“What?” Sin gasps like she didn’t make her own fucking choices.
I look at her and make sure she hears every word, “You stepped over the line. I know why you walked in here; everyone knows. No one is fucking dumb, least of all you. If you wanted to stick around, then you should have cut your losses with me, seen what Addyson brings into my life, and been content with what you had. But you couldn’t do it. You wanted more. Wanted my patch.” I shake my head, my eyes boring into hers. “It was never going to happen, and you know it. Now, you’re out because what you’ve shown me is how loyalty was a mask you wore to keep the party going.”
Road Rage slips into the room before I’ve finished talking. He gives me a chin lift and winks at Addy before gripping Sin’s elbow. She tries to struggle against his hold, but it’s not going to do any fucking good.
He drags her out of my office, and I wish I could breathe a sigh of relief at one crisis being averted. But I can’t.
Because Wagner is at my fucking gate.
And I know why he’s here.
Dread slithers up my throat and makes it hard to breathe. I look at Addyson, the woman who has become my whole worldand declare, “You’re going to sit your ass down right here until I come back for you.”
I might not be stupid, but that doesn’t mean I’m smart either.
CHAPTER 16
ADDYSON
You’re going to sit your ass down right here until I come back for you.
I’d love to believe he didn’t just say what I heard him say. But I know he did. And the worst part? I know he’s only speaking and commanding from a place of concern, fear, and the need to keep me safe.
It’s a shame it’s not going to fly. Not a shame for me. Nope. He’s the one who is going to be struggling with this.
“No.”
I say the word simply. Evenly. I hold Briggs’s crystal blue gaze and let the word land.
It does.
And it explodes.
He clenches his jaw so tight that his teeth have to begging forrelief. His voice is calm, but he can’t hide his frustration, “What do you mean, no?”
I square my shoulders and stand toe to toe with my big biker man. “You heard me. I’m not a dog. You can’t just order me to sit somewhere and expect me to do it without question. I get that Wagner is here for me, but I’m not going to hide from him. Not when he’s standing right in front of me.”
“He’s a dirty cop who wants to tie up loose ends because he murdered his wife,” Briggs reminds me, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he seethes out the words.
Like I’m not the one who is intimately aware of what the man did and how vicious it was. It was his voice that haunted me. Granted, it hasn’t been a problem since I arrived at the clubhouse.
Since Mayhem started holding you and looking at you like he would face down the world for you.
Yeah. Since then.
“He also knows I’m here,” I point out because it needs to be said. “He wouldn’t be here if he wasn’t sure. Why would he roll up to the gate like he doesn’t have any worries?”
“I don’t know,” Briggs groans and runs his fingers through his hair.
I can feel the anxiety and the worried energy coming off him in waves. He wants to take action; he wants to get moving. I’m preventing it because I’m arguing with him.
But if he wants to leave me behind and expects me to simply accept it, then we’re going to have problems.
I’ve been damn good about this whole situation. I haven’t complained. I haven’t argued. I haven’t insisted or made demands.
Because it’s what was going to keep me safe. But with Wagner at the gate, things have changed.
He knows where I am and there is really only one way this can end now. Wagner is going to die. I’m not under any naïve delusion that there is any other way for this to go.
