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“After what you did for him? I knew I should’ve shot the little shit,” Beast exclaims, a long list of expletives erupting from his mouth. “Give me the word, Pen, and I’ll beat his arse to a pulp in our upcoming fight. I’ll put him in hospital for being such a fucking dick.”
“Please, don’t,” I say.
Beast’s lip curls. “That prick doesn’t deserve you. What a fucking selfish little cu—”
Grim holds her hand up, quietening Beast’s tirade.
“And the other two? Zayn, York?”
“We’ve got closer again this past week or so, and they want me to tell them what’s up, but how can I do that? How can I do that knowing who they work for? Jeb is Zayn’s uncle, for fuck’s sake. Besides, I don’t want to put them in the line of fire either. Jeb willkillthem if he thinks they’ve turned their back on him, but not before my brother gets to them first. David hates the Breakers. Always has.”
“This is a complicated situation you’ve got yourself in,” Grim remarks, picking up another cigarette and lighting it. I watch her take a few deep inhalations, the smoke she blows out clogging the air between us. “You get close to them and find out what they know, betraying their trust. You stay away and find out nothing, and your sister winds up dead.”
“That’s about the sum of it,” I say. Grim nods, glancing over at Beast who pulls a face. It’s actually quite comical and I would laugh at his expression if I didn’t feel like fucking crying. “I can’t hurt them again. They’d never forgive me. But I can’t let David hurt my sister either. So here I am. If I can ensure my sister’s protected, then I can figure the rest out somehow.”
“Sounds like you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place,” Beast remarks, stating the obvious.
“Yeah,” I laugh bitterly. “You could say that.”
Grim taps her fingers on the table, staring at me. She screws up her nose, thinking before she stubs out her cigarette in the ashtray on her table. “I’ll put her under surveillance, stat. I’ll make sure my best men guard her, Pen.”
“Should I warn her…? I don’t want to scare her. I’ve always kept her shielded from David. She doesn’t know anything about this.”
“My men are professionals. She’ll have no idea. Believe me when I say it, Pen. No fucker will get close enough to touch a hair on her head. I give you my word, she’ll be safe,” Grim says, giving Beast a meaningful look.
“Text Grim a photo of your sister. I’ll get things moving,” he states, striding towards the door. “We got this covered.”
My shoulders drop, relief flooding through me as I do what he asks and send through a photo of Lena to Grim’s phone. “Thank you. I don’t know what to say.” I can feel the tears welling again and I choke them back, hiding them beneath a cough. I’ve really no idea why she’s helping me, but right now I don’t care. Lena will be safe, and I can figure the other shit out later.
“We’ll protect your sister until Jeb and your brother are dealt with,” Grim says, picking up her mobile phone and tapping a message out as the door closes behind Beast. Her brows pull together in a frown at the very quick response.
“What do you mean, until they’re dealt with?” I ask, my gaze flicking to her mobile.
She doesn’t answer me right away, instead she taps another message out, then places her mobile on the table. “Just business,” she explains, nodding towards her phone. I don’t question her further because it’s really none of mine.
“What are you planning on doing?” I ask, a shiver tracking down my spine.
“I told you I dislike Jeb. He’s been on my shit list for some time, Pen. Your brother just got added. No motherfucker threatens a child’s life and gets away with it. As far as I’m concerned, they’re already dead.”
There’s a fierceness in Grim’s gaze that comes from a place of experience. It makes me wonder what happened in her past to make her feel this way. She’s a part of this world that exists like a secret society beneath the mundane everyday life and yet it seems to me that it’s not something she really likes or wants to be a part of, for that matter.
“Can I ask you something, Grim?”
“Sure.”
“Why do you do what you do when half the people you invite into your club are arseholes just like Jeb and David?”
“First of all, they might be criminals but not all of them use kids to do their dirty work. There are some—just a few, granted—who can be trusted not to do that kind of shit. Secondly, it’s all I know. This is the world I grew up in, Pen.”
“Why didn’t you get out?”
She laughs. “Because I didn’t want to.”
“But I thought—”
“You thought that I was some kind of secret church-going prissy bitch because I have a few morals? Believe me, I’m not. I make a good living doing what I do. I met the man I love right here in this club and I live a good life, an exciting one. I like the power and the lifestyle that beingGrimaffords me. Don’t mistake my kindness for weakness.”
“I don’t. I’m just trying to understand.”
