In Lakeside.
Three little dots pop up, then disappear, then pop up again.
Mason
You’re being shady as fuck. Keep it up and I’ll be riding back to see for myself what you’re up to.
I’m not twelve Mase.
Mason
No, but you are under my protection and I can’t protect you when I don’t know what you’re up to. I told you to check in with the club.
I start to panic at the thought of him showing up out of the blue. He isn’t supposed to be back for a few weeks, and I need that time to figure out how the hell to explain all of this to him.
I’m fine Mase, honest. Just busy. Stop being so dramatic.
Mason
Check in with the club, and answer me when I text you or I will come back there.
I shut the light off and make my way out of the empty dressing room, pushing Mason’s threat aside. When he comes back, I’m just going to have to sit him down and explain everything. I can only hope that by then we have some answers about Nic to offer.
As I walk, my Doc Martens softly tapping against the clean floor, I force myself to focus on the here and now—all the things Aiden will do to me.
I’m just about to unlock his office door when a hand clamps down over my mouth and an arm wraps around my waist. Fear runs through me. At first, I think it might be Aiden, but I immediately know it’s not. My adrenaline spikes as the scent of cigar and sweat fills my nose.
“You’re a sneaky cunt, aren’t you, lass? And you have a little secret,” Dagger says in my ear. He spins me around and presses me into the wall, forcing me to stare up into his psychotic eyes.
“If you don’t scream, we’ll just have a little chat. If you do, I’ll have to shut you up, and I’ll have the nicest time doing that.”
Without thinking, I take a shot to his throat, then shove my palm into the bridge of his nose, hard enough to crack it.
Dagger stumbles back as his nose pours blood onto the shiny floor. “Fucking little bitch!”
I pull my knife from the inside waistband of my shorts and pop it open, and as he lunges at me, I press the blade into his gut, just enough to show I know exactly how to use it.
“You know what’s under the edge of this blade?” I ask, rallying my strength. I’ve never killed a man, and I don’t want to start with the president of a club that will surely kill me in retaliation, but I will if I have to. “Your fucking liver,” I manage to grunt out as he presses his heavy body against me.
He chuckles, like he wouldn’t give a fuck if I did cut him. I grip the knife tighter. I willnotend up like Nic, raped by some prick.
“And Iwould neverfucking scream for you,” I snarl.
Dagger starts to laugh maniacally, the laugh of a man who doesn’t have any sense of fear. It hits me then that he knew I was here alone. He never would have come if he thought Aiden was with me.
“You won’t kill me faster than I can shoot you, little one. I just want to talk.”
I keep the knife firmly against his gut. “Then fucking talk.”
I picture that eerie smile as he abused those women in the woods, and I shudder.
“I know your secret.” He sneers. “You come from a world that isn’t too different from ours.” His eyes blaze. “And you turned me down, Mia. I take that personally.” He grips my hand holding the knife and drags it up his shirt. I begin to press, and it slices into his flesh, but he doesn’t stop. “The cage I have for you is still empty…but not for long.”
I wrench my hand free and pull back, swinging hard with the weight of the knife in my hand to hit his jaw. A cracking sound fills the space as my fist connects, but he uses the opportunity to pull a gun from his cut and press it against my stomach.
I stop breathing.
Dagger trails the gun upward, bringing it to my temple, and I start to shake, swallowing down the urge to try and kill him faster than he could pull the trigger, because I know I never could. He wants me to be a scared little victim, and I won’t be that, not for him. Instead, I lift my chin, eyeing his pulse point, ready to use my teeth to tear his throat out if I have to.
