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Zoe’s brows shoot up and the moment she crosses her arms over her chest and pops her hip, I know Rocco isn’t going to get any answers.
“If someone helped me, and I’m not saying that someone did, I wouldn’t tell you or anyone else.”
In an instant, Rocco is up from his seat and storming around the table toward my princess.
“Look here. We are risking a lot by protecting you. You’d better fucking tell me what I need to know.” The moment I realize he intends to lay his hands on her, I’m out of my seat too, hurrying to the other end of the room. By the time I get there, Rocco is fisting the front of Zoe’s top, and I see red.
“Back the fuck off, man!” I roar, shoving my president, my friend, away from Zoe.
Rocco stumbles back a step, his lip curling in a sneer. “She fucking knows!”
I shove Zoe behind me and shake my head. “Doesn’t mean you can lay your hands on what’s mine.”
“Fuck!” he roars, and I turn to Zoe.
“Princess, are you sure you can’t just fucking tell us what we need to know?”
“No one helped me.” She lies, and fuck I wish I didn’t know it was a lie.
“Leave.” I growl, her blue eyes going wide as I try really fucking hard to rein in my anger.
Zoe shoots me a glare before turning on her heel and leaving the room quickly, and I turn back to Rocco.
“Sorry,” he mutters, dragging a hand through his already unkempt hair. “But if Gunner is right… If it was Cara…” He shakes his head.
“Don’t forget Alana.” I point out, and Rocco shakes his head.
“She may have had a hand in it, but she was taking her orders from Cara. Alana won’t go unpunished, but for now, I need to focus on the instigator.” He drops to his haunches and fists his dark hair, tugging at the roots in frustration. “Fuuuck!”
“We can fix this. So far, it’s only you, me and Gunner that know.” I rasp, feeling emotions I’m not ready for come to the surface.
“I can’t keep this from the club. I can’t have one set of rules for me and one set of fucking rules for everyone else.” He rasps, his voice gravelly with emotion as he peers up at me. “The betrayal has been presented. I can’t not do something about it. Fucking hell, if it’s not death, it’s banishment.” Rocco chokes out, and I can see how much he wants to rewrite the club rules. But they are there for a reason. Hell, Mama helped him create the rules in the beginning.
“How could she do this?” His shoulders drop in defeat, and guilt settles deep in my gut.
“It’s my fault.” I admit. “If I hadn’t done what I did at Dirty Diamonds to Zoe, then Mama would never have felt like she needed to save Zoe from us. From me.”
Rocco sighs. “It is pretty fucked what you did.”
I inwardly cringe at his honesty. But accept it.
“Would you like me to leave the club? Perhaps I should be banished for my actions.”
He shakes his head. “You didn’t betray the club that day. Only Zoe’s image of you.” Rocco shakes his head, rising back up to stand. “I can’t kill Cara. I fucking love her.”
My gut twists at his emotional admission. Sure, they have been together for years, but I’ve never heard him speak like that about her.
“I know,” I say quietly, shuffling on my feet with the discomfort of this conversation.
“I have to banish her.” He nods to himself.
“Surely you can override the rules. Hell, you can re-write them.”
“To what end?” he asks. “I feel like I’m failing this club. All those men,” he points toward the door that leads out into the clubrooms, “they joined us because they trusted me. They have done unspeakable things in the name of the Cruz Kings. If… no,” he shakes his head, “not if, but when they find out that Cara,myCara, helped a prisoner escape, any respect they had for me will fucking die. Especially if I stand by and do nothing about it.”
Shit. He’s right. I know he’s right. I just don’t want him to be. It’ll slowly kill Rocco from the inside if he has to send her away.
Fuck. I think it will slowly kill me too.
