Kadence wraps her arm around my waist, letting me know she’s there. I drape my arm over her shoulders, using her to hold myself up more than I care to admit.
Dad stares at me. “What the fuck you talkin’ about?”
My gaze roams over the clubhouse.
Unharmed.
More Dragons pull into the parking lot. A few storm out of the clubhouse to greet us.
One brother is not-so-surprisingly absent.
“Where’s Santa?”
My father’s eyes stray to Kadence.
“Don’t look at her, Dad,” I demand. “Where is he?”
We both take in the group of trucks and bikes in the parking lot. Santa’s green and gold Harley is nowhere in sight.
“Where’s Santa?” Bolt calls out.
“He was behind us,” Drake answers.
“No,” Cruise says, stepping up next to Drake. “He took off. Said you told him to handle something, Prez.”
“No.”
My father jerks his head toward the clubhouse. “Let’s sit at the table.”
At the entrance to the chapel, my father stops me with a hand on my chest. “She stays out here.” He nods at Kadence.
His words stir up the fire inside me that I need to make it through the next few minutes. Kadence hasn’t left my side or said a word. “Like fuck. After what just happened, if you think I’m letting her out of my sight, you’re insane, Prez.”
Bolt grunts and points to the long table set up outside the chapel. “Fine.”
No one contradicts him. No one questions me when I ask Kadence to sit right next to me, either.
When everyone’s seated at the table, my father asks, “Explain this story about me gettin’ shot?”
“Not long after you left this morning, Santa called me. Said Red Storm rolled up, laid down fire and you took a bullet.”
Bolt takes in each of his men before asking me his next question. “What happened after that?”
Each word hurts as I can’t seem to catch my breath, and my lips are split from the pummeling I took. “We left after I told Romeo what was going on. We were on sixty-six when a white van barreled down on us. Shot at us. Tire blew and I laid the bike down. Hard.”
Another round of looks around the table.
Pain pounds through my skull, but I stay focused. Kady’s depending on me. “How’d you find us?”
“Romeo wasn’t far behind you. Came up on the wreck. Sent half his guys to Red Storm’s safehouse and he came here to get me.”
Something’s not right. My dad’s holding back info.
“And?” I prod.
“We were gonna have a sit-down when you got back. Received some disturbing information,” he says with a pointed look at Kady.
My brain might be fuzzy from the earlier knocks to my head, but my father’s insinuation is clear “Santa told you she was working with Red Storm.”
