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“Wow, this place looks a lot different in the light,” I said quietly to myself as I stood at the top of a large staircase.
It really was quite stunning, a masterpiece of industrial architecture. The staircase itself was large and dramatic, each step a dark metallic gray with the little criss-cross patterns that you see on metal flooring to increase friction so you don’t slip. The banister was simple but also matched the theme with wood-stained handrails and thick steel rope running beneath it.
It was badass.
There was really no other way to describe it.
I could feel Drake smirking behind me as we made our way down the stairs.
I didn’t have to look. The air changed when he smiled. It made things lighter, maybe a little warmer. I was starting to learn that—the way his moods and emotions seemed to impact the world around him. Or maybe it was more how the world around him impacted his emotions. Because I swear since we stepped into this clubhouse, he was smiling more, his body relaxed.
“This is home,” he explained when we reached the bottom of the staircase.
The building itself was an old factory. The space at the front part of the building was where they had a bar, some tables, and a couple of couch areas. The ceiling height above it was probably more than two stories high with large windows at the top I had no idea how anyone was going to be able to clean.
The large metal staircase we just came down was at the other end of the space and led up to a handful of bedrooms that explained were like his, enough space for a bed, some furniture, with attached bathrooms.
Almost like dorm rooms at university.
Or like a frat house but with Harleys and guns.
The club logo hung in several places around the walls, a handful of leather jackets adorning one wall, and your typical motorcycle parts and images decorated too, though they seemed to all have a place and weren’t just tossed-around aesthetics.
“Ah, my dear sister-in-law,” a young guy with short ashy blond hair declared as he stepped out from behind the bar with a wide grin.
“Cassie, this is Ripley, my little brother,” Drake introduced. “Pain in my ass and fucking know it all.”
“Nice shiner you’ve got there, I’d hate to see the other guy.”
“Fucking hell, Rip,” Drake growled, shoving his brother in the shoulder.
Drake tilted his head back and pinched his eyes closed while Ripley covered his smile with his mug, but not before I caught it. He took a sip at what I assumed was some kind of coffee. Though I also wouldn’t be surprised if I were wrong.
Ripley’s smile was different than Drake’s. It was wider, much less controlled. I could already tell the brothers’ personalities, for the most part, were pretty opposite. Rip seemed to let the words roll out of his mouth with absolutely no sensor, while the few days I’d spent with Drake, I’d begun to notice the small moment of thought he had before he made a move or answered anything important. It was a pause most people wouldn’t notice because it was so brief.
“You don’t need to entertain his smartass comments,” Drake said, hitting Ripley with another narrowed glare. A warning shot.
Maybe jokes about Brian’s death, a death I was responsible for, shouldn’t have been funny.
But you know what would’ve been less funny?If it had been me.
“Honestly,” I started, sucking in a deep breath. “It feels kind of good to actually acknowledge that he’s gone. And that I’m still here.”
It would never be easy to live with knowing I took a life from this earth. But I was trying to come to terms with it in a way I could actually live with for the rest of my life so it wouldn’t haunt me or drag me down.
“From what I heard, it was either you or him,” Ripley said, his voice becoming a little lower and more serious. “Don’t ever feel bad for choosing you.”
I swallowed past the hard lump in my throat, my head bobbing in agreement.
Drake had all but banned me from looking at the news or online.
I knew people were calling me a murderer.
I knew they thought I’d done the wrong thing or gotten away with something I should’ve been locked up for.
But had they ever looked in someone’s eyes and seen the end?
Had they ever felt that close to death they would’ve done anything to escape its talons?
