“Don’t lie to me,” I warned.
Lucy thrust the photos towards him. “Recognize these?”
His face shifted into an expression of panic and guilt, and that was all the proof we needed.
Before we could move, he bolted. Chairs scraped, boots thundered, door slammed. By the time we hit the alley, he was already on his bike.
“Get the bikes,” I roared, tearing for the front. Riot and Link were right behind me.
Engines snarled, tires screamed. We tore through the blocks, blood pounding in my ears louder than the motors. Then we found it, his bike, abandoned in a narrow alley, still ticking with heat and a puddle of blood beside it.
Engines died one by one, the day collapsing into silence.
Riot crouched, swiping two fingers through the puddle and rubbing the tacky red fluid between his thumb and forefinger. “He’s hurt,” he muttered.
Link scanned the shadows, jaw locked. “But not dead. Look.” He pointed at the ground, where staggered boot prints led deeper into the alley. “He’s on foot.”
Adrenaline surged in my veins, hot and sharp. Betrayal burned in my chest like acid, but beneath it was something worse—unfinished business. He’d run from me once, and I wasn’t going to let him run again.
“Coward,” I spat, fists clenching until my knuckles popped.
Riot rose to his full height, jaw set. “Pres, he’s bleeding bad. He won’t get far.”
“Which makes him more dangerous,” Link cut in. “Cornered animal. He’ll lash out before he drops.”
The truth of it sat heavy in my gut. Gage wasn’t just running, he was desperate, and desperation made men lethal.
I raked a hand down my face, exhaling sharp. “Get back to the club and regroup.”
Link nodded once, already moving.
Riot stepped closer, voice low so only I heard. “What if he makes it to the Fangs first?”
“Then we put him in the ground before they do,” I said.
Chapter 24
Gage
The wind howled like a dying animal, shaking the cabin with every gust. The windows rattled, thin glass useless against the cold. Smoke drifted from the woodstove, but the warmth never reached the corners. The place was rotting. Just like everything else. Just like me.
My arm throbbed where I’d sliced it open after wrecking my bike in the alley. I hadn’t had time to right it, couldn’t risk hanging around in case they caught up with me. So, I’d flagged down a taxi and had them drop me a mile away from the cabin and completed the rest on foot. I’d sewn up the wound as best I could using an old first aid kit kept at the cabin.
I sat on the cot’s edge, boots caked in mud, hands bloody. A cigarette shook between my fingers as I lit it, dragging smoke deep into my lungs. Sleep hadn’t touched me since I ran,
since she ruined everything.
“Lucy.” I spat the name like poison. The smoke did nothing to quiet the buzzing in my skull.
That bitch.I should’ve killed her when I had the chance. Should’ve shut her up the second I saw her in town with thatbox. Didn’t matter what she had, I couldn’t show my face without tipping my hand.
There’d been no word from the Fangs since I went dark. Cowards cut me loose the second the heat turned up. And the Dead Knights? They were looking. Reaper would be looking.
I laughed low, bitter. Reaper never wanted to believe it. Caleb was his golden boy, Lucy the ghost he could never bury, and me? I was the one who got shit done. Until Lucy dropped the match. Now, Pres would have to stain his own hands.
I paced the floorboards like a caged animal, fists clenching, rage eating through me. “You think you’re safe, princess?” I muttered. “Think Jay’s gonna keep you warm and protected while you fuck him and play detective?”
Curtains twitched as I checked the tree line. Nothing. Too quiet.
