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I sucked in a breath. “Who left you, Wylde?”
“Everyone who’s ever been in my life. My mom. Foster parents. Friends.”
“They died?”
“Some of them. My mom just split. Never knew my dad. The sisters at the Catholic home for boys where I lived after that said I was too much trouble and turned me over to the state. Foster parents came and went. Same reason as the sisters kicked me out. When I went to the military there were guys I thought of as friends, but most of them either died or moved on with their lives. Everyone but Cyrus. That’s where I met him.”
“But you ended up here. With Iron Tzars.”
“I did.” He lifted his chin. “Because of Cyrus. They’ve all stuck by me like no one ever has, but sometimes even they want to cut me loose.”
“I think you’re wrong, Wylde. One thing I’ve learned from watching everyone and talking with the women here is that this is a family. You may get mad at family, may hate some of the things they do, but you never give up on them.” I shook my head. “No one here would ever give up on you.”
He snorted, giving me a wry look. “Don’t bet your sweet ass on it.”
“I absolutely would.”
“You saw Deacon attack me. Ain’t sayin’ I didn’t deserve it, but he’d have happily continued if he thought he could have gotten away with it.”
“And who would have stopped him?” I glared at Wylde. “You certainly weren’t going to. You didn’t lift a finger to defend yourself. Or even prevent him from hitting you and I know you could have.”
“Told you. I deserved everything he dished out and more.”
“Uh-huh. You baited him. You wanted the exact reaction from him you got.”
The widening of his eyes said he didn’t expect me to notice that. Then they were veiled once more.
“You know, Deacon’s got plans on claiming Apple for his own. He’ll wait until she’s eighteen, but only because he feels like she should be eighteen. If he felt like sixteen was old enough to take him on, he’d do it now.”
“Deacon’s a good man. I can see that with the way he is with Apple and Lemon. And the respect he showed me.”
“He’s been texting her for a little while now. I hacked his and Apple’s phones. You know. To see what he was saying to her. And to make sure he wasn’t talkin’ to another woman while he was talkin’ with Apple.”
“Wylde! That’s a huge invasion of her privacy! And Deacon’s!”
“Also put a tracking app on her and Lemon’s phone.” He met my gaze with a cocky grin. It was the first time I’d seen a glimpse of the Wylde I knew. “Put one on yours too.”
“Good Lord.” I threw up my hands in exasperation, but the smile tugging at my lips wouldn’t be denied. “Why would you do that?”
“To keep track of you guys, of course. The girls were having trouble at school. You had a crazy bitch after you. Seemed prudent.”
“Why not just ask permission to do something like that?”
“You might have refused. And I’d have done it anyway. I just saved myself time and aggravation.”
“You’re sounding more like you now.” I laid a palm against his cheek, giving him a little smile. “Feeling better?”
He shook his head, swallowing once. “I could have lost you.”
“You didn’t. You came for us.”
“Not soon enough. I waited outside your house for a couple hours. Then rode a couple more. If I’d stayed --”
“You might have gotten shot. Or worse.”
“You were shot!” he barked, shooting to his feet, keeping his back to me. “You were fucking shot, Danica!”
“I was. But Stitches fixed me up and I’m fine.”
