He grunts as he types out a message. Then he pockets his phone. “You may be Jimmy’s kid, but that don’t make us family, Grace. A family is something you earn. Through loyalty. Andtrust.Only way we survive. When I tell you to do something and you do the opposite, that tells me I can’t trust you. So you haven’t earned the right to call me your family.”
I bite down on the retort I’ve got loaded on my tongue. Axe and I never really got to a good place, and he’d already moved out of Jimmy’s house by the time our dad and my mom finally got together, so we didn’t really have a lot of opportunities to figure out the family thing.
When I was little, he and Jack were like gods to me. I practically worshipped them. Unlike Jack, Axe didn’t care much for my adoration. Maybe because the identity of my biological father was the worst hidden secret on the planet, and the rift that caused pissed Axe off. Or maybe he just liked being Jimmy’s only kid, and I threatened that. In the end, Jimmydidleave him for my mom and me, so maybe his anger was justified.
Regardless, my ten-year absence and the choices our father made have nothing to do with why I haven’t worked to earn his trust. It’s the man hunting me. The other one I left dead on the floor with a knife in his chest.
And the shady asshole cop I let handcuff and finger bang me last night is probably a whole other breach of trust.
I clear my throat. “And why exactly don’t you trust me?”
Leaning back in his chair, he folds his arms over his chest. “I told you to stay out of trouble, and not four days later, you’re being thrown in the back of a cruiser for taking a swing at a cop.”
My stomach sinks.
Oh.
“How do you know about that?”
“I’m Axel Donovan,” he says simply. “I know everything.”
It takes effort not to roll my eyes. “Decker was being annoying. And?—”
“Decker’s always annoying. It’s his base personality trait. You’re lucky he didn’t press charges,” he rumbles. “With the OPP in town, that’s unnecessary heat on the club. I don’t have the time or inclination to keep you out of jail. And,” he says, tilting forward, fingers intertwined on his desk, “I’d think what happened the last time you were in police custody would keep you from being put in handcuffs again.”
“I didn’t say shit to you about that. How the hell did you know?—”
Axe’s expression turns deadpan. Right. He’sAxel Donovan. He knows everything.Arrogant ass.
Obviously, I thought about that. What might happen if I were sitting in that basement cell and the wrong cop got me alone. Maybe Decker wouldn’t be around to stop it. Or maybe he wouldn’t want to, given our last few interactions. It was a risk, but it was one I was willing to take. I don’t know what’ll happen if the Raiders catch up to me before I can convince Decker to return what I stole. If I can’t convince them to leave after what I did. But whatever it is, it’d be worse than what anyone at the South Bay PD could do to me.
Ironically, though I didn’t end up in a cell, I still found myself alone with a cop in the dark. Hands on me, cuffs locking my wrists behind my back, fingers sliding over my skin, moving under my skirt, pushing between my legs.
God, he made me want it.
Being completely at his mercy like that was cathartic. Mind clearing. My only focus the steady movement of my hips, the hand wrapped tight around my throat. All the anxiety that’s plagued me the last few weeks, the fear, the panic, was all gone. It wasfeelinginstead of thinking. I took what I wanted. What Ineeded.
Last night, Decker gave me something I haven’t felt in a long time. A moment of peace. And then he ripped it away.
I’ve been around a lot of dangerous men in my life. Almost every branch of my family tree is occupied by criminals. In a way, Decker is scarier than all of them. It’s like he’s got a switch. One he can flick on and off when it suits him. Good cop, bad cop. A man who protects, a man who hurts. One minute he’s looking at me like I’m his new favourite toy, like he wants to fucking live between my legs, the next he’s cold, his hand crushing down on my throat, andnotin the way I like.
I know what to expect from men like the one who was hunting me last night, from men like Axe and Jack. Violent as they are, they’ve got a code, a doctrine they live by. But Decker? He’s impossible to read. Yeah, I’ve gone out of my way to piss him off with the threats and the smashed-up dishes and that shot I took at him, but I’d think a man who’d literally just licked my cum from his fingers might have been a little less threatening after the fact.
Slumped back, I give Axe a reproachful look. “What happened in that cell was none of your business.”
“Everything is my business.” He looks so much like Jimmy, frowning at me like that. “And you aren’t gonna earn my trust by hiding things from me.”
“I wasn’t hiding it. Honestly? I didn’t think you’d care.”
His brows lower farther, if that’s possible. “Let’s get something straight, Grace. While you’re here, you belong to the club. Any harm that comes to you is my responsibility. So yeah. I care. And yeah. It’s my fucking business.”
Without my permission, my mind plays a loop of that night. Hands on me. Hot breath in my ear. Fingers digging into my thigh. The fear. The helplessness. What would come after. Abiker whore, he called me. The situation could have been so much worse, and it would have been my word against a cop’s. Then there’s the retaliation that would have ensued. The way the Sinners would punish a man who laid hands on me like that. I just got back here. I don’t need my brother getting thrown in jail for murder.
“I wasn’t trying to cause trouble,” I say, forcing the thoughts from my head. “I just know how violent things can get. I figured… maybe you wouldn’t want Jack to know.”
“Wouldn’t want me to know what?”
Heart lurching, I spin in my seat.
