in bags. He never stuffed shit in bags. Everything was always neatly folded to make it less work for us later on or some shit. His mood was shit, his shoulders were rigid, and his jaw was clenched tight.

“What the fuck did she do?” I asked, flopping down on the bed. I had a hard time believing the angry blonde thing had anything to do with his mood.

“Mal is missing,” he said. “And so is Tess’s husband.”

“Tessa got a what now?” I replied. My eyes widened at that sentence. Granted, it wasn’t that hard to believe. Ryder and her hadn’t talked in fucking years.

“Tess got married. Three years ago. And has a kid.” He zipped a bag while I let out a whistle.

“So, you mad because your brother is missin’ or because your sister got married without tellin’ you?”

“Yes.”

“Got it.”

“I’m going to Seattle.” Ryder stopped what he was doing to stare at me as he waited for the backlash.

“The hell you are,” I said. “Remember the last time?”

The last time his dad almost caught him. Yeah, that dickhead was still hellbent on putting Ryder back in that makeshift backyard prison. Over my dead body—well, over his dead body. There was no way I was letting Ryder go.

“Why the hell you lookin’ at me like you want to fight me, baby?” I demanded when he crossed his arms.

“Because I know what you’re going to say.”

“Good. You know I’m right.”

“You can come with me and help,” he began, his tone dark, “or I’m going alone. You make the fucking choice, Gray. I’m not fucking around right now.”

He had me. He knew it, I knew it, he knew I knew it. If shit hit the fan in Seattle and I wasn’t there to protect him, I’d never forgive myself.

“Fine,” I said with a sigh. “But you do what the fuck I say, you hear me? I ain’t fuckin’ around, Ryder. One wrong move. That’s all it fuckin’ takes for him to find you. You agree to that, we go. You fight me and I’ll drag your sorry ass halfway underground and keep you there until you listen.”

His gaze narrowed while he scrutinized me, trying to judge just how fucking serious I was. The answer was dead serious. If he wanted to fuck around, he’d find out just how I felt about the whole situation.

“Deal,” he replied quietly. “But if I think you’re holding back, I’ll intervene. I’m not losing my brother to a demon, and I’m not letting my sister’s kid lose her dad.”

“And I ain’t losin’ you.” I didn’t give a fuck who was missing or why. If I had to pick, I’d pick Ryder every single fucking time.