I call Natalie next, missing my sister. “How are you?” she asks.
“Fine. I’m stuck inside, just trying to stay alive, you know how it is.”
“Don’t even joke,” she grumbles. “I’m doing the same. I had to miss two of my exams. Luckily they are going to let me retake them, but still. I have to come up with a doctor’s note, so now I’m going to have to bribe a doctor or something.”
“I’m sorry,” I say. “But you will still get to do them, and you will ace them, like always. I’m just happy to know that you are safe.”
“We are fine. We’re just worried about you. Dad wanted to come down with a few of the men, but then it leaves us without protection, and the Knights have said they will handle it. Dad’s not happy. He literally walks around the clubhouse all day, pacing, like a fucking zombie.”
“Tell him I’m fine. I’m living with an FBI agent, a cop and an ex-cop. I think I’m good.”
Natalie laughs. “True. And a sexy ex-cop at that. Mom said the sparks were literally flying off from you two.”
“I like him,” I admit.
“And I like seeing you happy, big sister. You deserve it.”
I’m smiling when we end the call, and Clover comes and sits next to me. “Where did Decker go?”
“To his office, I think.”
She hesitates, and gently nudges me with her arm. “I don’t think the men liked our plan.”
“They didn’t seem to, no.”
“They think that they have a better one,” she grumbles, wrapping her arm around me. “You know I love you, right?”
I still. “What did you do, Clover?” I know my best friend well enough to know when she is being sketchy. We don’t like to lie to each other, and there have been times, like now, when I can tell that she has done something or knows something I’m not going to like.
“You trust me, right?”
“Of course I do—”
“Okay, well, then—”
She’s cut off when Felix rushes into the room. “We have a problem.”
“What?” Clover and I both ask in unison. We both stand up, alert, bracing ourselves for what the fuck else has gone wrong now.
“Apparently Con just came to the house to drop off some flowers for you, Cara,” he says, scrubbing his hand down his face. “And they saw her. You know how she kind of looks like you, right?”
“Is she okay?” I ask, grabbing on to Clover’s hand and squeezing it.
“Atlas saw a car following hers when she left. So he got into his car and went behind them.”
“Fucking hell. I literally just spoke to her and said we would catch up when I could see her.” I groan, looking at Clover. “What do we do? I can’t just let her be followed by a gang just because she resembles me a little.”
“Atlas has it under control for now,” Felix assures me, turning me to face him and holding on to my arms. “I’m going to call Decker now. She will be okay.”
Felix goes to call Decker, and I start pacing, just like Natalie said our dad was. “If something happens to her because of me—”
“It won’t,” Clover promises, hugging me. “I hate sitting here and just waiting as much as you do. But us rushing out now isn’t the best idea—it could get us all killed.”
“Decker is on his way there now,” Felix says, a muscle ticking in his jaw. I know he wants to be out in the action, too.
“Clover and I will be fine here, we can hold down the fort. You go and help Decker,” I tell him.
He shakes his head. “They have eyes on this place—I don’t want to risk it. And yes, I know you both are badass, strong women, but they have numbers. I’m aware you can both defend yourself, but what if, say, ten of them make it through the gates somehow. Then what?”
“The chances of getting through the gates are low—”
“They could still shoot through them like they did last time,” he points out.
“I just feel so helpless. I don’t want to be sitting here while everyone else is out fighting my fight!”
“You mean Rhett’s fight,” Felix replies, eyes gentling when our gazes connect. “This isn’t your fight, Cara. You’ve just been dragged into this and used as a scapegoat.”
And that is the truth of the situation, but it hurts to hear him say it out like that. This isn’t my fight, and none of us should be fighting it. Rhett should be here, sorting his own shit out, but it’s all fallen on us.
“It’s part of being involved with the club.”
“I know,” Felix replies gently. “But you aren’t in the club. Besides, they aren’t targeting the rest of the club. Right now they just want to hurt Rhett and they’re going to use you to do that.”
“Rhett isn’t here—”
“Exactly.”
I look at Clover, who has her arms crossed over her chest, lost in thought. When she doesn’t come to Rhett’s defense, I know she feels the same way too, like Rhett should be here solving the whole thing instead of off on a damn vacation while we are getting shot at.
None of us want him hurt, but we didn’t exactly ask for any of this either, and now Con has been dragged into it, too.
Fuck.
What a mess.
One minute I was a high school teacher keeping a low profile, and now I’m here, hiding from a gang of forgotten, basically unloved children—or at least that’s what I’m getting from their name—and trying to keep everyone I love from being killed.
How did we get here?
“Let’s all go then. If they have eyes on us, they will follow us and maybe we can lead them away from Con. We can redirect them,” I suggest, grabbing my handbag with my gun in it. “We can all be fucking bait.”
Felix and Clover share a look, and I know they are probably wondering if I’ve finally lost my mind. Maybe I have. All I know is that I’m done sitting here.
“What if we go, and then they chase us, and catch us? Then what?” Felix asks me, brow furrowing. “They shoot us? We shoot them?”
Clover goes into her bedroom and comes out with her gun and a set of keys. Felix looks at her like she has also lost her damn mind.
“What?” she asks, examining her weapon. “I want to be ready just in case we go rogue.”
“We are not going rogue. Are you all forgetting I’m a police officer?”