Gator raised an eyebrow. “And?”
“And she accused me of trying to steal him. Said if I came near her again, she’d tell Copper I was sleeping with Saint.” She lowered her voice. “How does she know?” Beth whispered.
Gator ran a hand over his face. “Jesus Christ.”
“What do I do?” Beth grabbed his arm. “Is that why she’s here? Is she telling him? Should I go over there?”
“Give me a second to fucking think, Beth,” he snapped.
She winced. “Sorry.”
“No. No.” He pulled her into a one-armed hug. “I shouldn’ta barked at you. We gotta warn Saint. She could be running her big mouth right now. Oh, fuck.”
“What?” She whipped around, spotting her father across the room. He wore a stony mask of fury so intense that even Melody looked apprehensive. Beth’s heart sank to the floor. “She told him,” she whispered.
“Beth, maybe you should go,” Gator said in a tone more serious than she’d ever heard from the man. “You don’t want to get into this here.”
Copper rose, appearing to grow ten times his usual size. Fury radiated from the tense set of his shoulders to his narrowed eyes to his curled fists. Around him, people began to notice the angry giant whose presence grew by the second.
He scanned the room until his laser gaze found her.
Beth swallowed. “Too late,” she whispered.
Copper only stomped three steps toward her, but his long stride ate up too much distance between them. Anxiety popped and fizzled across her skin, making her tremble. Not with fear. Copper wouldn’t hurt her in a billion years, but worry for Saint had her heart pumping triple time. In no universe would this conversation end well, and Saint would take the brunt no matter what she said to her father now. In his mind, Saint had committed a grave sin. Hell, her dad probably saw her as a victim. She’d do everything in her power to prove that wasn’t true.
“Wish me luck,” she muttered as she took a step toward Copper, who stopped dead in his tracks, eyes fixed toward the door.
A sick feeling washed over her.
Gator grabbed her arm and yanked her back. “Fuck,” he said. “Shit’s about to get messy.”
“Wha…” She followed Gator and her dad’s gaze to the door where Saint stood, scanning the room.
Looking for her.
“No,” she whispered. Her knees buckled, and if it weren’t for Gator’s hold on her, she’d have collapsed to the floor. “Not like this.”
Gator stared down at her. “Oh, shit. This is real, isn’t it, p-cess? You and him? It ain’t just fuckin’.”
“It’s real.”
After that, things seemed to happen in slow motion and hyper speed simultaneously. Copper’s heavy boots hit the wooden floor with a shotgun crack, then he charged toward Saint.
Beth gently shoved Gator toward the kitchen. “Find my mom,” she shouted before racing away.
Saint stood still, gaping at Copper, horror on his face. His gaze flicked to her, and something passed between them—understanding, acceptance, an unspoken vow that whatever happened, they were in this together.I’ve got you, his eyes said.I’m not going anywhere.Somehow, even with her world crashing down, she believed him. He relaxed his posture. He wasn’t going to run or fight back. He’d take whatever came his way from his president. A ghost of a smile crossed his lips, gone so fast she could have imagined it. But she didn’t. It was his way of reassuring her when it seemed hope was lost.
In her mind’s eye, all she saw was Copper’s fist slamming into Saint’s face, and she nearly threw up. Pulse pounding in her ears, she skidded to a stop in the space between Copper and Saint. She threw her arms wide. “Stop!” she screamed.
Copper immediately halted.
So did everyone else.
Someone killed the music, and all chatter disappeared at once. Every eye in the place turned to the spectacle. Then the murmurs started. Whispered questions of “what the fuck” and “what’s wrong with Copper?” came from all around.
“Everybody get the fuck out.” Copper’s booming command left no room for argument as it shook the clubhouse walls.
The entire place sprang into action, weaving around them to reach the exit as quickly as possible. Beth didn’t see Melody anywhere. The bitch must have slipped out after dropping her bomb in Copper’s lap.
