“Why? I haven’t been involved in anything bad since college,” I blurted, sharing the secret I never spoke aloud to anyone.
Snow narrowed his eyes, but instead of questioning me about that, he said, “Fuckwad sold you to pay his debt and for more dope.”
“Fuckwad?”
“The guy who tried to take you earlier.”
“Wes? I thought…” I paused, gasping. “He did what?” I shook my head vigorously. “Not Wes.”
“Wes? He did. He owes a lot of money to some evil men.”
I snorted with disdain. “You’re one to talk. You pump this city full of drugs, and when they can’t pay, you kill their brothers. He probably owes you, and you’re here to collect. Those animals were here under your orders. You make it look like you saved me and expect I’m going to fall into your arms.” My voice was rising in volume and pitch, but I couldn’t stop the hysteria from gripping me tightly. “It was all a plan. Your plan!”
“Honey, I don’t know who you’ve been talking to, but we don’t deal drugs to people. We do a lot of shit, just not what you’re describing. I’m not saying there couldn’t be dabbling, but not like that.”
“Ha! You killed my brother!” I couldn’t hold back, and I slapped him. I threw all of the pain, anger, and fear into that one hit, expecting it to be my last because, surely, he would retaliate.
His response was unexpected. Rubbing his cheek, he frowned. “What do you mean?”
“When I was in my freshman year, there were these pills that helped me to make it through my first semester. I needed them for the second one too. I couldn’t concentrate without them, and they helped me not only with school, but I felt more alive and less stressed on them. It was almost euphoric, but not high. I ran out of money, borrowed some from my parents, ran out of that, and then you monsters took and killed my brother.” I didn’t know why I spilled my guts, but it felt like I was compelled to do so. Could shifters do that?
“Tell me who,” he growled, the muscles in his cheeks twitching. His lips were pinched together, and his eyes had become sliver slits, but I could still read his murderous intent in them. He was furious.
“I don’t know. When my dealer took me to meet the leader of his ring, everyone around his supplier, including him, were wearing cuts like yours with your logo. I didn’t get any names. When they threw Corey out of the van, they said ‘Regards from the Dark Leopards MC.’”
“Not us. We would never do something as blatantly public as that. And you would have never met with one of us. When was this?”
“Almost eleven years ago.” I couldn’t shut up around this man.
He rose to his feet and paced like a caged animal before punching a hole in my wall. The weird thing was, I should be afraid of him, but I wasn’t. I wanted to soothe the sting and kiss the pain away. How fucked up was I?
“You’re fixing that or paying to have it fixed, not us,” Siam declared when she came into the living room with a bag slung over one shoulder and rolling my suitcase behind her.
“I’ll take care of it,” he mumbled, staring at the ground. His head popped up, and he dropped to his knees on the ground beside the couch, grabbing my hand and holding it in his larger one. His was warm and engulfed mine, and I liked it. I should hate him. Why couldn’t I hate him?
“A name. Think really hard about this. Who was your dealer?”
“Rod.”
“You said you met with someone above him. Who?”
I concentrated, searching my memories for anything, and it came to me. “Enrique.”
“Son of a bitch!”
“What’s going on, Dimitri?” Siam questioned, coming to stand behind the couch, hovering close as if to protect me from her brother.
“We need to get you two out of here. If those guys come back, I don’t want either of you to be caught in the middle.” His eyes met mine. “I can promise you that it wasn’t us. Ten years ago, someone pretended to be us. They did a lot of shit, and we had to clean up the mess, but it wasn’t us. I’m not saying we don’t ever supply people with things, we aren’t angels, but we aren’t the dealers, and we don’t kill innocent people.”
I believed him. I’d spent a decade hating these men, and in one fell swoop, I believed him. It didn’t make any kind of logical sense. Without saying a word, I got up and nodded, still trying to wrap my mind around how quickly I could go from one end of the spectrum to the other.
When I turned around again, brother and sister were staring at each other, and Siam spoke aloud, “Dimitri, you have to tell her.”
“Tell me what?” I asked.
“When I get you safe, we’ll talk,” he finally conceded.
I noticed Snow blocked my view of the kitchen as we left the apartment, but he couldn’t stop me from seeing the blood on the floor or splattered on the walls, or the pool of red near the hallway. The same one Siam had to jump over when she came out with our luggage. I told myself that was the reason I agreed to go with him because bad people were trying to come after me, thanks to Wes. It wasn’t that I felt safe and protected around him, and it sure as hell wasn’t because I didn’t want to be apart from him or the fact I desired him like no one else.
I had a feeling my life was about to change but was it for the better or worse?
373
Snow
When we pulled up to the clubhouse, I instructed Siam to take Verity to my room. I didn’t want anyone looking at what was mine until I could make it
