Savage let out a bark of laughter just as the doors opened to Morena walking in with Hawk. She squished her way over to sit beside me, pushing Viper out of the way. Hawk sat on the other side of her, pushing Viper further down. He was sulking that I’d full named him in public, but I didn’t give a damn. The boy needed to learn.
Today was the first day I hadn’t been locked up in a room with Bear, and I felt his absence more than I ought to. I didn’t even know what we were, hell I was his prisoner until Matteo was found and then who the hell knew what we would do.
We’d never been good with labels.
Fuck, that was because of me, but all I knew was I didn’t want my time with Bear to end. I wanted to stay.
The door opened at the side and Neal was guided in. He was wearing a suit, his handcuffs removed as he took his seat, looking around. His eyes caught mine and that sick grin lifted on his face as he winked at me.
I felt sick to my stomach. He really thought he’d get away with this, and for a moment, I feared he would. As chief of police he knew a lot of people; judges, lawyers, and criminals. He might get away with it.
Morena held onto my hand, squeezing it, forcing me to look away from him. I hated that he thought he would get away with it.
“Where’s Alex?” I asked Hawk.
“He’s doing a run,” he whispered back. “He’ll come here if he gets it done in time. Don’t worry, no one is going to hurt you or Sheridan today.”
I believed that. There were enough of them in here with me that no one would dare fuck with us, but I still didn’t want to be here.
You’re here for Sheridan.
I had to keep telling myself that or I’d leave. My ability to put up with bullshit was gone these days, and I just wanted to wrap myself around Bear and forget the world even existed.
The courtroom fell into a hush when the prosecutor came in, and the judge followed not long after. The jury had been bristling for a few minutes. I looked over at them and noticed a few people I recognized from around town, but no one I was too familiar with.
At least they’d picked some people who wouldn’t be biased when it came to Neal. The court fell into session, and I watched as the prosecutor gave it to Neal in not so subtle ways. Having his lawyer try and silence her was humorous. She didn’t back down. I liked that.
As the case wound on, my eyes flicked over to him as he watched with glee at the way his lawyer tried to push the prosecutor off her game, but she caught him at every jibe.
I hated how cocky he was. He was facing a fucking life sentence and he was acting like this was a show, a game for him to win. I couldn’t stand him.
I really wanted to kill him.
The realisation that I wanted to end someone’s life was new to me. Sure, I’d shot Matteo back in Italy, but he’d fucked me in the head so bad that I was barely myself. Bear had put the pieces back together over the last few weeks together, and I felt human again, I felt like the old Orla was coming back.
But Neal…fuck him. He had destroyed my best friend. Until Ace came home, he was trying to destroy his own goddamn daughters’ too. Fuck him. He had no rights to them anymore, not after what he did.
Hawk put his hand on mine, and I realised I’d balled my fist. “He’s not going to win and if he does somehow get off, he’ll be six feet under before he steps within a foot of Sheridan and the girls. Trust me.”
I did trust them. All of them would die for their women, or their club members’ women. They were a family.
They are my family.
I’d been brought in at a young age when I had nowhere to go and they had given me a job, a roof over my head, and the friends I would see until the end.
Even if Bear wasn’t serious about wanting more with me, I always had the club.
I hoped.
“I hate that Sher has to do this,” I whispered to him.
Hawk nodded. “Me too. There’s a reason Ace ain’t here today.”
I could only imagine.
“Is he with Alex?”
Hawk nodded. “Yeah, he needed to keep busy.”
