“They’re gone,” he said as he wiggled his fingers.
I pressed myself up without his help and got my sister to her feet. “You owe us some answers and you owe them to us now. Who were they, why were they shooting at the shelter, and what in the absolute fuck is going on?”
I didn’t want to admit that he had saved my life. I didn’t want to admit that he had saved my sister’s life, which meant more to me than saving my own skin. I hated him for being such a dickwad yet having such a sensitive and caring side. I wanted them to be gross. I wanted them to be nasty. I wanted them to be the kind of people that I wanted to toss into jail because liking them meant admitting that I wanted Bender more than I could stand.
Despite what had happened just that morning.
“Well!?” I exclaimed.
Nadia drew in a broken breath. “She’s right. We need answers, and we need them now.”
And that was when Bender finally relented. “They were members of the Devil’s Rage MC.”
I scoffed. “Do they regularly come and shoot places up where you guys exist?”
He nodded. “As of right now, they do. They’re the reason for all of the drama at the club. You believe me now?”
I chewed on the inside of my cheek. “As much as it pains me to admit it, you’re swaying me to your side.”
“Wait, you knew about this?” Nadia asked.
I shook my head. “No.”
Bender chuckled. “I did warn her this morning, though.”
Nadia crooked an eyebrow. “This morning?”
I rolled my eyes. “Doesn’t anyone know when to shut their fucking mouths around here?”
Bender scoffed. “Oh, but they have to open their mouths when you demand it?”
I pointed up into his face. “You’re not worth the energy of the argument, so shut the fuck up.”
He smirked. “Make me.”
“Ugh!” I groaned.
“What can we do to protect ourselves?” Nadia asked.
I paced up and down the hot food line as Bender holstered his weapon. “You let us handle them. We’ll come by later this evening and patch up the windows. You know, get them replaced.”
I whipped around to face him. “And what if they come back while you guys aren’t here, huh?”
His gaze found my stare. “I won’t let anything happen to you, this shelter, or anyone inside of it. You have my word.”
I shook my head softly. “You’re just like I thought you were. All of you. Dangerous. Angry. Slimy.”
Nadia jumped in. “Caring. Nurturing. Giving.”
I scoffed at her words. “I will get to the bottom of this, Bender. And when I do? If there’s anything shady that I believe this town needs to know about either of your clubs, I won’t stop until they have all of that information at their disposal. The public deserves to know this. All of it. Because when you operate like this in a town like ours, you’re run by us. Not the other way around. Got it?”
Bender glared at me. “Yeah, loud and fucking clear.”
The sounds of sirens started to blare in the distance. I saw Bender start to exchange looks with the rest of the guys. Something silent was spoken between them as one of them stepped away quickly on their cell phone. My skin bristled as the sirens got closer and the brightness of their lights caught my eyes. Bender looked directly at me.
“As much as I’m sure you want to talk to the cops, I’ll handle speaking with them.”
“Why?” I sneered. “Because half of them are paid off already by you?”
