Page 21 of Grave Stone

“Like handing over video evidence to an outlaw hoping he won’t turn around and give it to the other outlaws after me?”

“I won’t,” he said seriously. “And, by the way, Nate and Tate aren’t outlaws.” With that, he descended the stairs.

I waited until he was three-fourths of the way to the dock before I darted inside and sprinted for the laptop I had been using. I’d left it downstairs on the kitchen table.

I was out of breath when I made it back to the deck, but I was pleased to see Stone still standing on the dock. I waved my arms to get his attention. “You can come back.”

When he returned, I had the video file open and ready to play. “Slide your phone over.”

I could tell he was annoyed with me, but he unlocked his phone and slid it across. Recording the video playing on the screen while keeping Stone’s gun pointed at him wasn’t easy, but I got it done and slid his phone back. “Let me know if that will work. You need to zoom in after I go inside.”

He watched the video and nodded. “Perfect.”

“Great. Well, you can see yourself out. You know the way.”

“Hold on,” he said. “We’re not finished.”

“Why not?”

“You still have my gun and my ring. If you’re gonna keep them, you need to understand what that means.”

I assumed I would keep the ring for the time being but not his gun. “All right. What does it mean?”

“The gun is a show of faith. You could really fuck me over with that in your possession, just like I could really fuck you over with this video. The ring means the club owes you a favor in return for the one you did for us. In this case, we’re protecting you.”

“Got it.”

“I wasn’t finished. If you go to the cops or try to fuck us over, we won’t hesitate to kill you.”

“Understood. I know very well this is the kind of situation that’s best handled without police involvement, and I have no interest in fucking you or your club over. I was unknowingly dragged into this, but I’m knowingly trying to get out of it.”

“Speaking of dragging people into things, if you were to fuck the club over, they’ll kill me after they kill you.”

“Are you serious?” I asked. “I mean, I’m not going to do anything intentionally, but I don’t know if I like having that kind of responsibility. What if I unknowingly fuck the club over and get us both killed?”

“As long as you don’t say anything to anyone about what happened on Friday or today, we’ll both be fine.”

“Well, kill me now, because I already told Stevie and Hadley,” I confessed.

“I assumed so, but don’t say anything to anyone else.”

“I won’t,” I promised. “Why are you doing this?”

He shrugged. “I don’t fucking know.”

“You suck at pep talks,” I mumbled.

“What was that?”

“How will I know when I can go home?”

“Wait at least forty-eight hours to turn your phone back on. I’ll be in touch.”

9

STONE

As I drove back to the clubhouse, I wondered what in the hell I was doing. Why was I putting my life and the club on the line for a woman who was a complete stranger? I didn’t know, but I needed to come up with an answer Sin would accept.