Page 112 of Play The Game

Holy.

Sweet.

Lord.

He’s a double agent. A spy. A fucking made man in the Jackal’s den, spying on the psycho’s every move, and I never would have guessed it. The Jackal clearly hasn’t either. Luca has been trusted with everything since the very beginning of the Jackal’s reign of terror in the Bay. Fuck.

Atticus is good.

There’s a long silence before I finally break it. “I guess he’ll know now that you’re a spy.”

We all stare down at the Jackal, and Luca shrugs. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll drop him home and head back to the Crow. I’m tired of watching the sick fuck hurt people anyway.”

I nod and then pull away from Avery to hold my hand out to him. “Thanks for breaking your cover for me. I hope it was worth it.”

He grins at me and tugs me into a hug. “Like I’d let him kill you, princess. Even if I wasn’t on orders from the boss, I’d have figured a way out for you. It’s time for me to go home; it’s been too long.”

Ash finally lowers his gun, but he’s still glaring at Luca like he wants to shoot him. Harley shakes himself out of his stupor and stalks over to me, so fast I don’t realize he’s moving until he’s pulling me away from Luca’s arms and running his hands over me to check for blood and bruises.

“Are you okay? Did he touch you? Tell me he didn’t touch you, babe. What the fuck were you thinking?!” he says, voice hoarse and panicked. I catch his wrists in my hands and pull away.

“I was thinking he wasn’t leaving without seeing me and I needed to face him. He would’ve killed you if I had brought you guys. It’s fine, I told Illi⁠—”

“We know what you told Illi, who the fuck do you think called us?” Ash snaps, and I glance up to see him staring down at the Jackal, his eyes like dark voids. Luca steps in front of the Jackal’s prone form.

“You can’t kill him. The Twelve will come after the Wolf if you do. There’s a process that needs to be followed,” he says, hands out placatingly.

Ash’s gaze doesn’t waver from his perusal of the Jackal. “The Twelve are choosing sides as we speak and we have Atticus, don’t we? Without this dickhead, we’ll be able to take on the rest.”

Luca shakes his head. “He’s been recruiting. There are other members who have sided with him. They don’t like the Crow cleaning things up. There’s a lot of talk about the Vulture’s business being disbanded. They’re criminals for a reason; they don’t have morals. Even the Bear isn’t happy with the skin markets being gone. He used to sell in them as punishments to his followers. We have to let him go and do this the right way.”

Ash sneers at him, and I sigh, stepping in. “He’s right. The Crow can’t defend against nine other members.”

Luca shrugs. “Five. The Jackal has five that have followed him. He’s working on the Boar, but he’s very reluctant to side with him over you.”

I startle. “Over me? Why the fuck would he side with me?”

Luca shrugs again, grabbing his phone and tapping out a text. “We can’t figure that out either. The Jackal is going fucking insane over it, but the Crow can’t find a reason why. He just says it’s a blood thing. Whatever the fuck that means. Bikers are a strange breed.”

I groan. Will anything ever be straightforward and simple?!

“Fine. Take him and drop him off. I’ll call the Crow later and we can… discuss plans.”

Luca nods and grins at me again, swooping down to kiss my cheek and making Harley growl at him like a rabid fucking dog.

“I guess I’ll have to carry him out myself now you’ve incapacitated my men, O’Cronin,” Luca jokes, and Harley snaps at him, “It’s Arbour, dickhead.”

We head back to the room for a debrief and Avery’s hand shakes in mine the whole walk back. I feel awful for not warning her and also a little shocked at how badly this has affected her. I mean, I’ve known all along we’re family now, but to know just how much she cares is still jarring.

Harley won’t stop touching me, clutching at my hand if I move away from his arms, and I think I made a mistake in going down without telling them.

Avery makes us all tea, even though we all said no when she offered to make them, and I clear my throat in an attempt to remove the lump of fear that is still choking me. “I’m sorry I didn’t wake anyone. I didn’t know Luca was a plant. I thought I’d have a better chance getting him out of here if I wasn’t worried about him killing one of you.”

Blaise nods but he’s staring at his feet, refusing to meet my eyes. Fuck.

Ash takes the cup Avery hands him but doesn’t sip it. “There were a lot of options you had, Mounty. This won’t work if you don’t trust us. Not just the relationship, the whole fucking family won’t work if you run off toward the threat to sacrifice yourself at every sign of danger.”

I wince but nod. “I know that. I just… I don’t want him touching any of you.”