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I shrug, not able to form words. I don’t know how I feel right now. Better in some ways, more confused in others, andequally miserable and trapped in thirds. So a shrug is the best I got.
“Are you ready to go downstairs?” Gray asks. Though his tone is low, I hear him perfectly.
With Mama’s words of wisdom fresh in my mind, I reach out for him and take his hand. It’s a small gesture, tame compared to what we’ve shared in the past. But right now, it feels like a big step.
As surprise flicks across his face, I feel more certain that I need to fight. I need to claw my way out of my mental coffin and find out who I am, and what I really want out of life—but I don’t have to do it alone.
The only thing I’m certain of right now is that I belong to Gray. I never want to be without him again, and I need to tell him that.
Grayson
The smell of fresh paint is thick in the air, the renovations in their final stages, thank fuck. Zoe takes the new space in with more curiosity than she had when she ventured out of my apartment for the first time yesterday. I can imagine it was all quite overwhelming for her, realizing that while she was held captive things kept moving forward.
I hate that.
Everything should have fucking stopped. The entire fucking world should have stopped spinning until Zoe was safe back with me. I’d wanted to stop everything, not think of a damn fucking thing but my princess, but I couldn’t. This club is more than me and her, and it fell on me to lead everyone.
Sometimes I think it was probably a blessing, because I was sure to have gotten myself killed trying to find her long before I ever found her, and then, she’d still be there, living the hell she has nightmares of every night as she thrashes next to me in bed.
I want to spill so much fucking blood that the creeks and rivers flow red, tinting the ocean beyond the Santa Cruz shoreline.
“I like the new bar.” Her words are quiet as she breaks little clumps off the bread roll on her plate and nibbles on them.
Zoe is stick thin, and as hungry as she is, it doesn’t take much to fill her now, her stomach having obviously shrunken from being near starved.
Dragging my eyes from studying every expression she makes, I take in the new bar and Tex as he lines up new bottles of whiskey on one of the shelves behind it.
“Tex is pretty happy with it.” I grin, catching her small grin in return.
“Happy is an understatement.” Alana scoffs as she pulls out a chair and flops down in it. “The man is obsessed. Have you seen the fridges behind there? They are glass front drawer fridges and he keeps getting pissy at me every time I open one like I’m gonna break it.”
The small giggle that leaps from Zoe’s mouth shoots warmth to the center of my chest.
Fuck I’ve missed hearing her laugh.
Alana starts rambling about Tex insisting on a new rule of no bar top dancing as my attention gets stolen by Slasher pacing at the back of the room, his hands in his pockets, head bowed and his dark hair falling over his face.
I already know what’s got him so anxious, so I lean in close to Zoe’s ear.
“Princess, I’m gonna go have a chat with Slasher. I’ll stay in this room and won’t take my eyes off you. Okay?”
As I lean back, Zoe turns to look over her shoulder to where Slasher is still pacing and then nods, her blue eyes locking with mine.
“Okay. Don’t leave without me,” she murmurs quietly, fidgeting with the piece of bread in her fingers.
“I’ll never go anywhere without you again,” I promise and her pink lips, looking less cracked and dry today, quirk up slightly at the corners.
Standing from my chair, I reluctantly leave Zoe’s side and take the twelve steps to the back of the room to stand in front of Slasher, forcing his pacing to stop.
“Why are you so nervous?”
He blows out a breath, some of the dark strands of his hair that had fallen in his face lifting away briefly. “I dunno. Itjust feels weird to be a part of the inner circle and that I’ll be meeting them today.”
Them.
He means Dante Hayton and Barrett Marx, also known as Baz.
The Marx family are considered a family you don’t want to mess with in Australia, having ties to the Australian Mafia, and Baz is like an international liaison for the family, securing deals all across the globe while helping Dante in the background.
