AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m gonna go talk to Heidi, try to calm shit down.”
Hawk heads inside, and Rage waits until he’s gone before he sits back down on the bench, tugging me with him.
“You don’t deserve that.”
Don’t I? My father has destroyed all these lives. Killing men in the life is different to murdering innocents. The people the Sons have lost should not have died.
“I didn’t expect to be welcomed with open arms.”
I don’t need to know him to understand how pissed he is. He’s not very good at hiding his emotions. “They’re gonna have to deal with it. You ain’t leaving, and their feelings on the matter ain’t gonna change that.”
I rub my thumb over the back of his hand, trying to soothe him. “Give it time, Beau. It’s a lot to expect them to be friendly considering who I am.”
He lifts his chin to meet my gaze. “You just told me that we’re not defined by our names.”
My smile is a little sad as I trail my fingers over his cheek. “We’re not, and in time, they’ll see I’m not a threat to them, but for now, they can’t see past my blood. I don’t even blame them for that. I’m a threat to their life here, to their men and their families. They’re right to be angry and suspicious.”
“They’ll come around in time,” he says, though I’m not sure if that’s for my benefit or his.
I want to believe it, but hurt and anger are deep rivers to navigate.
“It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not. They don’t have to be your friend, Skye, but they do need to respect the mother of my fuckin’ kid.”
I lift his hand and kiss his knuckles. He watches me do it with an unreadable look on his face. “Don’t worry about me,” I tell him. “I’ve weathered worse.”
“I’m sure you have, but ain’t having that shit. Howler wants you here, and that’s all that fuckin’ matters.”
Howler… he wants me here. I don’t have the guts to ask Rage if he wants me here too, but it’s a question I’m dying to have an answer to.
I don’t know what I feel for Rage, nor he for me, but the little things he does for me, the way he protects me, has my emotions in a tailspin. I shouldn’t like it or want him to defend me, so why does my stomach fill with butterflies every time he does?
CHAPTER10
RAGE
Murder is a messy business. The blood caked under my fingernails doesn’t come away easily, despite the flow of water and soap on my hands. I’ve never really considered the severity of what I do, but watching the pink flow as I sluice my skin clean unsettles me in a way it never has.
I don’t remember the faces of the men I kill or hurt. I’m usually in a haze, focused on the anger surging through me, but this time was different. I didn’t feel that disconnect. I watched the light in that fuck’s eyes dim before his glassy gaze was staring into the abyss, and I don’t have the first clue why it bothered me so much.
The guy was a Pioneer, the same scum who has been attacking my club and my brothers. The same scum who will take Skye from me if they discover her location.
I shouldn’t feel shit, but for the first time since I started killing, the blood coating me isn’t just physical—it’s embedded in me. I feel the weight of that kill more than all the others combined.
I don’t know what’s changed, but it fuckin’ scares me. I’m only useful to the club because of what I can do and the ruthlessness in which I get it done.
I shake myself as I twist my hands under the water, which is running clear now, but I don’t stop scrubbing. I can still feel the warm stickiness coating my skin, despite the fact my skin is clean.
“Kid.”
Hawk’s voice makes me jolt. I didn’t hear the brother come up behind me, but when I lift my eyes to the mirror hanging over the sink, he’s leaning against the door jamb. The serious expression on his face isn’t unusual, but for some reason, it makes my spine snap straight.
“What’s wrong?”
I turn the faucet off, ignoring the need to keep cleaning my hands, and reach for the hand towel hanging at the side of the basin.
“I’m worried about you,” he admits.
