Page 75

“Sun’s bright,” I answer, refusing to look at her as I point to the setting sun. It’s barely peeking over the horizon now and there is no way in hell she bought that but I don’t care. The clubhouse door opens and we all turn as Travis walks out. At first glance, his green eyes appear hard and cold but beyond that, there is fear and more pain than I’ve ever seen in him before. He stops when he sees us all huddled together and searches the group until his gaze lands on me and one corner of his mouth kicks up in a half smile. It’s my smile - the one he always gives me when we’re in a room full of people and pain ripples through my chest at the gesture. My heart pounds and tears sting my eyes. Even though I know he can’t see it because of the sunglasses, I still feel like he’s looking right through me and I turn away before he sees the one thing I’m desperately trying to hide from him.

“Streak,” Blaze calls, turning to watch Streak as he tilts his head toward the crowd. “You got any fucking idea what’s going on here? Or what the hell that reporter was talking about?”

I sneak a peek over at him as he drops his gaze to the ground and runs a hand through his hair, nodding. When he glances up again, a range of emotions flicker through his eyes.

“Yeah… I went upstairs and did some research after she showed up and asked us about our website…”

“We don’t have a website,” Chance says and Travis nods, shifting from one foot to the other before crossing his arms over his chest. I’ve never seen him so out of sorts and despite the ache I feel, I want to comfort him.

“That’s the thing,” he replies, shaking his head. “We do now and it’s a pretty safe bet that Warren made it for us.”

Moose scowls, cocking his head to the side. “Okay, but how does that explain this?”

“Storm’s fake video is on there… as well as seven others, one from each of us. We’re all spewing the same hate the fake Storm did and saying that we’re going to come after the city of Baton Rouge.”

Oh, shit.

This is bad.

“Fuck,” Blaze whispers, horror in his voice as he turns back to the crowd and shakes his head. The white news van is still out front with a professional looking woman interviewing protestors as the rest of the crowd screams their hate at us. The thing is, I can’t blame them. If I was in their position and I saw videos like the one of Storm that was posted, I can see how easily it would be to get enraged and demand justice or take matters into your own hands.

“How could you have missed this?” Storm asks and I glance over at him as he shoots a glare at Travis and my muscles tighten. Every part of me wants to surge forward, get in his face, and defend my man but if I get too close to Travis, if he touches me, I’ll break. I will fall apart right here in front of everyone and I can’t have that so instead, I cross my arms over my chest and rock back on my heels as I drop my gaze to the ground.

“I…”

“You were looking into my video so why didn’t you think to look for others, Streak?” Storm rages, cutting him off and I blow out a breath and keep my gaze fixed on the ground. When silence blankets the group, I peek up. Travis sighs and grabs the back of his neck with a grimace.

“I didn’t think of it.”

Storm clenches his fist. “Goddamn it, Streak!”

“Hey,” Blaze barks, turning back to all of us and commanding our attention as his gaze flicks over all of us. “We are not going to do this. This is a family and we have all been working our asses off to figure this out, including Streak, so knock it the fuck off. That’s an order.”

His words leave no room for argument and we all nod before turning to Storm. He stares at Travis with disappointment in his eyes but eventually, he nods also.

“I’m sorry, guys,” Travis whispers and the pain in his voice breaks my fucking heart. The weight of the world is resting on his shoulder and most of the time he carries the burden without complaint but tonight, he looks like he’s going to break. My chest hurts, this time for the man I love with every fiber of my being and tears fill my eyes as my body aches to close the distance between us and wrap him up in a hug. When he glances up and looks right at me, our connection sparks through the air like electricity and I can’t stop myself any longer.

It will hurt.

It might even kill me but I won’t leave him standing out in the cold.