“You should head out of here and let the guys finish this up later. Take Kaylie home and relax for the rest of the day.”
“I can’t. I have to get this place ready to reopen tomorrow. I can’t afford to stay closed, Mason. I have bills to pay,” she says softly.
“You don’t have much of a choice, baby. Your insurance isn’t going to allow you to work under these conditions, and we won’t be able to get the windows replaced for at least a couple of days.” She sobs once, pulling out of my grasp. She reaches for a towel and begins rubbing the blue liquid from her hands, frustrating herself further as the liquid clings to the cotton fibers. She groans her frustration.
“They didn’t even take anything, Mason. They just trashed everything enough to shut me down. At least if they stole something, I could still get paid and replace it. But this …” She sobs. “It will take me months to make enough to fix all of this, and that’s only if I neglect all my other bills in the process. What the hell am I supposed to do for money in the meantime?”
I wrap my arms around her and pull her into my chest, resting my chin on her head, pleased when she doesn’t pull away. “You let me help you.” She stiffens against me, but I tighten my hold. “The club will help get shit cleaned up and inventoried for your insurance claim. I’ll get your windows and product replaced. We can have you up and running in a few days. For now, let’s get you and Kaylie home to pack a few things and then we’ll get you situated at the clubhouse for the time being.”
Everly pushes my chest, and I loosen my hold on her slightly. “We’re not going to move into the clubhouse, Mason. We’re going home, where we belong. You saw how angry Sadie is about our last argument. I’m not welcome there and I will not stay where I know I’m not wanted.” She shoves back out of my hold.
“You are wanted there,” I argue. “Iwant you there. Both of you. With me.”
“No.”
“Ever, don’t be stubborn. I have to work tonight, or I’d stay at the house with you girls. But that’s not an option, and your house is not safe. I need you to stay at the clubhouse where the guys can keep an eye on you.”
“The deputy told me this was done by a Devil.” Her voice is low and trembling. “They’re your enemy, and we both know the guys are only offering to protect me and Kaylie because they think I belong to you.Maybe the Devils think I belong to you too, and that’s why they did this. I don’t know. But we both know I don’t belong to you. I’m not … I can’t be … we can’t be.”
“But weare, and you fucking know it, Ev. You can’t deny what we have. What we are to each other. You and Kaylie belong with me. You’re just being stubborn because you think all bikers are like your mom’s old man and his club. That being mine will somehow turn you into her. But you’ve known me for fucking years, Ever. You know I’m nothing like him. You’ve seen it with your own eyes.”
“Except when it comes to shit like this.” Everly throws her arms out wide. “You’re all about territories and money and owning everything. Even your women. They become a shell of the person they were before.”
“You think Avery, Skyler, or Sadie are not doing exactly what they want with their lives? That their men are in control of them?” I counter, feeling the grip on my temper slipping. “Avery and Skyler own the dance studio together, and Skyler is partnered with Ethan and Kieran on the gym. She’s also got two kids and is happier than I’ve ever seen her in all the time I’ve known her. And you saw Sadie with Hawk. If you think he has control over her, you are out of your fucking mind. Sadie would never allow that shit.”
I step forward, closing the distance Everly has put between us. She takes a step back. “Avery found her family and is nowmarried to a guy who is so in love with her he can’t go an hour without texting or calling her. If they’re in the same room, he’s got to be touching her somehow. A hand. A knee. Something. It’s pretty hilarious actually how clingy Jake has become with her. She’s not his ‘property’. If anything,sheownshim.”
“He’s like that because Avery was shot,” Everly argues. “And why was she shot, Mason? Because of your club and its enemies. The people who want you all dead.”
“They didn’t want the club dead. Only Gabe’s wife and daughter, but they used the Devils to get to them, and that’s how all this shit started. Your sperm donor was the catalyst to all this shit that’s gone down.” The words are out and I immediately regret them. Her gasp is so loud in the quiet room.
“Ever, hold on. That didn’t come out right.”
“But it’s the truth, right?” She scoffs. “I am not my father’s daughter. He didn’t claim me, and I sure as fuck don’t claim him. And Mason—as much as I wish I could be—I amnotyours.”
At least she’s finally admitting she wants to be.
“I need you to leave me and Kaylie alone. Please.” Her words come out on a whisper.
“What? No.”
“Let me pick up the pieces of my life and make something better for Kaylie with them. She deserves peace and happiness, not …this.” Ever gestures around the room. “The guys have boarded up the windows and secured the door. Now I need all of you to leave us alone. Please.”
Not wanting to continue arguing and risk pushing her further away, I agree to her request. “We’ll go. For now. But only with the promise that if you feel scared or if you or Kaylie see anyone lurking about, you will call me immediately. I mean it, Everly. That’s the only way this works. The only way I’ll agree to letting you go home without a guard.”
“Fine. I promise.” She huffs. Her arms firmly crossed over her stomach, shielding herself from the world and me.
I climb into the passenger seat of Declan’s cage and put my phone to my ear. The line rings twice, and when he answers, I know I’m going to be in some serious shit with Pres for this.
“Mason. I was wondering when you were going to call me about our little arrangement. What do you have for me?” Vincenzo Parisi asks in the smug way only he can. I know Declan heard Parisi’s voice. I can tell by the way he’s giving me the side-eye.
“We have a Devil problem in Oakridge, and I think they may be connected to yourguest.”
“How many? What do they want?” Vincenzo asks.
“One, so far as we know, and I’m not sure what his intentions are, but there’s something else.” I pause, glancing to my left, making sure Declan isn’t paying me any attention. Which, of course, he fucking is. “I’m going to need a favor.”
“Fuck,”Declan mutters.
