The girl I rescued.Cider.Names familiar.I probably met her in town at some point, heard about her.That terror, her bruises, her warning, should be the only thing in my head right now.It should be.
But Legend’s hands won’t stop replaying.
His voice in my ear.
His growl when I pushed him.The way he said my name.
I yank open the drawer where I keep my pistol and check the magazine.Full.Good.I put it away for the night.But tomorrow, when I see the Kings again, when I sit across from Royal and Becki and tell the club what I found, I need to show up steady.
Not shaken.
Not like that I figure the only real monster is my old daddy living under this very roof.
I lock the door, kill the lights, and fall into bed without undressing.The sheets smell like home.Earth and hay and faint cedar.
But all I feel is the ghost of Legend’s hands.
And the bone-deep certainty.I plan to keep him.I plan to keep my family’s sins hidden.Even from him.
Chapter 40
Becki
The night swallows me the second Royal lets me go.
Not because he wants to lose me.
Because he knows I’m the only one who can draw whatever monster-masked bastard is hunting girls out.
I’m like chum thrown to a shark.
He tries to hide it.Tries hard to break my heart with his lies.But as I took the bait, I became the bait.I saw the biker follow me.Saw the truth in his tight jaw before he stepped back behind the tree line, gun low, breath sharp.
Because he hates guns.
He hates this.
He hates letting me walk into the dark alone.
Maybe it’s just a lie I tell myself.Or maybe he’ll prove me right.
I pull my hood lower as I approach the old church.The same one we ran from.The same one that breathed wrong.The steeple leans like it’s listening for me.The moon is thin and mean.My boots crunch on broken glass scattered across the porch.
Inside, mold, rot, and old prayers that never reached the sky hit me just like the first time.
“Royal,” I whisper under my breath, even though I know he’s close.Watching.Waiting.Tracking.
He’s stalked me before.And as I don’t see any sign of him, I pray he’s out there.
I take three more steps.That is when the air changes.A shadow separates itself from the wall.
A shape.
A man.
“Becki.”
The voice hits my spine before the name does.A voice from my nightmares.
