Page 8 of Gage

“I was having a difficult evening.”

He nodded toward the mug. “Hasn't got cold yet.”

The main room looked different in daylight. The bar took up one wall, scarred tables filled the open space and a set of double doors near the back stayed shut beneath years of dark paint. Men moved between the clubhouse and Salvation Motor Works with the easy speed of people who didn't need every task explained. A pistol lay beside a set of keys on the bar until its owner returned, tucked it beneath his cut and left with one of the prospects.

Nobody stared at me for long, but everybody knew where I was.

Gage came up beside me. “You sleep?”

“Eventually. Kind of difficult in the circumstances, you know?”

Preacher stepped out through the double doors before Gage could reply. “Your father called again.”

The coffee soured in my stomach. “What did he say?”

“That he wants to speak to you.” Preacher rested one hand on the double door. “He's calling back in five minutes. You can be in the room or stay out here, I’m not going to make you speak to him if you don’t want to.” Preacher waited without telling me what the club needed to hear.

“I want to be there,” I said.

Gage opened one of the double doors, and I followed Preacher inside.

The room was smaller than the main clubhouse and held a long table marked by scratches, burns and what looked like years of use. Smoke sat on one side while Gage took the chair closest to the door. Preacher placed his phone in the middle of the table when it rang and tapped speaker without greeting.

“Where is my daughter?” my father asked, also with no greeting.

I leaned closer to the phone. “I'm here.”

A pause followed. I'd spent enough of my childhood learning his silences to know he was changing the conversation he had planned.

“This performance is finished, Elena. You made your point.”

“You still think I'm trying to make a point.”

“Javier understands that this is a change for you. He is willing to overlook the embarrassment you've caused all of us.”

Beside the door, I noticed Gage's fingers closed once around the arm of his chair before easing again. He kept his mouth shut and left the answer to me.

“I'm not marrying Javier.”

“You agreed.”

“I said what I needed to say to get away.”

My father released a slow breath, the one he used when he wanted everyone else to feel unreasonable. “You will come home. These men cannot offer you anything except a place in their dispute with me.”

Preacher finally spoke. “She came through that gate because she wanted to. You don't get to collect her from it.”

“This is a family matter. I’m not interested in what your club thinks.”

“You made it club business when you traded her for men you're bringing onto our ground.”

The quiet after that carried more threat than shouting could have. I looked at Gage. His attention stayed on the phone, but there was nothing passive in the way he sat.

“Elena,” my father said, “you have no idea what you've involved yourself in.”

“I know exactly what you involved me in. The answer is no, I’m not leaving.”

He didn't threaten to kill me or beg me to remember he was my father. He simply said Javier would arrive in Salvation soon and ended the call, certain that enough force would make reality match his decision.