His eyes snap to mine, anger flashing across his face. “How can you ask me to do that after what he did this morning? This needs to end. I’m tired. So I can’t have you here. I can’t have my attention elsewhere when I’ve got your brother to deal with. This will only end one way, and you can’t be here for that.”
I push up to sitting, then grasp his arm, urging him to do the same. “This doesn’t have to end bloody,” I say when we’re eye to eye. “You could… you could come with me.”
He goes still, those pretty amber eyes boring into mine. The kind of look that dives below the surface and slides under my skin. “I… I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“Because my business here isn’t finished.”
“What business is that? What’s left for you here? This isn’t a life. Come with me,” I say again. “Pack a bag and get on your bike. Let’s leave this place in the dust. Tonight.”
New town, new life. It’d be a lot less daunting with someone by my side. Someone who gets it, who getsme.The man who knows all my sins, who doesn’t care about the blood on my hands.
Decker sits back and frees his fingers from mine, the space between us growing.
“Grace—”
“Was Axe right?” I ask. “When he said you love me. Is that real?”
His throat bobs, and he releases another one of those big breaths. “What does that matter?”
“Itmatters, Linc. It’s the only thing that matters.”
He quiets again, chewing on my words. “I don’t know what that means anymore, Grace. The man I am? The man I’vebecome? I’m not sure he knows how to love. I just know I need to keep you safe. From this life, and from me. From what I’ll drag you into if you stay.”
I shake my head. “You and I… we’re something, remember? At least we could be. Away from here. Away from the Sinners and my brothers and your job. You’re wasting this. And for what? Jail time? A bullet in the head? Stay here, and you’ll end up dead. We both know it.”
He smiles. It’s forced. Angry. Menacing. “I’m not the one who’ll end up dead after this, Gracie. Or maybe I am. But you can bet your brother will be coming with me.”
That weight on my chest gets heavier again, a sob threatening to spill out. I can’t contain it. My emotions. I’ve lost my hold on that thing Jimmy taught me. Calm, cool, and collected.Never let ’em see you sweat, kid. You let ’em rattle you, you let ’em win.
“Please, Linc.Please,” I say. “If you care for me, if you”—I swallow—“if you love me. Then you’ll choose this. Us. And you’ll come with me.”
Expression softening, he takes my face in his hands, pulling me close and brushing his lips against mine. A gentle kiss. An apology. A goodbye.
“Linc,” I say, voice cracking as a sob breaks free. “Please. You will die. Don’t risk your life for a little payback. End this by coming with me. We don’t need to stay here.”
He wipes his thumbs across my cheeks, clearing my tears, but more fall in their place. “Time to go, Grace.”
I slap his hands away and kick my feet over the hole in the floor, anger heating my blood. Turning back, I brace myself on the rope ladder. “You’re exactly like him, you know. In every way. You get an idea in your head, and its pure fucking tunnel vision until it’s done. Even if it gets you killed.”
The look he gives me only proves my point. Cold. Fueled by rage and determination and revenge. Axel Donovan in a nutshell.
“I’m done losing, Gracie.”
I let one last tear fall, then raise my chin. “You’re losingme, Linc. Isn’t that enough? Doesn’t that matter to you?”
He swallows, some of that hardness draining from his features. “I’msavingyou.That’sallthat matters.”
I scoff. “Lincoln Decker. Forever playing fucking hero. You and Axe deserve each other.”
I descend the ladder, and then I do what I do best. I leave him in the dust. The tears don’t start again until I’m well beyond the South Bay town line.
The streets haveall gone dark. I shouldn’t be here. The Sinner prez gave me a choice. Leave town or die. Simply standing on this road is a crime punishable by death.
I have no intention of dying. I also have no intention of leaving. Not yet.
I was barely across the town line when I turned around. Ready to fix this, to face these consequences, the trouble I caused.
