Repo (The Henchmen MC Book 4) (28 page)

With that, we made our way to Maryland.

The phone rang again half an hour later, a number I didn't know, so I put it on speaker immediately. "Repo," I said as K's hands gripped the wheel.

"K, it's Shelly. Vermont called."

I looked over at K whose eyes were completely off the road, confirming what I had suspected. Vermont was Maze. "What did she say?"

"She said..." Shelly trailed off for a second, shuffling paper and then reading back what she had obviously written so she wouldn't forget anything. I didn't blame her. K seemed meticulous as fuck about details. "'This is Vermont. I haven't been able to get in touch with K since I bugged out. I don't know if he's okay or if I should be calling Xander. But I don't have a lot of time. Ruslan Kozlov has me. We're in a black pick-up heading toward Miami. We're almost in Virginia now. I can't leave my phone on because I have no charger. I'll check for a message when I can or call back if I can get free or have an address where someone can come find me. Um... okay. I'm safe. He won't hurt me but, ah, he fucked over his brother so Vik is an issue. I gotta go.' She rushed that last part, her voice dropping and I heard someone calling her name."

"Thanks, Shelly. Keep us updated."

"Triple overtime since I have to sleep on the couch in the office," Shelly said and didn't even wait for an answer from her boss before hanging up.

"She thinks something happened to me," K said hollowly. "I'm such a fucking idiot."

"You were worried. You weren't thinking str..."

"It's my fucking job to think straight. Otherwise what the fuck good am I to these women?" he countered and, well, I really had no other words of comfort.

We all fucked up.

We all looked over shit we shouldn't have.

But I understood him being so hard on himself. Maze was one of his girls.

I felt the same kind of regret and anger at myself even though there was nothing I really could have done any differently.

The issue was, she was mine. She was mine and she was scared and alone and I hadn't protected her from that. That shit didn't sit right with me.

The phone rang again sometime around ten that night. "They stopped," Janie said, her voice with an unmistakable over-caffeinated edge to it. "Greenville, North Carolina. 334 East Road. At the Hampton. I'll see what I can do about trying to get the guest room registry so you guys can get a key when you get there."

"Thanks, Janie," I said, the words heavy and I knew she picked up on it.

Both of us visibly relaxed for the rest of the drive, finding ourselves about two hours behind them so either they were speeding or we'd needed to stop for fuel more or who knew what the fuck. All I knew was it was midnight before we pulled into the lot of the Hampton. K parked right beside the Russian's truck and we made out way in to the lobby, guns in our waistbands, not entirely sure what our plan was aside from going in and getting her out.

As promised, Janie or Alex or both of them came through. We had a key and a room number. I owed them fucking huge some day down the road.

We walked out of the elevator and down the hall in unison, nothing around us but the occasional low grumble of a television set behind closed doors.

K was fishing the key out of his pocket as we moved to stop outside the door.

When suddenly it pulled open and Maze came to a halt with a yelp, head jerking upward to look at us.

All of us were stunned silent for a long second before Maze's lips turned up in a strange little smile. "This is kind-of anti-climactic, don't you think?" she asked, dragging a strangled chuckle out of me as K reached out, grabbing her, and hauling her against his chest.

I stood there for a second, itching to get my hands on her as well, but it was only right that he got his real proof of life first. He had invested so much in her, got so much time with her, had even longer to fall for her. Of course, with him, in a strictly platonic sense.

"Where is he?" I heard K ask quietly, near her ear as he still crushed her to his chest.

"On the bed," she answered back as he released her finally and stormed inside, reaching for the gun. She turned to me a little hesitantly, like she wasn't sure where she stood with me.

"Maisy, huh?" I asked, head tilting to the side. "From Vermont?"

"Once upon a time, yeah," she agreed with an unsure little nod.

"I think Maze suits you better," I said but her shoulders didn't relax in the least. "You gonna give me a hug, honey, or what?" I asked, opening my arms. Her shoulders went down then she flew at me, knocking me back a foot as my arms went around her. "Hey, you're alright," I said when she made some sort of whimpering sound into my chest, her arms holding on like her life depended on it.

"I..." she started, but was cut off by K's smooth, rolling laugh.

"Do I want to know?" I asked, smiling into her hair.

Maze snorted, pulling back from me, her hand sliding down my arm until it found mine, curling around it. She squeezed once then turned to pull me into the room to where K was standing at the foot of the bed and Ruslan...

Yeah Ruslan was tied to the fucking thing with what looked like a belt on one wrist and an assortment of shoe strings and bedsheets on the other.

"Fucking seriously?" I laughed as the very-conscious Ruslan glared at me.

"He sleeps like the dead," she informed us and, if I wasn't mistaken, sent Ruslan an apologetic smile.

"I wasn't going to hurt you. I was going to save you, kotyonok," he said, his voice soft and with a conviction that even I didn't question and, well, the fucker stole my woman.

"I know that," she said and I knew I wasn't mistaken, she felt bad for tying the bastard up. Hell, I felt bad for him. That shit looked humiliating. "But I didn't want to be on the run from Vik for the rest of my life, Rus. I didn't want to leave the country. I didn't want to leave..." she stopped suddenly, looking over at me a little self-consciously.

"Go ahead and finish that sentence," I said, brow lifted.

"You. Okay? I didn't want to leave you. Is your ego stroked enough now?"

"As much as I'd like you two to get your touchy-feelies out," K broke in waving a hand toward the bed, "but what the fuck are we supposed to do about this?"

"You didn't have to sneak off when I was sleeping, Maisy," Ruslan broke in, shrugging his shoulders as much as the awkward position would allow. "If you had told me you didn't want me, that you didn't need my help, I would have let you go."

