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“Huh? What are you going to do?” she spit out, waiting for my answer.
“Or I’ll add some black to go with those pretty blue eyes, bitch.”
She laughed. “You and what army?”
“Like you said, I’m dead anyway. What difference does it make to me if I take one of Ashby’s whores out with me?”
She lunged at me, and Charlie grabbed her around the waist before her long red nails slashed across my face.
“You’re a dead bitch, Savannah Rhymer! Dead!” She kicked and swung at the air as Charlie carried her toward the door. I followed in case he needed backup.
“Don’t you think you can turn my cousin—my family—against me. You can’t! I won’t let you! I will fucking kill you first!” she screamed in Charlie’s arms.
“Maisie, what the fuck?” Charlie set her down on the porch and glared at her.
“What the fuck, me?” she screamed, her hair falling over her face and her flushed face looking close to tears. “What are you thinking, keeping a fucking Rhymer in your house? Does Max know? You’re lucky she hasn’t slit your throat in your sleep, Charlie. You can’t trust her.”
Charlie sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose again with a long-tortured sigh. “You need to stop eavesdropping on conversations not meant for you before you end up hurt.”
“You’re defending her? You know what that brother of hers did to me, Charlie. He kidnapped me, touched me and pumped me full of drugs so he could start selling my body. And now you’re protecting her?”
Okay, now her rage began to make sense. Charlie sighed and shook his head. “Goddammit, Maisie, he did the same to her! His own goddamn sister! I’m sorry you went through that, but you survived. She was on death’s door when I met her!”
“I don’t give a shit. She’s a fucking Rhymer.” She pointed her finger to his chest, stabbing him with each word. “Our fucking enemy!”
“And you’re an Ashby now. You don’t get to tell me who I can and can’t protect. Go home.”
“What?” She sucked in a breath, a world of hurt contained in that one word. “You can’t be serious.”
“I can and I am. Go now, and I won’t tell Virgil or Jasper you were here. Or eavesdropping. Again.”
“You wouldn’t.” The look of disbelief she wore would have been funny if not for the hurt and betrayal underneath.
“This is the real fucking world, Maisie. What do you think would happen if the fucking Jacks knew she was here? Or The Crusaders? You wouldn’t have made it to the fucking door. You’d be on your way back to one of their whorehouses to be pumped full of drugs and fucked, all day, every day until you escaped or killed yourself.”
She sucked in a breath and stared at Charlie and then me, for a long time. “Whatever.”
Like the thoughtful man he was, Charlie waited for her to get back into a sleek blue Mercedes and burn rubber as she drove away. Then he shut the door and locked it.
I felt bad for him, for the stress I’d brought to his life. The drama. The family strife.
“Put some clothes and shoes on,” he said.
I nodded and went upstairs to grab my things because Charlie had finally seen the light. I ignored the stab of pain in my chest and gathered just enough to carry in the nylon duffel bag his mother had given me. It was better to travel light. I slid my feet into the sneakers, leaving the boots and ballet flats along with most of the clothes in the dresser and closet where they belonged.
I went into the living room where Charlie sat deep in thought. “I’m ready,” I said.
Charlie looked up and scowled. “What the fuck are you doing? Put that shit down. We’re going for a ride. Come on.” He snatched his keys from one of the hooks on the wall and stomped toward the door. “I need to clear my goddamn head.”
I shrugged and followed Charlie at a more sedate pace. “Okay. I guess we’re going for a ride.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Charlie
Three hours. I was on my bike, eating up the asphalt, for three goddamn hours, and I was no closer to a solution than when I pulled out of my driveway back in Mayhem. Maisie’s unexpected visit had made everything clear, and by everything, I meant nothing at all.
Helping Savannah had gone just about as Jasper said it would, straight to shit. But of all the things I didn’t know, I knew that helping her was the right thing to do. Maisie could be pissed off all she wanted, the same way my dad, my uncle and my whole damn MC had objected to her marrying into the Ashby family, but she did it anyway, and we all shoved down our objections and helped her celebrate.
