Take It On The Run

Chapter 46

POV: Sumner

Sloan's resolved, "I'm sorry," was the last thing we heard through the feed before it went dead.

My heart crumpled at what she'd done. I didn't want to believe it at first, but there wasn't an off switch or a way to remove the battery. Even if there was, I doubted she'd risk keeping the spyware around for Murphy to discover.

"Don't do this to me, sunshine," I prayed aloud as I kept trying to get the feed online again, but there was nothing, not even silence—only a severed connection. Sloan had killed the bug all right.

Darkness swarmed me. My beautiful muse had made a conscious decision to cut us off, and I could only guess why. I didn't like it.

Avery's strained voice cut through my thoughts. "Can you get her back?" 

"She..." I swallowed hard. "She killed the feed."

"Why the fuck would she do that?" Reed demanded, not wanting to believe my assertion. He'd heard her apology, though. We all had. 

Deacon shook his head angrily, arms folded across his chest. "She doesn't want us to hear her."

"Still no response via phone?" My hopeful question was pointless. I knew she hadn't responded, and I doubted she would either.

"No." Avery scrolled through his messages for the hundredth time, looking absolutely wretched.

After the phone incident, he blamed himself for the limo and probably blamed himself for this latest development too. I didn't know what to say to him because I was still spitting mad, although I hadn't shown it before, instead acting like a disappointed parent.

"What now?" Reed came to stand next to me and studied the monitors.

"I can follow her through the hall and pull up the master bedroom since we know that's where she's headed."

I wasn't sure I wanted to hear what was about to go down in there after what she'd just done to the bug, after her apology. It had been a warning, and clearly, she didn't want us eavesdropping. Sloan especially wouldn't want her father, who was still asleep, hearing or recording anything she did with Murphy. I wanted to respect her wishes, but I also knew the guys wouldn't let her disappear on us.

"I'm not sure we should, though," I added. Ave, Reed, and D looked sharply at me then, and I winced as I pushed on. "I think Sloan is aware that we're listening, and I think it's hampering her...performance." I nearly choked on that last word. "Think about it. She has to get close to Murphy, convince him she wants him and that she's falling in love. We all heard her puke earlier, and she isn't answering the phone. The guilt is getting to her, but she can't act guilty in front of him or even in private."

There was a long silence as they considered my words.

"I want to know what's happening to her," Deacon said. "Even if it fucking kills me."

I sighed as Reed and Avery agreed with him.

Outvoted, I agreed, "Fine. But I want to reiterate that I think this is a bad, not to mention intrusive, idea."

Deacon shrugged. "I know it is. It doesn't change the fact that I want to know if she's being hurt. I don't care about the plan anymore. If he causes her pain in any way, I'm intervening."

"How the hell are you going to do that?" Reed asked skeptically.

The giant leaned back in his armchair, and I knew he'd given this a lot of thought. "We know Murphy's schedule. We know where he'll bring her and when. He usually spends Saturday nights in the VIP section of a packed club. He won't be able to resist showing her his wealth and affluence in a setting like that. We can get there hours ahead of his arrival and find a way to get her alone."

There were so many kinks in that ridiculous plan. Like the fact that Murphy had people actively scouring the country for us and that he never went anywhere without a security detail, who'd be watching Sloan like a hawk.

"Are you sure that's the best thing for Sloan?" I tinkered with the program, sifting through the list of areas in the house in search of the master bedroom.

I resented always having to be the calm voice of reason in these situations, but someone had to speak for Sloan when she couldn't.

Her consent was more important to me than my need to keep her out of Murphy's clutches like some brainless possessive caveman. I wanted Sloan to do whatever made her happy, even if that meant fucking another man. Since I'd been poly my entire adult life, sharing my partner had never really bothered me. The only thing that really disturbed me was the possibility of Sloan having to perform sexual acts she didn't consent to or being manipulated or coerced into those things.

But it was her choice. Not mine or anyone else's. Sloan wasn't an object for us to argue over. We weren't gods deciding her fate. Even her father had no right to tell her how to share her body. She was a grown woman capable of making her own choices and deciding what her limits were or who she let share her bed.

What everyone conveniently forgot now was that the marriage and relationship with Murphy had been her plan from the beginning. We just hadn't wanted to hear what it might entail or think about it in practice.

While I was scared of losing her to all the lies and money and power, I wanted Sloan to choose us for herself. I wanted her to come back to us of her own volition, and I knew no amount of spying or hovering would change the outcome. All we could do was have faith in our girl.

I used D's earlier words against him now. "If Murphy discovers us at the club, it will put everything and everyone at risk, and everything she's done up to now will be for nothing. Are you ready to steal that choice from her?"

He stared at me for a long moment before cursing because he knew I was right. The guys wouldn't be content to wait for things to simply unfold though. They needed something to do, and there were plenty of necessary tasks we'd been neglecting.

I offered, "How about instead of fixating on what she and shithead are doing in the bedroom, we start working out the logistics of the wedding? The reception venue and champagne. We also need to find a poison that won't be detected by a bunch of suspicious gangsters and a way to get it into the bottles."

That was met with a few grumbles, but it worked. Everyone put away their selfish need to control what was happening to our girlfriend and shifted to brainstorming the best way to kill the man who was currently alone with her.