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“Not that I know of,” Finn replied. “I can’t speak for my cousins. They don’t exactly know I’m undercover.” He sighed, then offered me a deep frown. “Samara called and texted me a few times. Damien’s been watching me like a fucking hawk around the club, so I haven’t really had the time to call her back.”
Fuck.
“I need a new phone.” I let out a painful breath and tiredly rubbed at my still battered and partially swollen eyes. “She’s probably pissed with me. I need to reach out to Phantom, too. Problem is, he’ll want info, and I don’t have anything solid to deliver. I’ve been holed up in here for the last three days trying to recover.”
“That’s partly why I’m here. I overheard Damien talking on the phone with the other lords yesterday.”
“What did he say?”
“He was talking about an expansion—something about establishing a new trade outside of the club. I was eavesdropping, so I only heard little snippets, but he did say something about rounding up a fresh batch of women for a trial run. I could be wrong, but it sounded to me like he’s trying to open an illegal whore house.”
I ground my teeth, furious but not surprised the least bit. “He did say we would be switching things up,” I said, recalling the words Father had spoken to me Friday night. “Phantom won’t be happy with—”
“The Ravagers are the least of your worries. Unc decided to reopen the trials to help up our numbers against Damien. He has Phantom and the others focusing on that right now. The first trial is next week. While they’re handling that, you and I have to keep your father at bay and keep his attention span focused elsewhere. The longer we keep him distracted, the more time it’ll buy us Ravagers to gather and better prepare. And trust me, Jace, we need as much time as we can salvage, especially after that stunt Phantom pulled at the club Friday night.”
“What?” The critical look in his eye made my stomach flip and had me blinking wide-eyed at him. “What stunt?”
“I don’t know all the details,” he said, grinding his teeth. “Someone must’ve bumped into him or something because Phantom flipped shit and pulled his gun. Isaac stopped him before anyone was hurt or killed, but shit took a dark turn awfully fast after that. All Ravagers are banned from stepping foot inside Outlaw territory now. Damien gave all Outlaws the order to kill on sight if we disobey.”
I tensely scrubbed a hand down my face and released the long breath I’d been holding, nodding indignantly to myself as I took it all in. “Has Father said anything about taking anyfurtheraction?”
Finn thankfully shook his head. “Not yet. He’s still pretty roasted over losing‘his merchandise,’as he likes to call them. But that doesn’t mean he won’t up and suddenly change his mind. Youknowhow heartless and volatile that bastard is.”
I nodded to that unmistakable truth. Nobody knew that better than I did.
“Which brings me back to the reason I’m here,” Finn continued. “He wants to see us, like, right now.”
“Of course, he does,” I chided with a grim scoff. “The fuck could he possibly want now?”
Finn shook his head again, shrugging. “All I know is what he told me, which is for the two of us to report to the club immediately. My best guess? It’s got to be about the girls. If not that, then he could be sending us on another job. It’s up in the air until we get there and find out.”
I miserably sighed, not in the mood to deal with any of this shit. What my father did to me was unjust, hollow, and callous. And now that he knew I was in love with Samara, there was no telling what fresh fuckery he was just itching to bestow upon me next.
But… Finn was right.
Despite our domestic crises, the war was far from over. We were off to one hell of a start, and now that we’d unleashed what I both knew and feared would be an untamable beast, it was left up to us—me and Finn—to keep shit confined. We had to beextremelycareful from this point forward. Ginger and those girls’ safety were resting on our shoulders. I fucking hated this shit, because I already knew what this meant for both me and Finn moving forward. If keeping everyone safe, even us, means having to kiss my father’s ass, kidnap, or kill innocent people, then so be it. It may not be justifiable, and it sure as fuck won’t give us any brownie points with the big man in the sky, but for the sake of our survival, I’d do whatever it takes. Even if it means having to suffer through a thousand beatings from my old man’s hands.
“Fine.” I slowly made my way to my feet, limping a little. “Give me like ten minutes to get dressed and shit. I’ll meet you at the car.”
“You sure you won’t need any help getting there?” he asked, a sad look crossing his face as he eyed over my bare, bandaged leg.
“Nah. I think I still have Samara’s old set of crutches stowed away in my closet. I’ll use those if I have to.”
Finn cracked a playful smile, but he didn’t speak on it. I rolled my eyes, then turned away from him to make the short but painful trek back to my bedroom.
Nine
Finn
Aswewereonthe way to the club, I let Jace borrow my cell to call Samara. He’d have been better off texting her. We knew she was in classes right now and couldn’t answer, but Jace was just adamant he had to hear her voice, even if it was from her voicemail.
“Hey, you’ve reached Samara,”her pre-recorded voice faintly echoed through the speaker.“I’m poor as fuck, so either my phone is off, or I just didn’t give a fuck less about answering your call. Leave me a message if it’s that important.”
Jace let out a small chuckle next to me and shook his head. When the littlebeepcame, he left one of the sweetest voicemails he could muster, which mostly consisted of him apologizing profusely and promising to always love her until the day he died. My heart squeezed the more I listened to him talk, and it took all my strength not to reach over to the glove compartment to fetch my burner. He made me want to call Ginger, to sit in my SUV and talk to her for hours, promising her all the same things Jace was promising to his own beloved.
Soon, baby. We’ll be together again soon.
I promise.
