“Veda, honey, give Griffin the gun and step back.Please.”Knuckles didn’t raise his voice or seem the least bit angry.
“I heard it all.”Her voice shook slightly, but she held herself steady.She didn’t raise the gun, but I didn’t like her having it in her current state of mind.“What’s the condition of the women?”
He shook his head, wretched.“I don’t know.”Blaine didn’t try to pretend he wasn’t openly crying.“I swear, prospects don’t get to know most of the shit going on.We’re given a task and we do it.”He looked up at Veda with a pleading look.“I know they usually drug the girls to keep them quiet and make them easier to handle.”
Veda stared at the guy for a long time, probably willing herself to be able to read his mind to find the truth she sought.Finally, she turned to me.I met Knuckles’ gaze over her head.He gave a single nod.
I picked up a gun with a silencer and stepped close.Blaine didn’t fight.There was no more bargaining left in him.I pressed the muzzle under his chin and pulled the trigger.
Blood painting the wall behind him in a fan.I let his body slump against the chair, lowered the gun, and gave Knuckles a nod.Tiny and Inferno started the cleanup routine.
I glanced at Veda.She stood with the gun loose at her side, eyes locked on the dead man.She didn’t flinch or recoil.When she finally looked at me, it was with a flat, hard certainty.When I reached for the gun, she didn’t resist or raise it to hand it to me.She let me take it from her safely.
Knuckles jerked his head toward the hallway.I nudged Veda toward the door.Her hand felt cold when I wrapped mine around it, but she let me lead her up the stairs, to the hallway, and out into the main compound.The rest of the club was lying low, either because Knuckles had told them to or because they’d caught the tension rolling through the compound.I walked Veda toward the garage, not thinking about why until we were already inside.
The garage was nearly dark, save for the thin strip of LED lighting over the workbenches.The bikes sat in their usual rows, tanks catching the blue-white glow.I moved to my bike and sat on the overturned milk crate next to it.
Veda stood just inside the door, arms crossed tight, her gaze on the floor.I could see the knuckles of her right hand were white from how hard she was gripping her own arm.
I couldn’t stand to see her like that, so I dropped my gaze to the floor and started wiping down the bike’s already spotlessly gleaming tank.She waited for a long minute, not moving, not saying anything.I let her.Sometimes you gotta give people space to come at their own pace.I knew she hovered close to the breaking point, but I also knew how much she hurt.
Eventually, she crossed the room.She stopped in front of me and didn’t speak, just looked at me for a long moment.
I dropped the rag and wiped my hands on my jeans.“You all right?”
“Don’t ask me that.”I could barely hear her whispered voice.
“Fair enough.”
She waited another moment.Then, “You didn’t have to let me see that.In the basement.”
“You followed us down, so I figured you needed to,” I said.
She nodded, almost like she agreed, but not quite.“Does it always go like that?”Her voice was soft, but there was steel behind it.
“No.Sometimes it’s worse.”
She looked away, at the bike, at the racks of tools, anywhere but my face.“Do you think Tessa’s still alive?”
“I think whether or not she is, we’ll find her.We’ll bring her home to you.”
She finally met my eyes.“I need to know you’ll get whoever’s responsible.Not just because Knuckles or the club says so.I want you to promiseme, Griffin.Not them.Me.”
I stood, reaching out to frame her face with both my hands.“I promise, Veda.”I did my best to convey my sincerity and determination.“I will find her.I will bring her home.”
She stared at me for a long time.Whatever she searched for, Veda must have finally found it because her shoulders finally dropped, the tension easing slightly.“Thank you,” she said, so quiet I barely heard.
I wanted to say something else, to reach out and touch her, to offer something better to cling to.I thought she might leave then, but she didn’t.I cleared my throat.“You should get some rest.Tomorrow’s going to be a long one.”
She didn’t move.“Will you be here?”
“I’m not going anywhere, honey.”
She finally turned and walked back to the door but stopped in the frame.“Griffin?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t die tomorrow.”
