“It seems as if you all have something to say so fucking man up and say it,” I tell all of them.
I hear Snake scoff. Glancing over at him he has his index finger pointed towards himself. “Let the record be known that I didn’t say shit.”
“Because I’m sure your ass has already said something and it went nowhere,” Dex points out.
Snake arches a brow at him as he regards him. “What you trying to say, Dex?”
“That he needs to hear it from us,” Pax answers for him, finally giving his full attention to us and not the feeds.
“You realizeheis right here,” I comment dryly.
“We just want to know when you’re going to get your head out of your ass,” Slater bravely says.
“Excuse me?” I ask him coolly.
Slater raises his hands in mock surrender. “I’m only saying what everyone is thinking.”
I then look at Snake and he mouths the word,Grace.
“She obviously likes you, why aren’t you doing anything about it?” Pax asks me.
Oh, fuck him.
I let out a dark chuckle. “Like you did when it was obvious Stella was in love with you? What did you do, Pax? Remind me because I seem to be forgetting. Was it not you who tried to tell her that this life wasn’t meant for someone like her?”
“I was protecting her, Oak. That’s fucking different.”
“And you think I’m not doing the same?”
“What is there to protect her from? She knows this life. Her fucking best friend is getting married to a man who enjoys killing people-”
“Hey,” Snake interrupts him with false offense.
Pax rolls his eyes and continues, “There isn’t anything she needs protection from.”
Me.
She needs protection fromme.
I don’t say that though. I fucking can’t.
They don’t know about the war going on inside my head.
They don’t about the battles I face every day to just wake up.
None of them know except for Snake. And even he doesn’t know the severity of it.
“We all know Grace is Oak’s woman regardless,” Snake says on my behalf, “so just give the fucker a little more time for him to claim her. Understood?”
They all nod their heads and remain silent.
I nod my head in a silent, thank you, towards Snake. He nods his head back but in his eyes I can tell that he agrees with them.
Then before anyone can think twice before opening their mouths again and sharing their opinions we hear a rustling of noise coming from the hallway.
The district sound of heels clicking against the hardwood floors nears. I turn my head in the direction of the sound and when I do the ladies emerge from the hallway like models walking the runway.
And my heart thunders as my jaw goes slack at the sight of her.
