Page 157 of Reckless

When she looks at me, the fear she’s been holding back is written all over her face. “Ghost…”

I’m already moving.

She catches her keys off the bench. “I’m coming with you.”

My hand snaps out, grabbing her wrist, probably a little too forcefully. “No.”

She stops. “Excuse me?”

I meet her eyes, pleading with her. “You stay here.”

Her chin lifts in defiance. “The hell I do!”

“Sage—”

“That’s my sister—”

“Exactly! I need level heads out there, and I love you, Sage, but you won’t have one.” The words land between us. “Go to Sin. Tell him where I’m headed. Then stay where I can find you.”

I glance back at my president, and she gives me a simple head nod, and I don’t wait to see if she listens.

The clubhouse door slams behind me as I take a second to register that I actually said I love her. Then I rush out into the lot, my keys already in my hand. The engine catches on the first turn, the familiar growl rolling beneath me as I pull away from the curb harder than I should, the rear tire biting into the asphalt before the bike straightens beneath me.

Four minutes.

That’s what the navigation says.

I’ve never hated four minutes more.

The city blurs past in streaks of brake lights and traffic signals, every intersection another variable I don’t have time for. I slip between lanes where there’s room, easing around slower cars with practiced precision, the engine climbing as the clubhouse disappears in my mirrors.

Piper isn’t the target.

Sage is.

That makes Piper leverage.

The realization settles like cold steel somewhere behind my ribs.

I tighten my grip on the handlebars, forcing myself to breathe through it. Fear makes people rush, and rushing gets details wrong.

Details keep people alive.

Her text came through less than three minutes ago.

She’d left the coffee shop on foot.

Heading back toward the clubhouse.

Broad daylight. Sidewalks full enough to make an abduction risky, quiet enough that surveillance blends into the background.

If they are only watching.

But if they have decided watching isn’t enough? I kill the thought before it has a chance to finish. There’s no value in imagining outcomes I can’t change.

Find Piper.

Read the scene.