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The weight of it settles on my chest.
And Dolly can tell.
She leans against the countertop. “You know that boy has a sad past. He doesn’t talk about it, not to me, not to Jack, not to anyone but Paw, and that was only because a night of heavy drinking loosened his lips. But I know his past haunts him. He has a deep wound in that big heart of his, a wound that keeps bleeding with every day that passes.” She tilts her head. “You look like you’re here to add to that bloodletting. But I hope I’m wrong.”
I buckle under the weight of her knowing look, and my hands go to my face. “Oh, Dolly, I’ve fucked up. I’ve fucked up real bad.”
“So bad that you have to hurt him?”
I drop my hands so I can make eye contact. “I don’t want to hurt him.”
“Then don’t.”
“I have a secret,” I whisper, tears welling in my eyes. “A terrible secret.”
She pours another shot and hands it to me. “Oh, baby girl, we all have our secrets. There ain’t no crime in that.”
“But what if that secret can hurt the one you love?”
“That’s why they’re called secrets. You don’t tell, he won’t know, and he won’t get hurt. Unless he’s in danger, of course…” She pauses, then straightens and raises an eyebrow. A sharp edge enters her tone. “Is that it, Rory? Is Ares in danger?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Try me.”
I drink my shot, stalling.
Dolly’s tone is still sharp. “Honey, you tell me what the hell is going on. If that boy is in danger, you need to start hollering.”
Before I can reply, Dakota Joe, Bam, Loki, and Merrick walk into the club, stirring up the atmosphere in the room with the frenzied energy of a tornado. Too busy giving Merrick a hard time for the three hickeys on his neck, they don’t notice the tension that crackles in the air between Dolly and me.
It feels like the walls are closing in on me.
She knows I’m a terrible person.
Suddenly, everyone’s cells start to ring.
Everyone’s except mine.
Dolly answers hers, “What the hell? Slow down, Earl. I can’t understand what you’re saying.”
I feel a shiver run down my spine.
Something is wrong.
Very wrong.
And everyone is talking at once, and I can’t make out what is being said to who, about what.
Just then, Venom runs into the clubhouse from one of the bedrooms, throwing on his cut as he races for the door. “Someone set fire to the grow shed.”
Fear prickles along my skin.
Ares is at the grow shed.
I turn to Dakota Joe. “I’m coming with you.”
“Like hell you are, lady. Jack would fucking kill me. And that’s not even half of what Ares would do.”
