“Woman, we’re here to find out how to help him,” Deacon told me, and I stared.
“We need to find him, Hanna,” Sylvie Creed said, and my eyes moved to her. “Find him, calm him down and find these guys who did his to you. You need to help us.”
Okay, calming him down sounded good.
“Tell us everything you know,” Tucker Creed ordered.
Darn.
“I don’t know anything,” I told him.
“No, honey, everything you saw, everything they said, everything you can remember,” he clarified.
I shook my head. “I… they set on me fast and I…”
Sylvie (and her cute baby) leaned into me and she wrapped her hand carefully around my cast. “We dig this can’t be easy, not this soon after it happened, but as they say, time is of the essence. Anything you remember could help, Hanna. I know it sounds crazy, but even what shoes they were wearing could help. An accent you heard in their voices.”
My eyes widened, she saw it and leaned in.
“Talk to me, girl,” she urged.
I talked.
They asked questions.
I answered them and talked more.
Then they were done, and I knew this because they all looked at each other and Anya shifted around the bed.
“Give me Jesse, Sylvie,” she said.
Sylvie handed Jesse to Anya, leaned in and kissed her son before she ran a finger down his cheek then she turned and looked down at me.
“We’ll find your man and it’ll all be good. I promise, Hanna.”
I nodded. She nodded back, turned, tipped her head back to her man and she started to move. Tucker Creed moved with her.
I lunged, pain shot through me, but my hand clamped onto Knight’s.
He stopped and looked down at me.
Really unusual blue eyes. Startling.
“Hanna?” he prompted.
“Don’t let him do anything he can’t live with,” I whispered. “He lives with enough. He doesn’t need more. Not because of me.”
“What happened to you is because of me,” Knight returned, and my brows drew together in confusion. “So Raid won’t be takin’ care of this sick fuck. That’ll be me.” He caught my eyebrow movement and finished, “In other words, don’t worry.”
That seemed pretty firm.
Still.
“I’m trusting you,” I told him.
His hand twisted until it was holding mine and he bent close.
“That means something to me,” he stated low.
Then he let me go, moved back and he was gone.
That was it.
Seriously?
“If he says it means something, seriously, it means something,” Anya told me, and my eyes went to her to see her bouncing Jesse on her hip.
“Did I just get surrounded by a pack of hot guys and a petite woman who is clearly badass who are all off to hunt my man, who’s off hunting the man that had three of his goons beat the dickens out of me?”
She grinned and answered, “Yes.”
I settled back on a “humph” then kept grumbling. “You know, when Raiden entered my life, I knew something huge was happening. I was not wrong, seeing as the foundations of my world have shifted about a dozen times. Most of it was good, but I have to admit, I’m kind of getting sick of it,” I shared and she smiled.
Then she said, “You’ll get used to it.”
I stared at her.
Great.
Then she turned her head and cooed at cute, little Jesse.
Watching that, I sighed, thinking that maybe I would.
Then I went straight back to worrying.
*
Raid
Three weeks later…
They all stood in the dark parking lot of the Pancake House to touch base before they disbursed after finally taking care of the guy responsible for attacking Hanna and Knight’s girls.
“I want Nair,” Raid rumbled.
“Patience, Raid,” Knight said quietly.
“I think you get him, man,” Creed stated. “He found his woman on the floor of their house with her face in a puddle of blood she coughed up. You need to speed this shit up.”
“That fucker we took care of had no idea Hanna had anything to do with Knight ‘cause he had no idea Raid was lookin’ for him. He doesn’t even fuckin’ know who Raid is,” Deacon put in. “He was just pissed he lost a shitload of dope and it was Hanna who called it in. The operation is still sound.”
“When you got a woman or kids or, I don’t know, maybe even just a fuckin home you give a shit about, Deacon, then you can talk about how sound this operation is,” Creed growled.
Deacon’s body went dangerously still.
“That blow was low,” he clipped.
“But it hit true,” Creed bit off.
“I don’t want a fuckin’ debrief and I don’t wanna pull you two out of a goddamned smackdown. I wanna get to my woman,” Raid ground out and his eyes cut to Knight. “We bottom line this, this shit is on Nair. I want him.”
“I indirectly put your woman in danger, Raid. This shit is on me,” Knight stated.