Hell Breaks Loose: A Devil's Rock Novel Read Online Free Page B

kid he used
     to be, and that only made his chest ache harder.
    “That right?” Reid asked.
    Zane nodded eagerly, gesturing to the cabin. “Yeah.” He shared a look with Rowdy and the other guys, and Reid got the sense
     that he was missing out on some joke. “Let’s go inside and I’ll tell you all about it.”
    Reid followed him inside and did a quick scan of the living room, noting how run-down the place had gotten in the eleven years
     he’d been gone. It had never been the Four Seasons, but now the house smelled of sweat and stale cigarette smoke. The upholstery
     on the arms of the couch had worn off. Dirty white threads tufted up as if trying to escape from the piece of furniture.
    “We got something big going down, Bubba.”
    The sound of his little brother using his old nickname elicited a pang in his chest. He had a sudden flash of a little boy
     missing his front teeth chasing him around the trailer park. Bubba! Wait for me!
    That boy was gone. Zane’s eyes were bloodshot and dilated from God knew what drugs and a patchy beard hugged his cheeks. It
     was hard to reconcile him to the soft-faced boy Reid had last seen . Get over it, Reid. That boy is gone . Still. Easier said than done. His brother was the only family he had left.
    “Yeah?” Reid looked at the men standing around him, a prickling sensation crawling up the back of his neck.
    Zane chuckled lightly and scrubbed at the back of his neck under hair that fell long and greasy. He needed a shower. “Why
     don’t I show you?”
    Turning, Zane headed down the dark hall to the back bedrooms. The carpet was flat and matted beneath Reid’s shoes as he followed
     his brother. He felt the other men behind him, crowding close like anxious dogs. Something was definitely in the air. Feral
     and testosterone-laced. He recognized it from prison. Right before a fight broke out. Blood was in the water and the sharks
     were hungry.
    Zane opened the door to the master bedroom and stepped inside. Reid followed. He sucked in a breath as his gaze landed on
     the bed and the woman restrained there. His stomach pitched and a fresh wave of acid surged up inside him.
    Her hands were bound together with a cord that extended to the brass headboard. She sat board-straight on the edge of the
     bed, her knees locked tightly together. Her eyes were red-rimmed and puffy. She had been crying, but now her eyes were bone-dry
     above the gag. She didn’t blink as her wide brown stare flitted over him, assessing him before flicking to the men at his
     back. Her nostrils flared as if scenting danger. She would be right about that. They were the wolves and she their next meal.
     Of that he was certain.
    She tossed her head and said something against the muffled rag stuffed in her mouth. Her dark hair was loose and tangled around
     her shoulders, trailing long over her cream-colored blouse. The shiny fabric was dirt-smudged and stained, but still looked
     expensive. Probably the most expensive thing in this cabin. A bruise marred the flesh of her cheek above the gag where someone
     had hit her, and something clenched in his gut.
    Even in her condition, Reid had no problem recognizing her.
    Fuck.
    “Surprise!” Zane waved at her.
    They’d done it. They’d abducted the President’s daughter.

Three
    She’d stopped crying some time ago, but the urge returned in full force with the arrival of the new guy. He was bigger than
     the rest of them. He looked more ruthless. Something in his eyes, in the hard set to his mouth . . . there was no softness
     there. She wouldn’t be able to appeal to any part of him.
    He also seemed somehow more alert, more aware, more ready to snap than the rest of them. The rest of her abductors reminded
     her of children, anxious on their feet, unable to hold still. Their eyes, however, were dull and slow-moving. It was a strange
     contrast.
    The sharpness of New Guy’s hazel gaze could cut glass. She felt it slice through her as he stood there