“What the fuck are you talking about?” I hissed back at him.
“Her!” he bellowed, gesturing angrily at Natasha a ways behind being blocked by several club members.
Fuck. I couldn’t go the violent route right now.
My woman needed me. I could see she was in a state, growing more anxious by the second with what was going on right now. She was my priority, her and our baby. Not dealing out punishment to settle a goddamn betrayal.
I had to do whatever I could, say whatever I could to end it right now.
I took in Mason and Luce watching me, both of them on edge. Mason, because he knew how wild and dangerous I could get when I was under threat, or anyone I loved was under threat. He knew he’d crossed a line, even as he stood there trying to justify it and play it off like it was nothing. And, Luce, because she wanted me to give my blessing. She also wanted me to confirm that I hadn’t just fed her to the wolves to save Natasha. That wasn’t what’d happened. I’d damn well ensured she was protected by the best and, regardless of our issues, Mason was undoubtedly that.
The fact that either of them needed me to reassure them and prove myself like this, publicly in front of the club, too, which was fucking insulting, cut me down to the bone. After everything we’d been through together, I couldn’t believe they would question where I stood.
But, fuck, I couldn’t deal with it right now.
And, so, I forced myself to grind out as casually as possible, “You’ll get over it.”
Mason shook his head, his voice taking on a dangerously low tone. “Nah. There’s no getting over it. Not this time. You and me? We’re done. And you continue to bring her up to the clubhouse and I’m done being around here too. I’ll only be up for Church from now on.”
“Look, Mason—” I started, reaching for his arm.
“No!” he yelled, shaking me off. “It doesn’t bother me so much about the disrespect you’ve shown me. It’s the decision you made by going after Natasha. The choice you made by doing so.”
“You don’t understand. There’s more to it.” A hell of a lot more.
“You put your sister in danger. Right in Nik Stone’s line of fire. The second you made the decision to bring in Natasha, you made Luce a target. And you knew it. You chose Natasha’s wellbeing over Luce’s.”
“I—”
I didn’t get the chance to finish my sentence.
Mason’s fist slammed into the side of my face like a fucking concrete block. I hissed, then grunted as my knees smashed onto the asphalt. My weary body had been through too fucking much recently. I was tapped out. Not a great time to take a hit from one of the hardest men in the goddamn club. Mason was way stronger when he was angry. Just like me. It really wasn’t good fucking timing that I’d decided to cool it and swallow down my own emotions. “Fuck.”
“Cole! Oh my God!” I heard Natasha screaming. There was a scuffle at my back and I heard her cursing and struggling.
Before I could react, Mason spat on the floor just shy of me, telling me, “I’ll never forgive you.”
I looked past him to my sister. I expected her to be on his side, but I needed to know for sure where I stood. “Lucy?”
“Stay away from me. You’ve suffocated me for long enough.”
With that, they linked hands and strode off together.
I forced myself to my feet and stormed toward the boys holding Natasha off. “Get your fucking hands off her or I’ll put you all down! Right the hell now!”
“All right, guys, back off,” Liam called, striding up on my right side.
When they took their sweet time, Slade bellowed out, “Now! She’s here to help us, fuckers.”
“To help us?” Van, our Road Captain, asked, as stunned as the rest of them seemed.
I tucked Natasha into my side as the boys took her in, studying her in shock.
“What’s going on, Slade?” Liam demanded. “I thought she was here for interrogation over the setup at the frat house.”
“There’s a load of complicated shit that’s gone down real fucking fast. I’m gonna lay it all out tomorrow in Church. ‘Til then, know she ain’t the enemy and she’s under club protection. Nobody lays a hand on her, no disrespect.” He gave a chin lift to her and what was almost a smile. Then, he turned back around and stomped into the clubhouse. I wasn’t surprised. There was a load of shit that needed putting in place before we went after Nik Stone. He was neck deep in it and likely working around the clock to sort everything in time, to make sure there were no stupid mistakes made.
It’d been years and years coming for him, longer than it had for me, to finally hit Nik with payback. And now it was finally here, I figured he couldn’t bear the idea of fucking up the shot.
Slade and I were in a similar boat, except I was the before version of him, the version who hadn’t lost the love of his life to that psychotic fucker. And I was damned well going to keep it that way.
“Sorry, brother,” a voice cut into my thoughts.
I blinked back to reality to see Tank walking up to us. He gave Natasha the first full smile she’d ever gotten from a club member, then squeezed my shoulder.
“No worries,” I told him. “You didn’t know.”
He was an enforcer and we’d been partnered on a load of jobs together. Like me, he was really intense about his work. It was something that’d bonded us. Outside of Mason, he was the closest brother to me.
“Glad you’re back.”
“Thanks.”
“He’ll calm down. Little Lucy, too. Just give ‘em time.”
“Yeah, I’m sure
