“Do you believe in God?”she whispered.
“Not the one your daddy worships.”
“Good,” she said, leaning closer.“Because He would hate this.”
I fucked her.
“You’re the only one who sees me,” she whispered.
Maybe that’s why she’s so dangerous.
Because part of me never stopped seeing her.We fucked for a long time.That’s over now.
I light another cigarette and walk away from the door before I damn myself further.Tomorrow, I have to make a choice.
About Sophie.
About Becki.
About Crowley.
About the missing girls.
About the monster we all pretend doesn’t stalk the Hollow after dark.
Tonight, all I have are ghosts.
And they know me by name.
Chapter 4
Sophie
I’m two seconds away from burning this whole goddamn clubhouse down to the cinderblock foundation.
The bourbon bottle in my hand drips sweat down my wrist as I stalk across the common room.The brothers don’t look at me directly.Nobody with half a brain makes eye contact with a woman in this mood.But I feel their nervous glances scraping over me.They watch like men standing too close to a live wire.Like they expect sparks.Like they know someone’s about to get lit up and pray it ain’t them.
Becki Crowley is still here.
Still chained up in Royal’s room like she belongs to us.Still breathing our air.Still feeding off every crack in this club like mold in a wet wall.And what pisses me off the most?Everyone’s pretending this is normal.
I slam the bottle down on the counter so hard the glass rattles.Oaks flinches mid pool shot.Whiskey and Lex exchange looks.Derby’s dart flies in the wrong direction.
“Oaks.”My voice snaps like a whip.“Where the hell is Legend?”
He blinks at the red felt like it might save him.“In the old warden’s office, I think.”
Of course he is.When the Kings of Anarchy need to hide something from me, plot, argue, lie, they go to church.Not a holy chapel.Their war room.The place outlaws whisper about what lines they’re willing to cross.
They never think I hear the thunder behind those doors.
I spin, storming down the hallway.The Lockup is quiet this early, too quiet.A hush that feels like breath held under water.
I stop at the end of the hall, facing the locked door.
Royal’s room.
That’s where she is.
