Page 102 of Truck Up

“Where is she?” He yells. The anger and determination in his eyes are nothing less than I expected.

“She’s safe,” I say. He tightens his grip on me to the point it hurts, but I don’t fight back.

“Not good enough.” He growls. He places his arm over my neck and presses hard. It cuts off my air supply.

“Liam, stop.” Chase grabs Liam’s arm and pulls him back. He’s able to relieve the pressure so I can breathe again but doesn’t get Liam off me.

“That’s all … I can gi … give you.” I manage between breaths. Liam is stronger than I realized. Which means this is going to hurt worse than I expected.

He releases me, spins around, and shoves his hands into his hair. Then he crouches on bent knees and lets out a long, low groan. He’s frustrated and worried. I get it. I’d be too, but I can’t jeopardize Hannah’s safety or the safety of all the other women Edge has helped.

If Charlie is set free—which I expect he will be—he won’t stop until he finds her. Same as Liam. If Liam finds her, then Charlie will be on his heels.

“I’m sorry. I wish I could give you more.” I mean every word of what I say. I feel for my brother, and I’d do the same thing if I were in his shoes. Hell, I’d probably do worse.

He pushes to his feet and stares at me. For a moment, I think he’s calming down. But then he clenches his hands into fists, hauls one of them back, and punches me in the jaw. It happens so fast. I have no time to react.

Though I don’t think I would have stopped him even if I could have. He needs this, and I’m going to give it to him.

He gets two more punches in before my brothers grab hold of him and pull him back. I fall against the wall behind me and slide to a seated position. Damn, my brother can hit hard.

I rub my jaw and wipe a stream of blood from my chin. He knocked my lower lip into my teeth, splitting it.

“Feel better?” I ask.

“Fuck you!” Liam yells as he struggles to break free from my brothers. Warren and Garret have a hold of his arms and fight to hold him back. “Let me go.”

“Not on your life,” Garret grumbles. “He’s not the enemy.”

“But he knows where she is.” Liam’s voice sounds desperate and wild. He gets one arm free and lunges forward. Garret wraps both his arms around his midsection and tugs him backwards while Warren presses against his chest. “Let me at him!”

Amelia steps between us, blocking Liam from getting to me.

“Lia, move!” I yell.

“You will not touch him,” she says. Her voice is firm and commanding. “He’s not the one that hurt her. He saved her.”

“Lia, it’s okay,” I say. “He needs this.”

She whips her head around and glares at me. “Men are so stupid. Hurting each other does not fix anything, and it certainly won’t save the women in your lives.”

I shrug and stare at her. “Maybe not, but it sure as hell makes us feel better.”

Her eyes soften, and she knows I’m not talking about Liam right now. I’m referring to myself and my need to beat the shit out of Badger. I’ve been denied that so far, but if he ever touchesher again, nothing will stop me from planting my fist in his face. Several times.

Some of the fight dissipates from Liam and he sags against Garret. “Please,” he begs, “tell me where she is.”

Amelia turns back to him. “Why? So you can hunt her down and lead Charlie right to her?” She says exactly what I was thinking a moment ago. “Then what? Are you going to watch him kill her? ’Cause that’s what he’ll do. Men like him never give up.”

“That’s what I keep saying.” I mumble under my breath. Badger won’t stop until he owns her or hurts her worse than he already has, but she won’t listen to me. She insists she can handle him. It’s not her that I’m worried about.

“Quiet.” She orders. “This isn’t about you.”

I lift my hands in surrender. Chase leans down and whispers. “What was all that about?”

I shake my head and wave him off. Not only is this not the time to bring up my hatred for Badger, it’s also not my story to tell. When Amelia is ready to speak out about it, she will.

When I look back at Liam, his anger is replaced with nothing but pain. Tears well up in the corner of his eyes as he falls to his knees. “Tell me she’s okay.”