Letting a small smile play across my lips, I picked up my phone and slid it into the back pocket of my pants. Then I tucked my Ducati key into my palm, curling my fingers around it as I straightened up.
"Now that I think about it, Chase, I'm not in the mood for dinner after all." I started to brush past him to leave, but his hand snapped out and grabbed me by the hair again, dragging me back to him.
"Where the fuck—"
His inane question never got finished as I lashed out with my fist, slamming my knuckles right into his mouth. The key gripped in my hand only strengthened my punch, too, and he staggered backward into the table.
Movement in the shadows made me glance up, but Chase's guard seemed to have no inclination to intervene. Instead, he just watched as I leaned over and slammed my fist into Chase's temple, knocking him out cold with his cheek in a bowl of soup.
Clearing my throat, I wiped my knuckles off on a napkin, then left the restaurant with my head held high.
Seph was safe.
29
Adrenaline coursed through my veins the whole way home, doubled by the reckless way I drove my Ducati, and when I pulled into Zed's driveway, my heart was pounding hard.
Zed was pacing a line across the garage floor and barely even waited for my engine to shut off before he hauled me off the bike. He yanked my helmet off, then took a sharp breath when he saw my bloody lip.
"I'll fucking kill him," he growled, his whole expression pure venom as his thumb touched my puffy split lower lip.
I gave him a grim smile back. "No, I will. Eventually." Peeling myself out of his strong grip, I headed inside the house. I needed to take my clothes off and burn them, then gargle some hand sanitizer to get the taste of Chase out of my mouth.
Zed followed tight on my heels as I made my way up the stairs, and Lucas popped out of his bedroom as we got to the top.
"Hayden, thank fuck!" he exclaimed, rushing to sweep me up in a tight hug. "He hurt you." It was an accusation mixed with resignation. He'd known I wouldn't walk away totally unscathed, but I for one was calling this a win. A split lip was fucking nothing.
"I need to shower," I told him with a soft smile, shifting out of his grip. "Then we can debrief."
Lucas didn't need any further explanations, stepping out of my way so I could get to the bathroom down the hall. I left the door open as I stripped out of my clothes and kicked them into a ball under the vanity. Then I cranked the shower to scalding and stepped in with a long sigh.
"Cass wants to know what his orders are," Zed announced as I let the scorching water sluice over my skin. Cracking my eyes open, I found him perched with his ass on the side of the vanity, his eyes locked on me through the glass shower screen like he thought I might magically disappear if he looked away.
Lucas leaned his shoulder against the doorframe, his arms folded and his brow set with a faint line of concern.
"Tell him to come home," I replied to Zed, leaning back under the water to wet my hair. "Bring Seph with him. I need her here for a bit, and there's no one else I trust to keep her safe outside of Shadow Grove. Not anymore."
I was severely disappointed in not just Archer, Kody, and Steele, but also in Demi. She knew what Seph was like. She should have been watching her more carefully.
Scrubbing my hands over my face, I muttered some quiet curses because, as angry as I was, I also knew it wasn't actually any of their faults. It was Seph's for being a stupid fucking self-involved bitch. It was mine for sheltering her so damn hard that she had no freaking clue how much danger she was really in.
Zed had looked away as he’d conveyed my orders to Cass on his phone, but he soon looked back up. His gaze almost seemed to burn through my skin as I used body wash and a loofah to scrub the poisonous taint of Chase Lockhart off my body.
Lucas's gaze was equally heavy, and only the steam and condensation clouding the shower screen prevented both of them from getting an eyeful of my naked