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I make it as far as the door before I stall, head tipped back while I draw a deep breath. “Rae?”
“Uh-huh?”
“Life goes on, okay?” I chance a look over my shoulder and find her frowning as though confused. “I know this shit feels as though it’s all life is right now, but things will change.”
“I know.” Her words are barely more than a whisper.
When the silence stretches on, I step out the door, ensuring I snick the lock before I pull it closed behind me.
Hand in a fist, I set it down atop the blistered rail and draw a deep breath. Fuckers like Connor make my goddamn blood boil. This woman doesn’t deserve a lifetime of paranoia and fear. So what if I know fuck all about her? All I need to know is that there’s a wrong and a right way to treat your woman, and the way Connor fucking Creed went about it was as far from right as a cunt like him could get.
I jog down the stairs. Resolved to do better by her. At least for tonight.
The club has rules. The club has procedures in place for making decisions about shit like this.
But what the fuck do those matter to a young woman afraid for her life?
Fuck all. That’s what.
Which is why, when I reach my bike, I don’t strap my helmet on or fire up the engine. Instead, I take my brother’s advice and reach into the chest pocket of my shirt to pull out a joint, gazing at the backlit windows upstairs when I bring a flame to the tip.
The vote won’t happen until the morning after Rigs gets back from the factory floor.
I haven’t got fuck all to do until then other than wish for sleep to come while my mind plays the reel of my fucked up life.
May as well make myself useful while I do.
5
TYKE
“What’s your gut feeling?”I lift the cigarette to my mouth and turn toward the building to shield my face from the bitter fucking wind that kicked up after the sky went dark.
“She seems a little lost,” Minion states, scratching at the stubble on his square jaw. “But I also get the impression Rae knows more than she lets on.”
“Yeah.” Smoke billows into the cold air before me. “I felt that too.”
“You think she’s working for Terry?”
I shake my head, using my free hand to jerk the collar of my jacket higher around my neck. “Nope. Girl had real fear in those eyes. That much was true.”
“Body language said as much, too.”
I knew my enforcer watched her with rabid intensity for a reason. Fucker trained to be a goddamn detective for two years before he decided the corruption was more than he could stomach. At least within the club, we don’t hide what we do from one another. Activities are twice as shady, but you can trust the man beside you has your back, thick and thin.
You’re not strong-armed into silence over something you didn’t choose to be involved with in the first place.
“Hammer wants her here,” I say. “Thinks we can offer her a week at least to let the heat die down.”
“Terry’s interest in her won’t go away as long as the state keeps sniffin’ around the murder case.”
“Agreed.”
“What did Digger say before he left?”
I eye the gate, a line of small LED lights illuminating the base of the thick steel construction. I should have gone with him. Should have taken Rae home myself, given it was my decision to send her back to the streets.
But I haven’t had a woman on the back of my bike since Charlene. Pretty sure I ain’t the only fucker around here who’s noticed that, either.
