When I first moved to the clubhouse, I didn’t know how to be here. My father barely looked at me, Wolf was too busy becoming the next Prez, and I was just… there. Unwanted. A stray dog.
Then Glory smiled at me. Told me she liked my hair. Told me I was special. Told me she’d teach me how to do makeup. I can now draw in my eyeliner with one swift, perfect motion.
But now, when I think about her voice—soft, sugary, sticky—I feel something twist in my gut. Like my memories are wrong. Like they don’t fit right anymore. She used to saysomany things. Two months without her and I’m losing the memories of her words.
I can’t remember thewhyof it all.
Why did I think Ruin was mine? Why did I believe if Wolf belonged to Glory, Ruin would somehow belong to me?
Why did I make their lives hell for years and call it love?
Shit. That can’t be love. Not with the way Ruin had dragged me naked in the middle of the clubhouse. I didn’t even know hewas seeing someone. Glory said this was my chance to bag the VP—whatever that meant. And I went along with it. I had to.
But I can’t rememberwhyI had to.
Why did I even feel like I could handle being completely bare in front of him? The moment his door opened that night, I was already going through ways I could hide the body no one has ever seen.
I blink down at the rag in my hand. The same motion, the same streak of nothing across the counter.
The truth is, I can’t remember a single real conversation with Ruin. Not one. Not since I turned fifteen.
Shane breaks my thoughts. “You good?”
I force a shrug. “Yeah. Just tired.”
He nods, not believing me but smart enough not to push. He’s probably wondering what new havoc I’m planning to wreak.
I look around the bar. Same walls, same crooked neon sign. Same old photos of the older generation in their heyday.But I’m somehow different.
Then the door opens. Two shadows cut through the late afternoon sun like a storm.
Wolf, my brother. And Ruin.Both wearing the same expression—hard, cold, furious.
My stomach drops.
Ruin’s eyes sweep the room, landing on me like a loaded gun. He looks even bigger than before. Harder and meaner.
And Wolf seems unreadable. His expression blank.
My breath catches. “What—” I start, my voice small, shaky. “What’s going on?”
Their gaze never unpins from me as they stare without answering. My questions don’t matter right now, nor are they wanted.
But I know something’s wrong. And whatever it is, it has something to do with me somehow.
They both stop right in front of my bar station, cutting off my air with their presence. Ruin’s jaw ticks, and Wolf’s expression shifts, just slightly. He looks haggard. Devastated in a way I can’t name.
All while Ruin doesn’t look at me, not really. He looksthroughme, then toward his Prez, like he’s silently asking for permission.
He doesn’t wait for it. Three words drop from his mouth like a sentence. “Bound and gag.”
“What?” I choke out.
“Do it,” Wolf rasps, voice cracking just enough to make me flinch.
A random prospect comes out from behind them glancing between them, but Ruin’s glare is enough to send him forward. Shane is watching the quiet chaos with a solemn frown. But he chooses his brothers—the club. I wouldn’t expect anything else.
I stumble back, hitting the shelf behind me, glass shattering at my feet.
