“Take me home,” she whispered, her little fists still clenched around my coat.
“Have you forgiven me for keeping another secret?”
She nodded, releasing my coat and stroking her hands down my chest.
“Then let’s—”
I heard rustling from behind me. My body went on high alert. I whipped around, shoving Scarlett behind me. And for good fucking reason. Three men appeared out of the trees. They did not look like they were here to exchange pleasantries with us, judging by the way one of them cracked his knuckles. One stepped forward, twirling a knife around his fingers.
“What do you want?” I ground out.
Scarlett peered out from behind me. I gave her a warning look before eyeing the men again.
“We want the girl.”
“Why?”
The one with the knife was taller than the other two. He cocked his head to the side. It was shaved, and he had what looked like a tattoo of a bulldog on one side of it. I almost shook my head at his appearance but decided it wasn’t worth it.
“None of your business, mate. Just hand her over and we’ll be on our way.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“If you want her, you’ll have to go through me.”
He scoffed and gave me the once over. I might not look like I could take them, but they had no fucking clue who they were dealing with.
“Three against one, mate. Are you sure you like those odds?”
I felt Scarlett press herself against my back, reassuring me she was right there.
I don’t care what it takes. I will protect you, little wisp. These fuckers aren’t having you. Over my dead body.
“You clearly don’t know who I am.”
“Doesn’t matter who you are. We only came for her.”
I gave them a smile.
“Oh, I see. He didn’t tell you who you’d be trying to take her from now, did he?”
The man with the knife looked a little uneasy at my statement whilst the other two bristled at his sides.
I knew very well who sent these fuckers. It had to be Stuart. If he came himself, he wouldn’t leave alive. Our message had been very clear when we sent them Mason’s head. You fuck with us. We will fuck with you right back. Not to mention he must know by now we’d blackmailed Garrett into backing off.
“You think you know who sent us?”
“I don’t think, I know. Stuart is getting sloppy.”
The way the leader’s eyes widened made it clear I’d hit the mark. Then he shook himself off and glared.
“Whatever. Just give her here.”
“How much is he paying you to take her, huh? Because I’m telling you now, if you don’t turn around and walk away, you’ll be the ones paying.”
One of his men tutted and nudged his friend.
“This bloke thinks he’s tough. Stuck up rich pricks have no fucking idea.”
“Next time, I suggest you do your research before you take jobs from men like Stuart Carver. You would have known my reputation precedes me if you did.”
“What fucking reputation?” the leader spat.
I turned to Scarlett behind me.
“Get behind that tree,” I murmured.
“Drake, are you sure we shouldn’t just run?”
“Do what I said, little wisp. Let me deal with this.”
I felt her let go of my coat, but she didn’t move away. Turning back to the men, I offered them another smile as I straightened, widening my stance. They looked at me like I was crazy. Well, maybe I was. The thing about love was you did everything in your power to protect the one you felt it for. Scarlett was my love. Anyone who threatened her threatened me. I wasn’t lying when I told her I’d be her executioner. These men were going to die for trying to take her from me. No one would ever steal my woman away again. Never a-fucking-gain.
We’d made a promise to Scarlett. I intended on sticking to my word no matter what.
“I’ve been very remiss in introductions.”
I stepped closer to them.
“Drake Ackley.”
I pressed a hand to my chest before dropping it back to my side.
“You may have heard of my friends and me. People like to call us the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. And I’ll bet you want to know which one of them I am. Well… you’re about to find out.”
Eighteen
Scarlett
The moment the words about him being one of the horsemen left Drake’s lips, he walked towards the three men who were after me. The man with the knife struck first, trying to throw a punch at Drake, who sidestepped it with ease. I put my hand over my mouth, backing away slightly. He’d told me to get behind the tree near us, but I wasn’t going to hide and cower away from what was happening. Not to mention the fact Drake was crazy for taking on three guys at once.
What the hell is he thinking?
He had to be out of his damn mind, but something told me Drake wouldn’t let them take me, no matter what. I couldn’t deny it was hot even if I should be scared out of my mind by the danger right now.
The second guy, the one with a black tracksuit, threw himself fists first at Drake. He caught the guy’s hand mid-strike and threw his fist off. The third man, a short man with blonde hair, tried to jump on Drake’s back. Before he had a chance, Drake elbowed him in the stomach, then spun around and put his fist in the guy’s face. The blonde man’s head snapped back and he let out a grunt.
Drake didn’t have time to stop, as the bald guy with a tattoo on the side of his head swiped at him with the knife. Drake stepped back, the man narrowly missing his coat with the blade. The way Drake moved with such grace had me riveted to the scene playing out. It was as if he was anticipating all their moves and dancing out of the way before they could get a grip on him.
“Get him, Jim,” knife man barked at the tracksuit guy.
The blonde man was holding his nose with one hand as blood spurted from it. I saw Drake’s nostrils flare before tracksuit came at him, swinging his fist and clipping my man around the ear.
“Oh, you should not have done that,” he ground out.
Drake grabbed him by the shoulders and head-butted him in the face before throwing him into knife man. The two of them toppled over together and fell in a heap on the floor. Drake cracked his neck, seemingly unfazed by the hit landed on him. Whilst the two men on the floor tried to extract themselves from each other, Drake’s attention went to the blonde. He smiled, his expression turning rather sinister.
The man took a step back as if realising a predator had him in his sights. I swallowed as Drake pounced, taking the man by the neck and backing him into a tree. It was at that point I realised he wasn’t going to allow these men to walk away with their lives. His hand tightened around the guy’s neck. The blonde man tried to push Drake off him, but my statue of a man stood strong. His other hand came up and joined its twin. The blonde wheezed, trying to pull Drake’s hands off his neck.
My attention went to the others who had both got up now. The one with the knife was walking towards Drake whilst tracksuit man was still looking a little dazed.