“Because I want you to know what kind of man I am.”
“I already know who you are, Linc.”
“Right. The boy scout.”
I almost laugh. He’s so far from the man he was when I left this place. The good guy, the straight arrow. That man never would have spoken so casually about taking a life, about handing me over to an outlaw for a little cash and a kilo of coke. This man before me? He’s violent. Self-serving. Ruthless. As cold-blooded as the asshole he killed in this garage, as the men who raised me.
“No. I think we both know that version of you is long gone.”
His face flashes with what might be pain. But he quickly steels himself. “It’s good you know that. Becausethatversion of me? He wouldn’t have been able to take care of this the way I did.” He angles forward, the heat of his skin burning into mine. “I made that piece of shit feeleverythingfor what he’d have done to you. I made him pay. And I won’t apologize for that. Hate me if you need to. But I told you I won’t let them hurt you, and I plan on keeping my word. I don’t care how many bodies I have to cut up, to bury. I’ll keep you safe.”
A strange sensation slithers through my veins. It’s dark. Just as violent and ruthless and cold-blooded as the man standing before me. I can’t explain it, but Decker seems to understand.
He cocks his head. “You like it, don’t you? That I did that for you.” He drags his fingers down the curve of my throat to my collarbone. “You like that I killed him.”
A wave of need rolls through me. “Yes.”
Keegan deserved this. He was a bad man, just like his brother. Just like Decker, I guess. Men like that? I’m drawn to them. Maybe because it’s all I’ve ever known. Violent men. Men who make a habit of getting their hands bloody. Or maybe it’s because I’m like that too. The kind of woman who will plunge a knife into a man’s chest, wear his blood, feel it seep into the crooks of her fingers, watch the life drain from his body.
Like calls to like.
“What do you think that says about me?” I ask.
He smirks. “That you are beautifully ruthless, Gracie. In this world, inyourworld, that’ll keep you breathing. Don’t lose it, and don’t ever fucking apologize for it.” The hand at my waist falls to his side. “You said you wanted to talk.”
I take a breath—a fucking big, long breath—as Linc steps away from me. “I’d like to call a truce.”
“A truce?”
“Yeah, like, you know. Forget the gun-pointing, house-trashing, blackmail thing. Wave the white flag or whatever.”
“And why would I agree to that?”
“Like I said, bigger problems. And I don’t know anything.” My shoulder sag. “There’s nothing I can tell you about the Sinners that you don’t already know. Jack and Axe don’t trust me. And Kat and Triss? I like them. They’re good people. I’m not about to go digging for information so you can use it to hurt them. I won’t be a part of that.”
Decker folds his arms across his chest, doing that intimidation thing again.
I don’t budge. I’ve already betrayed the Sinners, and while I know they’ll never forgive me if they find out what I’ve done, Ihave no interest in digging this hole any deeper. Decker wants to take them down, he can do it without me. Whatever the consequences, I’ll face them. I made this mess, it’s time I accept that I may not be able to claw my way back out in one piece.
I sigh. “What Axe will do if I give you information that hurts Kat? I guarantee it will be a lot worse than anything you could ever do to me.”
The silence that settles between us stretches, his focus drifting, like he’s thinking on something.
He nods slowly. “All right. Truce granted.”
Unease unfurls in my chest. “Just like that?”
“You want me to make it harder for you?”
“No. I just had this whole argument planned out in my head, and you’ve kind of ruined that for me.”
He smiles, and god, it’s a good smile. “I’m always game for a fight, Gracie. So long as there’s a bit of angry, rage-fueled, sweaty hate sex after the fact.”
“Wow, youreallyneed to see me naked again, don’t you?”
“Need isn’t the word for it, Grace.”
He’s close again, his fingers dipping under my shirt, my skin pebbling under his touch. I swallow as he backs me into his workbench. He palms my ass, and then he yanks me up, placing me gently on the wooden top. Fingers weave into my hair, tugging my head back, exposing my neck to his mouth.
