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Chapter 10
DALTON
After jamming the leftover Chinese take-out containers into the fridge, I turn around to find Sawyer, Cross, and Zade all hovering around the kitchen, staring at me as though I’m about to get my ass handed to me.
My brows furrow, and I look back at the guys in confusion before glancing over Sawyer’s shoulder at Oakley sitting out in the den. The second she finished her dinner, she took off to be alone, and I’ve been itching to get in there and make things right ever since. But something tells me I’m signing up for an impossible fight. I know I haven’t known her for long, but I feel as though I know her well enough to tell that this is not going to be easy. She’s going to make me work for it, make me walk over hot coals before even considering letting me back into her good graces.
I can’t blame her though. I’d be pissed if I found out the chick I was screwing around with was actually part of a secret society that wanted me dead, and yet she wasn’t doing anything to try and stop it. Oakley has valid points, but surely she must understand that this isn’t what I want. I mean, sure, at first, it didn’t matter to me. She was no one, just a random name, but now . . . Now she’s so much more. If there were a way for me to change this, to give her the freedom she so desperately craves, I’d give it to her in a heartbeat.
“What’s up?” I ask, trying to figure out what the fuck I’ve done to deserve an intervention.
Cross shakes his head. “No fucking clue,” he says, nodding toward Sawyer. “He’s running this show.”
“Yeah,” Sawyer says with unease and nervousness in his deep tone. “I fucked up.”
“The fuck are you talking about?” Zade questions, bracing his hands against the kitchen counter, glaring at Sawyer, only that’s not well received by Sawyer who’s still itching to beat the shit out of him all over again. The tension between them has only gotten worse and Cross and I are constantly on edge, waiting for the moment one of them breaks. Sawyer though, he’s not usually one to fuck up. He’s careful and calculated, just like the rest of us. But he’s only human, and the few times he has fucked up in the past have always been big ones.
“Down in the cells,” Sawyer starts. “The first time I found her in there, she asked me if I was a man of my word. I said yes, and then she called in her favors.”
“We know this,” Zade says, prompting him to get to the point.
Sawyer lets out a heavy sigh. “She asked me to save her, and I assumed she was asking us to free her from Empire’s prison. But that’s not what she was asking me. She wants us to save her,” he says, giving Zade a pointed stare, “from you. And I gave her my word.”
“Fuck,” Cross says, dragging his hand over his face. He turns around and paces the length of the kitchen. “That favor was too fucking easy. I should have known. She wouldn’t waste a favor from each of us on something she knew was already coming.”
Dread fills my veins, practically reading Zade’s thoughts before the words have even fallen from his fucking mouth. “What’s the problem?” he grunts. “Go back on your word. It’s not like you haven’t already lied to her. What’s the fucking difference at this point? You heard her. We haven’t exactly given her the impression that we’re trustworthy people. Besides, she didn’t specify what she meant when asking you to save her, and as far as I’m concerned, we saved her from the cells. We’ve upheld our end of the bargain.”
Sawyer scoffs. “You can try that shit on her all you want, but we both know that’s not gonna fly. She’s going to hold us to it. You included.”
“What does it even matter when she’s going to be dead in twenty-eight days?”
I shake my head, swallowing over the lump in my throat. “It fucking matters,” I tell Zade. “Now that the truth is out there, I’m not fucking lying to her anymore. She deserves more than that. Besides, you’re about to take her life for your own fucking gain. The least you could do is show her enough respect by being honest with her.”
Zade clenches his jaw before dropping his head, hanging it low between his shoulders as he braces himself against the counter. “Being honest with her means admitting just how fucking much of a monster I’ve allowed myself to become for this.”
Cross lets out a breath, his gaze lingering on Oakley through the den. “We all have, man. We all have.”
I shake my head. None of this sits right with me. “I’m gonna go talk with her.”
