Give Me War - Kate McCarthy Page 0,9

she seem upset this morning during your surf? Agitated? Scared?”

Coby narrows his eyes on mine. “Piss anyone off lately, Jared? Another revenge scheme, maybe?”

I go still, and Travis gets in Coby’s face. “No. You don’t get to do that.”

“No,” I tell him, my voice low. “I haven’t pissed anyone off lately.”

Casey gives me a look I can’t interpret. “Actually, Jared, can I talk to you? In private?”

All eyes swivel his way, until an ice blue mustang screeches in behind Coby’s Hilux. It’s Ace’s car. Unmistakeable. And it’s not just Ace who gets out. It’s Mac and Quinn. Grace too.

How Mac managed to mobilise the girl posse in such a rapid fashion is beyond me.

“Jared,” Casey prompts.

I leave Travis to deal with the female contingent and follow Casey to a spot out of earshot. “What is it?”

“Jared!” Kelly’s voice is a boom across the parking lot. His phone is pressed to his ear and he’s looking at me with fear in his eyes. I’ve never personally seen fear in that man’s eyes. Ever. “It’s the Vipers. The Black Vipers have her.”

My stomach knots.

“Fuck,” Casey mutters from beside me, going pale.

I start towards Kelly. The Vipers. Why would they have snatched up my girl?

“Jared, wait.”

Casey grabs me by the bicep and I come to a stuttering halt. “What?” I bark, turning my head, feeling sick.

“Evie’s pregnant.”

3

EVIE

My eyes blink open slowly. I’m in bed. It’s dark and my head is foggy. I know I didn’t drink last night so it can only mean I’ve woken at a crazy hour. Again. Why, insomnia? Why? I snap my lids closed in a bizarre sense of déjà vu and try to recapture sleep.

I snuffle into my pillow, starting to drift off again when something niggles at me. Something important. Something big. Something so much worse than hosting Christmas Day at my house.

Oh shit. Wild Renny. The Black Vipers. Kidnapped. I fly off the strange bed I’m in with a panicked breath. The tangled sheet around my legs brings me down hard. My knees hit the floor with a thud. So does my face. I turn my head at the last minute and my cheekbone smacks the floor with powerful gusto. My brain wobbles inside my skull and I blink back tears.

Fucking balls.

I inhale with a wheezy groan. That hurt like a raging bitch.

I roll and flail on my back like a turtle, trapped and kicking out with my legs. Sitting up, I palm my swelling face with one hand, using the other to remove the threadbare linen from around my legs. When I’m free, I look to the closed blinds of the window. There’s pale light filtering through and I know instinctively it’s Christmas. Wolf will be waking without his mama, not understanding why I’m not there. He’ll be opening presents without me, because even though Jared is likely losing his shit right now, he’ll also be doing everything he can to make sure Wolf doesn’t feel it.

Hot tears fill my eyes. Angry tears. Renny. That sonofabitch is not going to steal Christmas out from under me.

A panic attack starts to rise and I roll to my hands and knees, quickly forming the child’s pose. After inhaling deep shaky breaths, one after the other, they start coming a little slower, and a little calmer. I remember the pose from that one time Mac and I attempted a yoga class together. It was about three months after the birth of her daughter, Gabriella. The lack of sleep morphed her into Mac 2.0. We already ran for cover when we saw her on a tear, but after Gabriella’s arrival, we dived for cover. Drawing the short straw, Jake suggested yoga. She tried it, I’ll give her that, before informing us that if the game of cricket and a slow internet connection had a baby, it would be yoga, and if we made her do it again, she’d smother us in our sleep. So that was that.

Knowing the door is likely locked, I rise to my feet and give the handle a good yank anyway.

Nothing. I’m a prisoner.

I yank again. Harder. It doesn’t budge.

My panic returns, undoing all my deep-breathing efforts. I can’t be here. I can’t. I can’t.

“Renny!” I yell, banging the backs of my fists against the door, pummelling loud and hard. It’s sturdy and barely rattles. “Fuck you, Renny! Let me out, you sonofabitch!”

No one comes so I try the window, shoving the blinds across. Early morning light hits me, along with the rise of a