That makes her freeze. “Can’t or won’t?”
I meet her eyes. “Both.”
After a long moment, she speaks again. “You were his best friend and always looked out for him.”
“I’m still looking out for him.”
“No,” she says, shaking her head. “You’re protecting the people who want to kill him.”
I push to my feet, pacing the floor. “Don’t twist this, Lolo. I didn’t put him in this mess. When I got back to the clubhouse and told Maverick that Ty wasn’t dead, he immediately put in the call and received a direct order to end him.”
She doesn’t back down, just stares at me, eyes hard but glassy around the edges. “You better find a way to stop it then or I swear I’ll burn your clubhouse to the ground with every one of you inside!”
“You still don’t get it,” I grit out, anger rising in my chest. “If I don’t handle this, I’m dead too. Jameson’s not the forgiving type. He doesn’t give a shit that Ty was my best friend. I failed, and now it’s on me to fix it.”
“Then where does that leave us, Malcolm? “ she snaps. “If you can’t stop this, what the fuck am I supposed to do?”
“Look, we’ll figure it out. For now, get him out of town. That’ll buy us some time.”
“I’m already working on a list of rehab facilities outside of Atlanta. Will that work for now?”
“Yeah, that’s actually a solid move. Gives me time to dig into the cartel he’s tangled up with.”
She goes quiet. Her beautiful brown eyes shine, but she doesn’t let the tears fall.
“I joined the Atlanta PD because I wanted to make a difference,” she says softly.
I nod. “So you ended up on a drug task force.”
“Yeah. I trained my ass off to prove I belonged. Every time I saw someone nodding off in an alley, I saw Ty. I couldn’t just walk a beat and pass off intel. It was too personal. It became my mission.”
“That’s not a bad thing, Lolo.”
“No, it’s not. But after what went down tonight… part of me wishes the drugs had killed him.”
She abruptly stands, putting herself in check. “I’ll get him into rehab. You keep your president off his back.”
“I’ll try.”
“Try harder,” she snaps, grabbing her jacket. “Because if Jameson gets to him first, I’ll make sure every patch wearing that crown and skull burns… including you.”
She’s gone before I can say anything else.
The door slams. No warmth left in the room. Just the echo of old laughter and something colder.
I look around, staring at the same walls that held our innocence. The same ghosts that promised a bright future.
Ty was supposed to make it out. Londyn was supposed to save people. I was supposed to have a career in the military.
Instead, we’re all back here. Stuck.
And I can’t shake the feeling that the next time we cross paths, it won’t be as friends.
Grabbing the bottle of whiskey, I drop back into the chair. No glass this time. Just take the burn straight from the neck. Lolo’s threat hangs in the air, and I’m struggling to process.
My gun digs into my back, Jameson’s order echoing in my head like a war drum.
Ty.
