Page 21 of Blake

Her threat made Blake wince; he knew she was capable of doing just that. As soon as he opened the door Roz shoulder-barged past him, followed by Alex, Evelyn, and Jack.

“Will you calm the fuck down, woman.” Jack’s voice was a hiss as he followed behind Roz.

Roz had stopped in the middle of the room and seemed to be looking around for Pax. “Where is she?”

“I’m here.” Pax’s voice came from the top of the stairs.

Blake looked up at her with a glare. “I told you not to come down until I called you.”

“Don’t you fucking speak to her like that,” Roz hissed rounding on him with fury and a barely controlled rage in her eyes.

“Is the area secure?” Jack turned to Blake with his question and ignored Roz and her outburst.

“Yeah. Just one attacker and they ran off over the back when they heard the cars.”

Pax made it to the ground floor and moved towards him, her eyes on his leg that he couldn’t hold weight on.

“Your leg.” She’d come to stand beside him as Roz watched her every move.

“It’s fine.” There was no way he was going to complain in front of Roz.

“What the hell is going on around here and why does one of my girls look like she was fucking strangled?” Roz’s quiet calm was more terrifying than the yelling and threats ever were. Roz was about to blow her top and someone was going to end up injured unless she was satisfied with the answers.

Evelyn took over then. “Let’s take this into the living room. Why don’t you go and make sure the house is secure and find out what happened?” Her last comment was directed at Alex indicating he, Blake, and Jack do the securing while her and Pax explained to Roz why she had been kept out of the loop.

It wasn’t going to be an easy or a pleasant conversation and he had absolutely no doubt that the leader of Zenobi would take it badly. His instinct was to stay with Pax.

“You want me to stay, Gracie?”

Pax blushed deep crimson and the intimate name he used that nobody else called her. He felt Roz’s eyes shoot to him before going to Pax in question. “No. Go find the rock they threw, and I’ll explain everything to Roz.”

Blake winked back and moved away letting her have privacy for this. “I’m upstairs if you want me.” His words were a reminder that he wouldn’t be far.

Limping from the room he began the ascent up the stairs and moved to Pax’s bedroom where Jack and Alex stood assessing the scene. “How come, Roz is here?”

Alex looked at him, “She was with Evelyn when Jack and I got the call from Pax. There was no way we could stop her from coming with us.”

“I don’t think it’s going to go over too well with Roz.”

“Can’t say as I blame her,” Jack replied.

It was no secret that the two leaders rubbed each other up the wrong way so Blake was surprised to hear him defend her.

“Why?” Blake was curious to hear Jack’s reasons for defending a woman they all knew he didn’t like.

“Well, I wouldn’t fucking like it if one of my team got attacked and instead of telling me they sought help from an outside team after going to great lengths to hide what happened to them. That shit stings. Roz is a lot of things, but she’s a good leader and deserves to know when her girls are under threat.”

“I guess, but Pax had her reasons and I had to respect them.” Blake wanted to make it clear whose side he was on.

“Got that but now she has to pay the piper and explain why she did what she did. If it was me, she would be gone. If your team doesn’t trust you, they have no business taking orders from you.”

“You’d fire her?” Alex asked.

“Abso-fucking-lutely.” Jack tossed the brick he had picked up from the floor to Blake and nodded to the note taped to the brick with gaffer tape. “It’s a warning.”

Blake looked down at saw Jack was correct.

YOU ARE NOT SAFE!