Her bottom lip trembled.
And so did my heart.
I’d spent so much time worrying about letting people walk out on me, I hadn’t even considered who I was letting walk in. This wasn’t the Holly I knew. This wasn’t the woman who had dropped everything to be with me when I needed her. This wasn’t the woman who I’d looked up to like a bright beacon, who had drawn me in and made me feel a little bit of life again.
Who I swore I’d never give up on.
Who I swore I would always answer when she called.
“What the hell happened to you?” I whispered, trying to keep my voice strong, to keep it from breaking like it felt my heart was. “You’re just carrying pills around now? Like a local dealer?"
“A-Avery…” she whispered, her voice cracking, breaking under the pressure.
“Tell me.”
“I can’t.”
“Let me help you then—”
“Holly!” a deep voice shouted from across the parking lot, the both of us snapping our attention that way. “Let’s go,” Cooper called, a sharpness in his tone and on his face that I wasn’t sure I’d seen before. His remarks had always been playful, arrogant, and he hid everything else well. But I could see the shadows, the darkness in his gaze, and how it instantly made Holly curl in on herself.
“What the hell have you done to her,” I screamed, taking at least three steps toward him before Holly grabbed my arm and jerked me back, almost sending me tumbling to the ground. I fought against her, the sneer that curled Cooper’s top lip letting me know things were more serious, that he wasn’t happy with me figuring things out.
“I swear to God, you little shi—”
“Avery,” Holly warned, pushing me further and further back. “Just leave it.”
There was something wrong.
“I can help,” I pleaded, my anger quickly dissipating, and that piece of my heart I thought was broken suddenly beating again, screaming at me to protect her.
“You can’t,” she hissed, shaking her head and turning on her heel then making a run for it.
I watched Cooper bundle her into some fancy BMW, the tires screeching as they pulled out of the parking lot, leaving me standing there.
Confused.
Heartbroken.
Angry.
But positive about one fucking thing—my Holly was in there somewhere, and I wasn’t ready to give up on her.
Not just yet.
AVERY
“You look like someone kicked your puppy,” Slate teased as he took a seat at the bar while I stacked the shelves with fresh sparkling glasses from the dishwasher. He wiped at his hands, though the towel he was using was so dirty and greasy I wasn’t sure if he was cleaning them or merely wiping more grease on.
I let out a huff of laughter and shook my head. “You were right, you know,” I told him, pushing one glass after another up onto the shelf. “I don’t want to put Shotgun in a position where he has to make that choice again.”
The choice to kill someone he knows, someone with who he, at one point, had something of a friendship with because he needed to protect the people he loves.
He didn’t have to ask who I was talking about.
“And yet, you won’t give up on her.”
The words weren’t spoken with malice or judgment, they were simply a statement, one it sounded like he understood.
I paused, placed the glass in my hand down on the counter and turned to Slate. “Holly had my back when I had no one. When I needed her, I could call, and she was there. No judgments. No questions. Just my best friend, ready to fight for me, ready to try and make me laugh, or do whatever it took to help me through the quicksand I felt was slowly drowning me.” I swallowed past the hard lump that had formed in my throat, fighting to get these words out before I broke down completely. “I know her. I know there is something else going on. And the last thing I want to do is turn my back on her when she needs me the most.”
The smirk on his face was unexpected. “As much as I want to just tell you that girl has problems you should not get involved in,” he started, shaking his head. “When your gut is sure about something, it’s sure.”
It was.
My gut told me the Holly I knew just a few months ago before the Beta Beta brotherhood got their claws into her—she was still there. I was somehow missing a part of the puzzle, and for some reason, Holly wasn’t about to let me find it.
“All right, people,” Adrian called, marching down the stairs with Gage under one arm and his playmat rolled up and tucked under the other. “Come, come, come!”
Slate rolled his eyes, spinning on the barstool toward the dramatics.
Gage’s little legs were kicking furiously, his hands clenched into fists. He was excited, and I was instantly drawn in, unable to keep myself from grinning as I hurried around the bar to the small living area on the other side of the room.
“Shotgun!” Adrian’s voice echoed loudly through the clubhouse and out into the connecting garage. It was all hands on deck at the moment, every single patch member out there helping Crush with a wave of modified street cars that came in yesterday.
Crush was a talented mechanic. He knew his shit when it came to engines, any kind at all, but his specialty was modifications and upgrades of older cars as opposed to working with the newer models. It meant he was the go-to man for the young guys and girls in the street racing scene. And this weekend just so happened to be some kind of boy racer meet-up in Phoenix.
Cars from all over the damn country. Many of them just trying to get some time with Crush. Some to get work done, others for advice or where to take their mechanical babies next.
And they paid big dollars for just that.
Which was why the boys—though most of them with some experience but not more than average—were busy trying to get all the minor jobs done. Like changing oil, putting on new brake pads and tires and just general touch-ups, so Crush is freed up to do the major mechanical upgrades and chat with these young people about where they should head next with their projects. It was a team effort, and great money and publicity for the club’s business.
“Shotgun!” Adrian called again, this time a lot louder and a little more high-pitched, followed by a wide grin. “Shotg—”
“I swear someone better be fucking dying,” Shotgun grumbled, walking through the adjoining door with a heavy frown, a handful of brothers trudging along behind him just out of curiosity. “Because if you are not dying, you will be fucking soon for screeching inside my fucking clubhouse.”
“Yeah, yeah…” Adrian waves him off, and I let out a snort, unable to stop the laugh that was bubbling in my throat. Every eye in the room staring at me with a mix of looks. “Anyway… I need everyone to watch this.”
With Gage’s soft mat already laid out on the floor, Adrian placed the excited little boy down on his back before crouching down to his left. “Come on, Gage,” he urged, pulling Gage’s attention to him.
He started kicking again, getting excited, and a second later, he was pushing his little body to the side. My mouth fell open, and I looked over to Shotgun, who was completely and utterly encompassed by his son as he kicked and battled and pushed for probably a good few minutes before finally tipping onto his belly.