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“She may have a concussion. That bump looks bad.”

The grip on me tightens, but I don’t realize I’m being carried until I’m being placed in a seat. Everything is disorienting. Everything is…

Chapter 8

DREX

“She should be fine. Just a mild concussion from what I can tell without an X-ray,” the doctor says as Eve rests in my bed. “If she continues to suffer from a headache or disorientation, bring her to the hospital.”

Axle hands him a wad of cash while thanking him for making the trip off the books. I fight every urge in my body not to go after Ben Highland and blow his head off after I cut off each individual finger.

“Guess she’s seriously not in with the Hell Breathers,” Dash says, then immediately holds his hands up defensively when my eyes dart over to glare at him. “I’m saying this will shut up all the ones who are still suspicious. Her best friend was one of them. Now we know she’s with us. She had no clue we were watching. Snake’s trying to discreetly figure out what went down in there before we showed up.”

I swallow against the knot in my throat. I felt like shit for trailing her, but now I’m glad I fucking did. No one in that diner made a move to help her. Everyone just went on about their business as though she wasn’t about to pass the fuck out after getting her head slammed into the window.

I practically leapt over cars when I ran across the street to get to her, thankful Axle had my gun. I would have shot that fucking cocksucker right in front of everyone at the diner.

And I wouldn’t have given a damn about who saw him bleed to death.

I don’t need Snake figuring out what went down. I know what went down. Ben wants her, but she wants me. It’s pretty fucking obvious. Nothing can piss a man off worse than a woman.

I’ve always known he was a pussy, but I didn’t know he was a fucking piece of shit until today. He was happy to rough her up, but he didn’t throw a single punch at me when I beat him unconscious.

“Cops showed up at the diner after we left,” Axle sighs as he checks to make sure the doctor is gone.

“And?” I prompt calmly, keeping my eyes on Eve.

She looks peaceful.

Looks can be deceiving.

“Sledge was listening in on the chatter. Diner doesn’t have cameras. No one said they saw anything. Ben told them he fell. Everyone there went along with the story.”

Not surprising. They were too scared to do anything when she was helplessly trying to escape him.

Her forehead is bruised, and the knot on it is still bubbled out. Her lip is split, and the doc said her tongue had been bitten pretty hard. I hope she bit it and not him. It’ll make killing him take longer when I have to cut his tongue out too.

Her arm is bruised, which means he was way too fucking rough with her, and it also means I should have gotten in there sooner. I couldn’t tell anything was going on until she was slammed into the window.

I should have gotten a better angle to watch her, but I was trying not to watch too closely since I wanted to fucking kill Ben. Now I have a good reason to kill him.

“On the bright side, no one has figured out that it was your house that burned down. Your alias deed is holding strong,” Dash goes on.

Last thing on my mind is the house they had to torch. Closing my eyes, I start massaging my temples, trying to stave off the headache from hell that is trying to form.

“Drex.” The hoarse whisper has everyone going silent and still, and my eyes land on Eve’s as soon as she opens hers.

“We’ll talk to you later,” Axle says, motioning for Dash to follow him out.

I climb onto the bed, careful not to jar her, as the door to my room shuts. She immediately curls into my side, and I hold her to me, gingerly grazing her bruised forehead with my lips.

“I can’t believe he did that,” she whispers softly.

Clearing my throat, I start to ask her what happened, but she hugs me tighter, sighing against me, and I decide to wait until the new has worn off. I don’t want her upset right now.

I hold her closer, careful not to squeeze too tight, and we lie like that for a few hours, just resting in comfortable silence. Until she finally breaks it with a question I should have been prepared for.

“What were you doing there?”

Fuck.

I could lie; I probably should lie. Pulling back, I look down at her and decide I’ve fucked with her trust enough for one day. I don’t want to fuck her over the way Pop has me. Because of me, she was put in danger today, even though I sure as hell never expected that. It’s the same reason I’m done with Pop—putting me at risk when all he had to do was trust me with the truth.

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