teach Raven …” He blows out a breath as he jerks open the door. “I’m going to go teach her how to drug someone properly.”
“Those weren’t the orders,” Jax yells after him.
Hunter just flips him the middle finger without looking back and storms out into the hallway, leaving the door open.
“He’s going to screw this up for us,” Jax mumbles with a shake of his head.
“You’re the one who’s suggesting we use some pretty potent drugs to dope up one of our enemies. And so we can what? Question him while he’s all drugged out? Other drugs’ll do the same thing and are way more inconspicuous.”
His brow meticulously arches. “But those other drugs won’t make him forget everything, will they?”
I press my lips together then shake my head.
He pockets the vial. “You know I’m right.”
“No, I really don’t,” I say. “And this isn’t like you. You usually want nothing to do with the drugs our fathers have created.” None of us do, and for a good reason.
Because their drug business was built upon blood.
Upon sacrifice.
Upon pain.
Our blood, our sacrifice, our pain.
“Yeah, well, stuff changes when you’re …” Jax abruptly trails off, cocking his head toward the door. “Do you hear that?”
“Yeah, it’s the sound of self-destruction,” I mumble, annoyed with him.
He rolls his eyes then steps toward the doorway. “There’s music playing from somewhere.”
I listen for a moment; at first not hearing it, but when I do, my blood runs cold.
“Jax …” I swallow forcefully. “It’s the song … The song from the game.”
Every single one of Jax’s muscles wind into knots as he looks at me. For a moment, neither of us speak until reality sinks in. Then we both move simultaneously, hurrying out the door and into the hallway.
I glance from left to right. “Where’s Hunter?”
“I have no idea, but we need to find him,” Jax mumbles as he takes off to the left down the hallway.
I follow him, moving through the house as silently as possible until we reach the corner of the hallway that turns into the area where Jax’s torture chamber is.
“Is it coming from the room?” I whisper lowly as we stop at the edge of the corner.
“Yeah, I think it is.” Hunter’s voice flows from over my shoulder.
I reel around, one step away from punching him.
He elevates his hands in front of him. “What the fuck, Zay?”
“Don’t what the fuck me.” I lower my fist. “Don’t sneak up on me like that.”
Hunter rolls his eyes. “You’re so damn jumpy sometimes.”
“Listen to the music, Hunter,” I stress. “There’s a reason to be jumpy.”
He swallows audibly. “Where do you think it’s coming from?”
“I’m not sure. None of the security alarms have gone off, so no one has broken in,” Jax states. “The only other person here is Raven.” Suspicion rises in his eyes, then he steps around the corner, his face paling at something down at the end of the hallway. “Fuck.”
I step out, too, and then I swallow hard at the sight of a phone sitting on the floor. The music is clearly playing from it.
“Where the hell is Raven?” I mumble, tension rippling through my body. “And why is that song playing from her phone?” Pressure builds in my chest as the answer to my question flows through my mind.
Because Raven is the girl from our past, the girl from the game. And that song means that our bosses have reactivated the game.
Hunter starts shaking his head as he takes a step back. “No. I’m not going to fucking play it again. I won’t. I refuse. I don’t care if they make it part of the deal to get out of here. I won’t do it. We weren’t ever supposed to have to play again.”
Apparently, he arrived at the same conclusion as me.
“Calm down,” Jax says, attempting to appear indifferent, like he usually does. But I detect the slightest trace of nervousness in his expression.
“I’m not going to calm down,” Hunter snaps at him. Then he starts to pace while yanking his fingers through his hair. “No. No. No. I’m not going to do it.”
Jax looks at me. “We need to calm him down.”
I’m about to agree, even though I’m panicking myself, when the song clicks on again, only louder this time. And not because the volume of Raven’s phone is turned up. No, it’s louder because it’s now playing from the house speakers.
Panic flares through my body, and I step back until my back bumps up against the wall.
While our bosses may