"Well... I didn't know that!" she said, rolling her eyes at him. "It didn't exactly feel like I had much of a choice."

"Because you needed someone to protect you, kotyonok. I didn't know you already had people doing that for you."

"I guess we should untie him," Maze said, looking between us.

"You sure that's smart?"

"I'm in the room," Ruslan interrupted. "It's fine to untie me. I won't try to take you on."

"Don't all move at once," Maze grumbled, going to the side of the bed and working on the complicated assortment of ties holding his right wrist to the headboard. K moved to his other wrist and I stood there, not sure what the fuck to do. "What are you planning to do now, Rus? Obviously you can't stay around here with Vik looking for you."

"I wouldn't count on Vik being a problem for long," I said and Ruslan's eyes snapped to mine. "Half of Navesink Bank is looking for him. My money is on them finding him. Then it's up to K and Maze what to do with him."

Ruslan nodded, looking over at a suddenly horrified-looking Maze. "He's too powerful," he said.

"You're saying he needs to be neutralized," K said, freeing his arm and moving back.

"If you want to keep Maisy safe, yes. Otherwise, he'll never stop."

"He's your brother," Maze objected, shaking her head and staying on the bed despite finishing her task.

"Kotyonok, he'd kill me soon as he'd wish me a good morning," Ruslan said, sitting up, his hand landing on Maze's thigh and squeezing.

And, well, that was about enough. I reached out, grabbing Maze at the waist and pulling her to stand and put back against my chest, one of my arms going around her waist. "Repo, what are..."

Ruslan's face twisted up in a smirk as he gave me a chin raise. "Loud and clear."

Maze looked over at K who gave her a shrug. "Ever see a dog piss on what belongs to him?" he asked with a white-toothed smile.

I couldn't see her face, but I'm pretty fucking certain she rolled her eyes.

"All seriousness though," K said, "Maze isn't in on whatever does end up being done. She doesn't need that on her back."

"K, I'm a big girl. I can handle..."

"Not a word," I agreed immediately. She'd had enough to deal with, she didn't need to think there was blood on her hands.

"This might help," Ruslan said, moving off the bed, jerking his chin up at K who took a long second to move out of the man's way. He went over to the desk, grabbing a piece of paper and a pen. "Vik fucked up five years ago or so. He convinced an unhappy girl to come and marry in the States when he was visiting home. Turns out she wasn't just a poor girl with no prospects, she was the younger sister to one of Russia's biggest importers." It didn't take a genius to know he meant drugs. "The brother, he's looked for her. But Vik hid her well when he figured out what happened. This," he said, pointing something out to K on the paper, "is how to contact him. This," he pointed lower on the paper, "is where to find her. You all," he said, looking up at me, but focusing more on Maze, "you will have nothing on your conscience. This is righting an old wrong."

"And what about you, Rus?" Maze asked.

"Me? I'll be fine. I will hide out living large on this money until I get word that Viktor is no longer a... obstacle for me. Then I can go back to New York." Maze must have looked upset because his face softened as did his voice. "Kotyonok, no. Never. I will go back and run the real businesses the way they should have always been run."

"If I find out that is not the case, that you're selling girls again, I will personally drag my ass up there, tie you to another bed, cut off your cock, and shove it down your lying throat."

Damn if my girl didn't mean every word of that.

"I believe you," he said, moving toward us, running a hand down her nose, then heading toward the door. "On that paper is a way to contact me. Please do so if you have news for me. I will be in Miami as planned...
evening out my tan
," he said in a way that suggested it was some secret between them.

With that, he grabbed keys off the table and left.

"Seriously though," Maze said a tense minute or so later, pulling from my hold so she could look at both of us, "how much did that kill the 'save the girl' thing you guys were going for?" she asked, smiling.

"We were just happy to find that you were okay," K said, shaking his head at her.

"Oh, bullshit. I call bullshit. You totally wanted to burst in and start knocking heads. What happened to Repo's fists? And yours for that matter?" she asked, nodding toward K's hands.

"Me, that was Moose. K, that was the hotel room wall back in Philly annnd... the owner of a cab company's face in Philly too. And almost the face of a clerk at the hotel in Philly. But he pissed himself before there could be any real fun. He's been busy."

"And this wasn't some macho thing?" she asked dubiously.

"It was a 'our girl is missing' thing, Maze." That effectively shut her up, her lips parting slightly.

I know I told her that after her whole probate thing was over that I planned to pursue something with her, but I hadn't exactly explained what I meant by that. I meant she was mine. I meant I was hers. I meant that I was going to do everything in my power to never be another reason she couldn't trust a man again.

And judging by the look on her face, she sussed out the deeper meaning in those words.

"Alright," K said, clapping loudly. "You two can get into that later. We need to get the fuck out of here. Not that I don't trust Rus, love," he told Maze, shaking the piece of paper he had folded, "but we can't stay here. At the very least, we need to get out of North Carolina. Let's cross over into Virginia and get another couple of rooms before we head back tomorrow. Sound good?"

With very little option, we both agreed and shuffled down toward the car where K promptly jumped into the driver and Maze in the passenger, like it was an old habit. With a shrug, I got into the back and listened as K filled Maze in on everything that had happened over the course of the last two days, covering everything from the phone frying to the boring hours we spent waiting for more intel to work with.

K finally parked in a hotel lot at almost three A.M. Maze had fallen asleep in the front a half an hour before, K flipping on the radio to a classical station to drown out the sounds of the road. He hopped out, telling me he would get rooms and left me to wake up Maze. I climbed up front and opened her door, watching her for a long second. The only time I'd ever seen her sleep was when she was sick. Her lips were parted slightly, her eyelashes soft against her cheek. Up close, I could see her blond roots hinting through the purple.