Xavier Cold (Hard Knocks #2)(70)

‘Xavier!” I scream and Kai backhands me across the face.

“Shut up!” he orders, as he turns back to watch the attack.

A metallic taste covers my tongue and I clutch my face as it stings like fire.

I’ve never felt so helpless—so lost on finding a way to Xavier. I’m forced to stand there and watch.

Both men beat Xavier while he lays on the ground, and then one of them kick Xavier in the face, instantly knocking him out.

“No!” I shout again, not caring if it earns another hit from Kai. Tears pour out of my eyes and Kai tightens his grip on my arm. “Xavier, get up!”

The two men back away from an unmoving Xavier.

“Fuck!” Kai shouts. “You dumb shits. You weren’t supposed to kill him here. Our prints are all over that f*cking house.”

“What do you want us to do?” The bigger of the two men asks.

Kai waves his hand dismissively. “Burn this shit to the ground and leave him.”

The men nod, and as if Kai is a general and they are foot soldiers go into the house to no doubt carry out orders.

“Come on.” Kai shoves me forward while still holding the gun on me.

He forces me into the back seat and slides in next to me. Within a few minutes, an unmistakable orange light flickers out onto the otherwise darkened lawn and the two men run toward the truck.

The engine drives past the house, and Xavier’s body still lies in the same place. I lean my head against the window, unsure of what’s about to happen to me, but knowing without Xavier I don’t care either way. Without him, my world means nothing.





Chapter 34


Xavier


A voice in the fog of my brain tries over and over to wake me up, but it’s a real struggle to open my eyes. “Xavier? Can you hear me, man?”

My eyelids drag open and I attempt to cure the blurry vision. “Where is she? Where’s Anna?”

Cole’s face comes into focus and his brow furrows. “There’s no one here but you.”

I lean up on my elbows and light form the flames licking their way up the side of Grandmother’s house illuminates the entire block. “Holy shit!”

I rush to get up, but Cole puts his hand on my shoulder. The light from the flames catches the gold of Cole’s badge and the swirling red and blue lights from the top of his cruiser flash across his face. “Easy, big guy. You need to stay put.”

I shove his hand away and shove myself up on my feet. “Cole, they’ve taken Anna. I’ll kill them before I allow them to hurt her.”

Anger boils over inside me. I will get her back.

Cole steps in front of me. “Hold on, X. Let me call for—“

“There’s no time for that shit.”

“Then let me go with you.”

I keep walking. “I won’t allow you to risk your life too. Call the fire department and take care of this. I’m going to get Anna.”

I don’t give Cole time to argue anymore. I sprint to Quinn’s car, hop inside, and crank the engine to life. The tires squeal against the asphalt after I back out of the driveway and slam the transmission into drive.

There’s only one way to handle this—the only way people like Kai and Bishop handle problems—with brut force and take what’s mine back.

The wheels on the little white car damn near fall off as it screams through the streets of Detroit to find its way to Nettie’s. I rush the door and at first Nettie smiles at me, ready to greet me, until she takes in the expression on my face.

“Xavier?” I don’t answer her.

I rush to the stock room and lift the twin mattress I slept on for years and find an old shoe box. Inside I find the Beretta I used to carry when I worked for Bishop. I pick up the gun, double check the clip has bullets, and then load it into the gun.

Nettie walks in just in time to see me shove the gun into the waistband of my jeans. “What the hell are you doing?”

I frown, hating I’m disappointing her, but know this is the only way to handle the situation. “Bishop has Anna.”

Nettie’s eyes widen. “No, Xavier. Don’t go there alone.”

“I have to, Nettie. They’ll kill her if I don’t.”

Nettie swallows hard and tears fill her eyes. She knows better than anyone there’s truth to what I’m saying. She’s seen the violence created by Bishop and his gang, The Block, and knows the body count racked up by them means they aren’t afraid to kill.

I hug Nettie and kiss the top of her head, and rush out the back door of the restaurant to get my bike.

I fire up the engine and it roars through the streets until I pull up to the building Kai took me to when all of this began. The bike is loud and I’m sure it’s signaled my arrival, but I don’t give a shit. Nothing will stop me from getting to Anna.

I go in the same way Kai took me through, only this time I don’t make it to the bar Bishop built inside. When I round the corner, sitting in the middle of the empty warehouse, tied to a chair, is my Anna.

I rush over to her, and immediately drop to my knees and untie her ropes. “Where are they, Anna?”

“I don’t know,” she whimpers. “They brought me here and I haven’t seen them much since then. I think they went into some room behind me.”