“Brother, let go of her. Bitch, calm down. Gauge, I’m fucking warning you!” Rider pointed a finger at Gauge and Fighter released me. “Fighter, take this crazy bitch to my place. Charlie will take care of her while we settle shit up here. I’ll follow you both, and Gauge will lock down this place and meet us there in an hour.”
Gauge’s smile dropped. “Brothers, I’m drunk off my ass. Popped a couple of pills earlier too. I’m ready to crash out.” Gauge shrugged unapologetically. “Though it looks like we’re all about to get blown back to hell when Hardy sees she’s still alive, so I might go get my dick sucked first.” He looked across at me. “You wanna taste of a real man before you die?”
“Gauge, I swear to fucking god!” Fighter roared
Rider glared at Gauge and I had an urge to laugh. “Fucking hell, Gauge, no one’s dying here today. Get yourself to bed and sleep it off. Meet us at my house in a couple of hours. An’ for God’s sake, go to bed like I’m telling you to. Don’t be chasing that piece of ass in there. We don’t have time for it.”
Gauge turned to go back inside. “There’s always time for pussy,” he chuckled.
“Not today,” Rider growled out. “Shit’s going to go down one way or another, now get your head clear and get to my place.”
Gauge gave the middle finger before heading back inside, and Rider turned to Fighter. “What the fuck are you waiting for? Get her to Charlie and then get back here before Hardy realizes what’s going on.”
My heart skipped a beat. “So you’ll protect me?” I asked, my hopeful gaze going between Fighter and Rider.
“Never said that,” Rider replied. “I said we’d figure this shit out. Not sure what that entails yet though. The way I see it is, if Hardy sees you alive he’ll kill you himself, and Fighter here for bullshitting him. If you go back to daddy dearest you’ll be forced to marry a brother from your club and who knows what you’ll do with all the information you have on us. Not entirely sure what the fuck you’re doing coming asking for help from us, though, to be honest. Seems to me that you just walked straight out of the viper’s nest and into a fucking lion’s den.”
He made it seem so black and white.
So live or die.
When really it was live in the murky gray or die in the blinding light.
“He killed someone close to me,” I said, the realization that Scratch was truly gone now hitting me and making my eyes spring with tears. “He killed them for touching me. He’s a monster.”
“Someone close to you?” Fighter asked.
“A sort of ex,” I replied, though that wasn’t entirely true. Scratch and I had ever been boyfriend and girlfriend, we’d never had the chance to be anything.
“Why?” Rider asked, and I wished he wouldn’t have.
“Because Scratch loved me,” I replied bluntly. “And he’ll kill me if I disobey him and don’t do what he says.”
“Who the fuck is Scratch?”
“He was a Viper.”
“He killed one of his own brothers for loving you?” Rider folded his arms over his chest while he spoke and I sighed. “Do you think I’m stupid? Because that’s some bullshit right there.”
Rider’s brow furrowed but he didn’t look like he believed me—or if he did he didn’t care all that much—and I realized that I needed to open up completely and make him realize just how vile my daddy really was. I avoided looking toward Fighter as I spoke, feeling embarrassed and childish.
“Daddy saw Scratch and I together,” I said, feeling my cheeks heat.
“Together?” Fighter growled out the question. “You fucked him?”
“Seeing their daughter fuck a man will drive any father to murder,” Rider said matter-of-factly.
“It wasn’t like that,” I dragged my hands down my face.
Rider and Fighter stared at each other, a thousand conversations passing between them. I could practically feel the rage pulsing from Fighter, his anger hot on my back.
“So you did fuck him?”
“No,” I said again, my voice coming out angrier this time. I refused to turn around and look at him. I couldn’t look at him because I knew the moment would break me. “We didn’t fuck. We kissed, but it meant nothing. My daddy assumed the worst though.” I wrapped my arms around myself, because I knew what was coming.
“What’s it got to do with him who you fuck or who you don’t?” Rider asked.
I held Rider’s stare as I spoke, refusing to feel shame. “Whoever became my old man got my virginity. That’s why. My daddy was saving it for one of his brothers,” I said shamefully, like any of this was my fault.
