Page 101 of Lawless
“This is fucking bullshit.”
There’s another bang before a loud sigh and the familiar creek of his chair.
“Someone will find something,” Ezra soothes, making my brows pinch together.
I know everything is up in the air right now but that isn’t the kind of tone I usually hear from any of the Harris brothers.
“And what if they fucking don’t? Then what the hell am I meant to do?” Reid snaps, making my hackles rise.
“You really are the cup-half-empty type, huh?” Ezra deadpans.
“What the fuck else am I meant to be right now? I’ve no fucking idea where they are or what’s happening to them.”
Those few words alone make my heart drop into my feet and I’m moving long before I’ve registered the thought.
The door slams back against the wall, making both of the Harrises sitting inside this office startle and twist around in my direction.
“You don’t know what’s happening to them?” I bark, holding my best friend’s eyes steady, letting him see exactly how serious I am about learning everything he’s hiding from me.
“J.” He sighs, sitting up higher in his chair and resting his elbows on the desk.
“Don’t fucking J me. You’re hiding shit. Shit I need to know.”
His lips press into a thin line as I try to remain calm.
“For a good reason. There is nothing you can do to help right now so—”
“So?” I bellow. “You don’t know where they are or what’s happening,” I repeat again. My blood runs cold as the realization hits me. “Victor has them, doesn’t he?”
My knees wobble, threatening to give out on me, forcing me to reach for the wall.
“For fuck’s sake, sit down,” Ezra says, jumping to his feet as if he’s about to help me walk.
“Not until I hear the truth. And I swear to God, if this motherfucker has sold them out then I’m going to turn around and walk straight out of this house without so much as looking back,” I warn darkly.
I’m pretty sure they’re as aware as I am that there’s a very good chance I’m nowhere near capable of doing that right now; I’ll give it a damn good go, though.
Reid might be my best friend, but if he’s willingly done this… if he’s willingly given her back to the men who—
My blood runs cold, even without allowing myself to finish that sentence, and acid burns up my throat.
A large hand wraps around my upper arm and I startle at the contact.
“Sit down,” Ezra demands, sounding very unlike himself.
He’s usually a cocky playboy, just like Devin. It’s bizarre to hear a concerned edge to his voice.
I’m so confused by everything that he’s able to tug me over to my seat and gently shove me down into it.
No one says anything as he retakes the other chair, but the tension in the room, along with Reid’s heated stare, is oppressive and unavoidable.
“Tell me what’s going on,” I force out as my fingers curl around the arm of the chair.
Reid’s jaw ticks as he battles with his conscience—proving that he has one—as he tries to decide how much I can cope with.
“All of it, Harris. Don’t you dare sugarcoat any of it.”
“Fine.” He sighs, falling back in his seat as if all the energy was just stolen from his body.