“What the fucking hell…” he starts.
But then his gaze drops.
Sees Becki’s swollen mouth.Sees my hand still half around her throat.Sees the way she’s breathless and trembling and pressed into me like she belongs there.
His jaw pops.
“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me, man,” Oaks growls, stepping inside.“Legend just found another girl’s bracelet in that damn church basement and you’re in here…”
He gestures between us, choked and furious.
I don’t move.Becki doesn’t hide.
Oaks’s stare snaps to her.“You playing both sides… for easy pussy?”
My body moves before thought.
I shove Oaks back so hard he hits the opposite wall, skull thudding loud enough Becki flinches behind me.
“Watch your fuckin’ mouth,” I snarl.
“Watch your priorities,” Oaks spits back, shoving me off and coming forward again, eyes darting.“You’re losing your damn head over a girl who damn near delivered the club to the Reverend!”
He tries to push past me to get to her.
I block him.
Hard.
Oaks slams a fist into my ribs.I take it.I shove him again, and he snatches my cut, yanking me in.
“This is how secrets get brothers killed,” he hisses.“You think you can protect her and run ops at the same time?Hell no.You’re compromised.And Legend’s gonna see it.”
He tries to look past me again, trying to get another look at Becki.I recognize it in his eyes.It’s not just lust.Brother would kill her in a heartbeat.If given the order.She’s the enemy in his eyes.
Something in me breaks.
I pin him to the wall with my forearm across his chest, teeth bared.
“You look at her one more time,” I say quietly.“And I’ll put you in the ground.”
Oaks stares back, stunned for half a second.
Then he laughs.
Not because it’s funny.
Because he’s terrified of what he’s seeing.
“Christ,” he whispers.“You’re already gone.”
Footsteps pound down the hall.
Whiskey.
Legend.
The second they appear, Becki slips farther behind me, breath shaking against my spine.
