Page 66 of Bishop

“Where are you now? Are you at home?” he pressed, clearly trying to triage the situation as best as possible.

My fingers shook as I gripped my phone hard enough to make them appear colorless. “No. I’m at the McDonald’s right down the road from the highway.”

“Drive over to the Clubhouse, Evie. Don’t stop no matter what. Do you hear me, Babe?”

I nodded. Realizing that he couldn’t see me though, I followed up audibly, “I’m on my way now,” and put the car in drive.

As soon as I pulled up to the gates of the Devil’s Clubhouse, Matty was there waiting for me. He didn’t even let my car come to a complete stop. Instead, he motioned for me to unlock my doors, pulled mine open, and dragged me out into his arms.

Raining kisses down my face, head, and neck, he whispered how grateful he was that I was okay. When he’d soothed me enough to stop my shaking, he walked me over to the passenger side door, buckled me into my seat, and returned to drive my vehicle back to the Clubhouse garage.

After we’d parked, Matty looked at me and said, “I know you probably don’t want to talk about it, Babe, but I’m going to need you to tell my Club President about everything that happened today.”

“Okay,” I softly returned, wringing my hands together as I tried to calm my jumbled nerves about speaking with Reaper. It wasn’t the first time I’d talked with the man, but he was so intimidating I found it hard to open up around him, let alone discuss something so personal.

“Before we go inside,” Matty cautiously began, “I need to ask you something.” He let out a pent-up breath and pushed forward. “Did Maze or any of his guys do anything to you, Babe? You don’t have to be afraid. You can tell me anything.”

My eyes filled with a fresh set of tears at his gentle words. “He made threats, but nothing more,” I reluctantly revealed.

Matty’s hands clenched into fists which took several moments to unfurl. “I don’t want you to have to explain this story twice, so let’s go inside and you can tell both me and Reaper at the same time.”

Taking me by the hand, we walked into the Clubhouse. Reaper was waiting inside a large conference room with a wooden table when we got there. To my great relief, so was Angel.

“How are you?” she spoke gently into my ear, holding me close like a mother would a scared little child.

I nearly lost it again, but managed to hold back. “I’m okay. Just shook up.”

“Can you start at the beginning?” Reaper posed, barrel-sized arms stacked one over the other. “Don’t leave anything out. I need to know every fucking detail about what those degenerate bastards said.”

I told them about going to the grocery store and then needing to drop off a check at the bank. I could feel Matty’s eyes on me, but he didn’t censure me for the stupid mistake of going alone.

Reaper wasn’t so forgiving. “Why wasn’t a Prospect watching her?” he demanded, looking at Matty for answers. “I made it clear that no woman associated with this Club was to go anywhere without a Brother or Prospect for their safety.”

I answered so Matty didn’t have to. “Because I had a last-minute catering order and didn’t realize it would be so dangerous to drive to the store alone. It was my mistake, Reaper. Matty told me not to go anywhere without a prospect as my escort. I ignored him. Next time, I won’t be so foolish.”

Matty squeezed my hand reassuringly. “I’ll make sure of that.”

Reaper took in the intimate exchange between us with interest but didn’t comment directly on it. “You said that Maze wanted to give us a message. What was it?”

Taking a deep breath, I launched into my story. I told Reaper about his competition up North and then about Maze having friends that were the “right” sort.

“He said that you met them in prison,” I turned and told Matty, “and that you’d know who he was talking about.”

Matty’s beautiful aqua eyes chilled over as realization dawned. “Yeah, I know who that fucker was referring to,” he returned, giving Reaper a meaningful glance.

“Did he say anything else?” Reaper pressed, wanting every detail that he could unearth before deciding on what to do next with the Watchmen.

“He said that he planned on ruining your Club, and that he,” I paused, not wanting to stoke Matty’s temper any more than it already was, but unwilling to leave out details he needed to know, “he said that after he took your Club, he was going to take me.” I revealed with a full body shiver.

Like the hottest part of the flame, Matty’s eyes blazed blue fire. “That’s not going to fucking happen, Evie!” he growled, his voice so low and angry I barely recognized it. “Believe me when I say that man isn’t coming anywhere near you. I’ll kill him and every member of that piece of shit Club of his, first!”

Lowering my head, I tried not to let my fear show in my eyes. When I’d gotten ahold of myself, I stated the obvious. “You can’t watch me every second of the day, Matty. You’ve got a life. A Club to answer to. Responsibilities outside of me.”

“The fuck I can’t!” he exploded, his face transforming into a mask of utter rage.

“Matty, be reasonable,” I protested, knowing it would do little good, but needing to try anyway.

“You’ll stay at the Club then,” Matty proclaimed, the decision already made. “There’s precedent for it.”

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