“Kings?” I ask, eyebrows lifting. “Those motherfuckers!”
An MC war is brewing—I know it, everyone knows it. And it’s only time until we take the Kings of Hell down.
“I have it under control.” I straight-out lie. I have no idea what I’m going to do with Shay, or just how involved I’m going to get. I have a feeling though, when push comes to shove, I’m going to get real fuckin’ involved. If Arrow hadn’t caught those guys, would they have jumped us when Shay and I were headed out on one of our adventures? My focus has been off this whole time, distracted by Shay, when I should’ve been on my game more than ever, because it’s her life at stake.
“Hmmm,” Arrow rumbles, not looking convinced. “Pack your shit. Time to move the fuck on out because it’s only time until more come running.” He then mutters something about hating all this hiding and running shit. He wasn’t the only one. In fact, I’m pretty sure I could protect Shay all on my own, without instruction from Talon, who, in my opinion, had a lot going on right now and wasn’t making Shay a priority.
A week, my ass. There’s no way I can walk away after a week, leaving that shit on my conscience if anything happens to her. What kind of man would I be if I did that? It’s in my power to help her, and I can’t turn my back on her now. I don’t know what there is between us, or what there could be, but I do know that she’s under my skin, and that I don’t want any harm to come to her. She’s definitely caused my protective instincts to flare up, and I can’t explain it, but I just need her to be safe. The world wouldn’t be the same without Shay. At least my world.
“I need to call Sin,” I announce, standing up and looking around for my phone.
“What are you going to do?” Arrow asks, forehead furrowing in concern. “This isn’t your problem to deal with, Vinnie. The marker you owe finishes soon, and you get to walk away and let Talon handle his shit. Wipe it out of your mind, because this isn’t your responsibility.”
“I can’t,” I say for the first time out loud. I look down at Arrow. “I can’t just forget it. I’m in it now. You just killed two men—how are we all not in this now?”
“You can’t forget it, because you fuckin’ like her,” he surmises, scowling. “Fuck, Vinnie. You never do things the easy way, do you?”
“I’ve never really had that luxury,” I say, bitterness lacing my tone. I’ve never had an easy life. Foster kid, moving from house to house. I never had a home until the men gave me one with the Wind Dragons. Something that not many people know is that the old WDMC president, Jim, was actually my uncle. He didn’t know about me until I was eighteen and came to find me the second he did. I became a prospect for the club the very next day and haven’t looked back since. The WDMC gave me the family I always wanted.
“I’m gonna have to either go off the grid with her, or follow Talon’s lead until this shit is over.”
And I really, really didn’t want to do the latter.
“It won’t be over until she gives them whatever it is they want, or they’re all dead,” Arrow says, standing and putting his hand on my shoulder. “You gonna claim her?”
If I claimed her, she’d have the club’s protection. But how much shit would it drag them into? If I could solve this on my own, I’d happily take that route. Claiming her was my last resort. Who the fuck claims someone after just a couple of days? Apparently me, that’s who.
Fuck.
Shay walks into the room in tight jeans and a red top. “Finished talking about me yet or do I have to go back upstairs?”
I exhale and say the words that are going to change everything for everyone. “Pack your shit, we gotta move.”
But we aren’t going to wherever Talon wanted us to. No.
We are going home.
After we do something with those bodies.
* * *
While Shay packs, I take the bodies to a vacant lot off the property and bury them in a ditch. Arrow’s right: they are Kings. There’s something odd going on here and it’s pissing me the fuck off that no one is telling me shit.
A quick shower and we start loading everything into the car. I’m surprised when Shay comes out with only one suitcase and one huge handbag. I’d have thought she’d carry around a lot more shit with her, not because of my assuming that she was high maintenance, I learned my lesson with that. But because it surprises me that this is all the stuff she’s had with her over the last few months.