But he would.And soon.
“I can’t say much about club-related stuff, but recently we found out Vince is dealing with one of our enemies and he tried to get the club involved under the radar.” He stated, “When I confronted him about it, he claimed it was only an idea, and not something he was pursuing, nor would he stab the MC in the back. But Primo found out that’s all bullshit because he’s heavily in with them in a big way. More than he told me.”
Splice laid his head on Lisa’s shoulder; the only bit of peace he’d had for days was right here, and he tried to gulp in her scent until he didn’t want to go on a murderous rampage.
He always thought he could trust family, no matter what.
It all had unmoored Splice.
He wrapped both arms around her waist and held on.
They were silent only for a moment before she lifted his head.
“Now explain the amnesia part and how you thought it was a good idea to ignore me.” Her voice had turned harder, and Splice groaned. He was going to make up for this for the rest of his life.
His primary goal was to protect her, so he focused on getting Lisa out of the line of fire.
“After I got confirmation that Vince was the caller threatening you, the same person who probably tried to run you off the road and who had your car trashed, I wanted to confront him and yank the throat out of him to know why he’d done that. Tomb persuaded me to play it smarter, in case there was more to it than just him. If there’s a network of fuckery going on, then it won’t end with just stopping Vince.”
“Tomb knows?”
Splice nodded.
“Nina too?”
“No, sweetheart. Her anger out there is genuine. Your girl has your back. The core counsel brothers and me held an emergency meeting the other night. It all came together fast. Everyone else out there thinks I got into an accident.”
“So fast you couldn’t let me in on it, too.” She scowled.
“I wouldn’t hurt you for the world.” He vowed, gripping her waist and going forehead to forehead. “I needed Vince to buy that we were over, that you were out of the picture, so it’d take the focus off you, baby. I had to act and say all that shit in front of him, so he’d think he’d won.”
He watched Lisa process everything.
He admired his woman for not flying off the handle, to give him a moment to explain everything, even if she still wanted to rip out his spleen.
“You are my whole fucking world, Lisa.” He said in a gravel-like rasp, “Not gonna leave you open to get hurt, no matter what I have to do. You’re my reason.”
“Your reason?” She asked breathily, her eyes steady and deep.
“Lisa, you are my reason for everything. What I do from this point on is to protect the love of my life.”
“Ryan,” she said, her voice box shaking, and she stroked a hand on his beard. “This needs trimming,” she added absentmindedly, and Splice grinned.
“You can trim it for me when we’re home together.”
He’d need the longest shower of his life after all this was done to wash the grime of his uncle’s betrayal off his skin. And he wanted Lisa right there under the water with him.
Another finger stroke on his beard, and Lisa raised her eyes to meet his again. “So, as I see it, you’re faking memory loss, so Vince thinks I’m kicked to the curb?” Splice nodded. “Thanks for that,” she sassed, and he grinned again. That tension, locked tight in his chest, loosened some more.
She was fucking magnificent.
A one in a million woman.
Sure as hell, Splice knew he didn’t deserve someone as good as her. But ask him if he’d ever thought of letting her go so she could have a better man love her, and his answer would be a resounding fuck no. Hell no, and try to fucking take her from his grasp, and he’d go ballistic in his rage to keep her by his side.
These two days had felt like he was going insane without her.
He’d slept in this room or tried to; instead, he’d lain awake, everything going around his brain, and only the image of Lisa had kept him steady. He must have scrolled through his pictures of her a million times, keeping to his vow to protect her and not crawl to her on his knees.
