“All right then. Let’s finish this so we can get back to our families.” River pushed his fist into the middle of the table, and he led us through the promise we had made to the vulnerable long ago.
“Our oath to the afflicted. Our oath to the forsaken. Our oath to Sovereign Sanctum.”
The second we finished, everyone stood. Conversations struck up as we began to ascend the stairs toward the chaos that ravaged the club above.
I remained silent in the middle of it.
Feeling like I’d run fifteen miles at a full sprint.
My heart racing and my limbs heavy, though there was something antsy underscoring it.
The compulsion to hurry.
To get back on my bike and get home.
To stand in the hall and peek through their door to make sure they were all safe and asleep. To gaze at Daisy lying in the middle of my bed.
The thrum of the music grew louder with each step we took until we piled out into Kane’s office. He locked the basement door and pulled the bookshelves back into place, then Otto worked through the main door’s locks and opened it to the hall.
There was something in the air.
A sense that something wasn’t quite right.
A hazy dread crawled over me that warned someone was there, lurking in the shadows.
I couldn’t get out of that club and on my bike fast enough.
In a flash, my thoughts spiraled back to her. To that time when I finally knew. When I knew what she meant and who she was supposed to be to me.
Who she still would be if I hadn’t fucked it all up.
I pinned the throttle of my bike, swearing that I’d never fuck up again.
TWENTY-SIX
CASH
SEVENTEEN YEARS OLD
Cash sauntereddown the long hall of his high school. A buzz of energy surrounded him.
His classmates cheered him on as he passed by, building up the anticipation of what was to come. Tonight, they played a rival team from the south. A win would secure their chance at playing the state championship game in a week.
Scouts would be in those stands. He needed to be on tonight in a way he’d never been before. Show them what he was made of and the potential he possessed.
Yeah, there was little question about him playing college ball, but he had those big dreams, too.
The idea of pro lingering out in the periphery, inspired by the praises of his coaches that he had a skill unlike anything they’d ever trained or seen. Flickering ideas beginning to spark to life that he might be able to go big.
All the way.
He was almost scared to entertain it, worried he was only getting a big head in all the small-town furor. Built up because they didn’t have anything better to look at.
Even if that was true, he was going to bust his ass for the chance to make it happen, anyway.
“Yo, you ready for the big game?” Paulo asked as he waltzed through, the guy clapping him on the back as he passed.
“Ready as I’m ever going to be.”
