Riley quickly shuts the door, her clothes bunched in her arms. “You’re bleeding.” I gasp, absorbing the sight of her body as she rushes to dress herself. She has cuts and bruises everywhere.
“Did Kai do that to you?” I urge.
She halts her movements, her eyes narrowing to slits. “Mind your fucking business, Drew. Not everyone wants some sappy love story like you and Alec.”
What a bitch. Holding up my hands, I move past her. “Just making sure you were okay. No need to be a bitch.”
“Drew,” she calls after me, slipping on her boots that cost more than every piece of clothing I own. “Kai helps me…don’t think bad of him.”
“Whatever. Forget you even saw me,” I tell her.
“I will, and you do the same, yeah?”
Yeah, sure. What the fuck ever.
“Hey, you.” Jackie smiles at me when I enter the kitchen, a nasty bruise around her neck. “You okay?” I lift my chin to her throat.
Laughing awkwardly, she rubs her hand there. “Oh…yeah. One of the boys likes to roleplay and gets a bit rough.” She shrugs. Barb comes out of the pantry, carrying an armful of breakfast stuff.
“Drew?” She looks surprised to see me, her face losing some of its color.
She places her haul down and grabs me by the arm. “You shouldn’t be here, darling.”
“I was just getting a drink.” I point to the kitchen sink.
She ushers me out into the hallway.
“Listen, sweetheart, I want you to go out the back exit and head straight for the gate. I’m going to open it for you, and I want you to go straight to your aunt’s.”
“Why? What’s going on?” She looks worried, her words coming out too fast, her eyes darting all around, watching who’s nearby.
“Just trust me, okay? Be a good girl now.” She pushes me toward the back exit and rushes off to presumably open the gates from the security room.
Voices, raised and aggressive, come from the main room as I sneak past it. Looking through the window, I see a smartly dressed man talking with Viking. His fist slams down on the table. Standing abruptly, Viking orders the brothers, “Go collect this traitor bastard.”
A burst of movement sounds as his army marches to his beat. He turns to the door I’m standing behind, and I quickly duck out of view, almost screeching when Kai’s hand comes down to cover my mouth, his body pushing against mine. “Shhh,” he whispers, then tugs me down the hall to his room. He pins me against the wall of his bedroom, holding his finger to his lips, pointing to the door. I bob my head, trying to stop my racing heart. I don’t know how I know, but I just do. This is about my dad.
Feet pound outside Kai’s room, the banging on another door close by, sending alarm bells ringing in my head, fear trickling through my bloodstream. What the hell is happening?
“What the fuck?” Alec bellows. It was his bedroom door…
“You got Drew in here?”
“No. She went to get food and get drinks. Why?”
“You don’t let her leave this place, understood?”
Thud.
“Why? What the fuck’s going on?” Alec calls out down the hall.
“Don’t fucking question me, boy. Just do as I fucking say.”
My heart races in my chest. Sweat coats my skin as nausea stirs my stomach. When I hear Alec’s door slam and footfalls fade, I close my eyes and swallow down the stone lodged in my throat.
“Why is Prez looking for you?” Kai asks. He’s shirtless and still covered in smeared blood one hand on the wall next to my shoulder. “Is that Riley’s blood?” I ask instead. I have no fucking clue why Viking wants me, but it scares the hell out of me.
“Not important. That man in the other room is a fed. He’s Jeremy Koynakov. You been a bad girl?”
“Fuck off, Kai,” I spit out. It only causes him to grin. He holds up his hand, showing me the scar I created years ago. “I’ve never forgotten this.”
“Hard to when you have to live with seeing it every day,” I scoff, smacking his hand away when he moves my hair to look at my scar.
“I was an asshole back then, but I’m different now. And this doesn’t make you ugly—quite the opposite.”
“I don’t have time for scar bonding, Kai. You going to turn me over to Prez or let me go?”
Holding his hands up in surrender, he backs away.
“Would be a waste to let him have you. He wouldn’t let me watch.”
Swallowing my disgust, I turn slowly and open the door, peering out. “You were wrong too,” I tell him over my shoulder.
“How so?”
“You haven’t changed, you’re still an asshole.” When I see the coast is clear, I count to three in my head and chance a run for the back exit not risking returning to Alec’s room in case his dad comes back. Bursting through the doors, I get two feet and smack into the meaty wall of Viking and fall back onto my ass with a grunt of pain.
“Sorry, sweetheart,” he drawls as I get to my feet. “I see everything in my club.” He reaches out, snatching me up by the throat, making me gasp and choke for breath. I hit my fists down on his arms, struggling and failing. I know now where Jackie’s bruises came from.
“Sins of the father,” he growls in my face, and darkness creeps in from the corners of my eyes, my lungs ablaze desperate for air, then Viking jolts sideways, and suddenly I’m released and falling to the ground in a heap. My lungs gobble down much needed air as Alec rams his dad, wrapping his arms around his waist and taking him to the asphalt. They grapple and shout, and I scramble to my feet and dart off running. Tears bleeding from my eyes, blurring everything around me. I push my legs forward, heaving from exhaustion, my feet burning and sore, my boots still in Alec’s room. Alec…
Nothing feels real. Thoughts plague me, splintering into shards of pain. I should be floating on a cloud of bliss right now. Instead, my kingdom is falling to ash around me, suffocating me in the dust.
The club house gets farther from view, but in the back of my mind, I know Viking could easily be on his bike looking for me by now. Sorrow soaks my heart. I’ve known this man almost my entire life. Felt like we were a family, and so quickly, he attacks me…for what?
Hiccups jolt my body as sobs consume me. Every molecule inside me wants to turn around and run back to Alec, to the safety of his embrace. Instead, terror has me sticking out a thumb until someone eventually pulls over. It’s a truck with a young guy inside. Nerves eat away at me. “Hey. You okay?” he asks, rolling down his window, giving me a once over. “You need a ride?”
This is dangerous, and I don’t have my knife on me. Shit. “If you try anything, I’ll gouge your eyeballs out with my thumbs,” I warn. His eyes widen. Taking off his cap, he uses his forearm to wipe the sweat there. “Sounds fair.” He bows his head, slipping it back on.
How did everything turn so bad so fast?
Nine
Alec
Twenty years old
A few minutes later…
Animalistic growls rumble from my chest as I rain down blows on my old man. The cold barrel of a gun pinned against my temple brings my movements to a halt. I'm shoved from straddling my old man’s waist, Jimmy’s weapon still pointed at me.