The warning hangs in the air before I say it.
“She’s going to kill you, Kane.”
He holds my gaze, something broken flickering in his eyes. “Then she’ll kill me.” His voice is calm, like he’s already made peace with it. “If my death heals something in her… then so be it.”
“That’s fucking stupid,” I snap, voice full of heat I didn’t plan to let out. “You die, and what? She gets her revenge, but what about us? What about your brothers? The club?Me?” I’m such a fucking hypocrite.
His face tightens, eyes full of sorrow. “You’ll be fine, Dom,” he says softly. “The club is a family. You won’t be alone.”
He doesn’t stop. “She needs me more. She’s in pain. So much fucking pain. And I did that to her. I’ll try not to let her kill me, IpromiseI’ll try. But if it comes down to it, if she really needs me to give her my life…”
He swallows.
“I will.”
“Then you’re already dead,” I mutter. The words leave no room for argument.
A muscle ticks in his jaw. He looks away for a moment, then back at me. “Where’s Adora?”
My stomach drops.
“I know you’ve got eyes on her,” he continues. “Did she ever go back to Willow Harbor after the divorce?”
Relief trickles in — he doesn’t know. Not yet.
I shake my head. “She didn’t go back.”
“You could go get her,” he says casually, like we’re discussing groceries. “It’s not three years yet, but if she hasn’t gone back to Willow Harbor, chances are she’s not in contact with the cop. It’s only a few months early. You could finish her quickly. Take a day or two, and be done with it.”
I keep my voice even. Bury everything as deep as I can. In the end, it doesn’t matter what I feel, all that matters is that she follows the script.
“I’ll wait,” I say. “See what happens with you and Temperance first. What I’m planning for Adora…”
I pause. It stings too much to finish.
“…It’ll take time.”
The road stretches in front of me, slick with rain, looking like a postcard from hell at this late hour. Or is it too early? I grip the handlebars of my bike tighter, teeth clenching. It took me almost the entire night to finish a job at the clubhouse that would’ve normally taken no more than two hours.
I couldn’t stop checking Adora’s tracker, even though all she was doing was sleeping. And I couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that the five months are almost up.
Is it too early to finish it? Or should I just do it, no matter what?
Am I ready?
I don’t think so, and that’s a huge fucking problem. She caught me in her hurricane again, and she’s been spinning me around and around, higher and higher, this whole time. Now I feel like I’m about to crash into the ground at the speed of light.
I shouldn’t have taken this much time. I got greedy, and now I’m paying for it.
Memories from another time I was afraid of losing her have been haunting me all week. A time when there was no revenge plan. When it was just us.
…
I step forward slowly, my heart pounding hard enough to bruise my ribs.
“What are you doing, adorable?”
Every instinct in me screams to shout, to grab, to demand. Instead, I force my voice low, trying to keep calm.
