And I was wrong about Saint. His spot was empty, and so was Cam’s, which made it unlikely that Alexei was here either.
They’re together.
My first thought, though it wasn’t a given. My second?
Who’s watching the Crows?
It was my job to know—I was the club’s enforcer—but I’d been gone a day or so and I was out of the loop.
I killed my engine and yanked off my helmet, hanging it on the handlebars before I stood, stretching out my stiff back and shoulders. Nash’s V-Rod was next to me; Rubi’s fucked-up Bobber on the other side. Beyond that was Embry’s old Tiger, looking fresh from the work Nash had done on it over the summer.
Thequietsummer.
Unease rattled me. But as I crouched to check Embry’s bike, I pushed it aside, saving that worry for tomorrow.
It is tomorrow.
I glanced at the sky. The inky clouds were already turning grey as dawn approached and a fresh wave of fatigue hit me.
Rising, I turned and looked up at the clubhouse, at the residence on the upper floor. Cam’s room was dark, Nash’s too, but the light from Embry’s diffuser lamp glowed ocean blue behind the windowpane I’d cracked with my fist.
“You don’t understand.”
I lowered myself to sit, lips tingling from a kiss I’d take to my grave. “Then tell me. Explain it like I’m the simplest fucking idiot you’ve ever met.”
Goddamn. I baulked at the intrusive memory, pushing all thoughts of what had come next out of my mind, but my knuckles throbbed all the same, fiery rage sluicing through my veins.
Calm the fuck down. You can’t be around him like this.
Not anymore.
And not aboutthis.
Never about this.
He trusted you.
The irony.
Breathing hard and fiddling with the sparkly contraband around my wrist, I looked up at the window again. No curtains or blinds. Embry didn’t care for the dark, not when he was alone, and for six torturous months now, I’d known why.
My blood boiled harder, pulse ratcheting to murderous levels. I had a knife in my boot. My fingers itched for it, to slash myself as much as anyone else. Anything to dull the fury inside.
But there was only one balm for that.
One cure.
Go to him.
I was in motion before the thought... coalesced. Was that the right word? He’d know, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to ask. Because he’d want to knowwhy. And then I’d have two choices: admit that I was so eager to get to him that I was tripping over my tired feet to get to the clubhouse door. That I wasgratefulthat his demons had left a space for me in his damaged fucking soul.
Or lie to him.
And I’d done enough of that to last us a lifetime.
3
EMBRY
