Page 37 of The Aftermath

“Going back.”

“What? Why?” Now she’s up, sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at me like I’ve lost my fucking mind completely, and maybe I have.

“I have unfinished business,” I state. She shakes her head and climbs off the bed, pacing the room.

“Seriously? We said we weren’t going back!”

“No, we didn’t. I said not right now,” I remind her of our conversation. Angel huffs out a breath and grabs her phone. I watch her dial a number, but I don’t know who the hell she’s calling until she’s yelling into the line.

“Tell your boy no, Rylan! Tell him it’s a stupid idea!” She screams, and I smirk. She didn’t know I had already talked to Rylan about this, and he agreed to go back with me, and so did Levi. “What do you mean? You agreed? Fuck! I hate you both!” She screams before hanging up on him while I laugh.

“You get that out of your system?” I ask her, propping my head up on my hand.

“Why, Silas? We’re free. We don’t have to be there anymore. We never have to go back or see them again.”

“I told you, I’m not finished. When I took that Oath to you, I made promises, and I’m not about to break them.”

“But I don’t care anymore. Aren’t you happy with me?” she asks, nearly pleading with me.

“You know I am, Angel. You know I love you, but you also know this wasn’t over,” I tell her. She knows. She just doesn’t want to admit it. I said I was going to handle my dad and Matt, and that’s exactly what I plan on doing. They hurt her, they used her, and they allowed her to be used. This is not how their story ends. They don’t get to continue breathing. And Tom? Oh, when I get Tom, the things I’m going to do to him.

“It could be over if you let it go.” I motion for her to come to me, and she does, much to my surprise. She climbs back on the bed, and I pull her into my arms.

“We don’t know what’s happening over there. We don’t know what they’re doing, Angel. They could be hurting another little girl,” I tell her softly, trying to reason with her.

“Don’t do that. Don’t use that shit against me, Silas.” In seconds, I flip her onto her back and hover over her. I pull her hands above her head and hold them with one hand and then grip her throat with the other. I squeeze until it cuts off her air supply, and then I make her listen. Angel bucks her hips, but it does no good.

“Listen to me and listen good before you fucking pass out. We’re going back. We’re going to finish what we fucking started, and we’re going to make sure those motherfuckers don’t hurt anyone else. Now you’re either on board, or you’re not. Either way, it’s happening. All you’re going to decide is if you’re chained up at Chaos until it’s over.” She blinks rapidly, and I know she’s probably seeing spots in her vision. Too damn bad for her.

“Now am I making myself clear?” She nods her head, and I release her throat. She coughs and catches her breath before I lean down and take it away again. I fuse my lips to hers, and I fucking kiss the girl who holds my black heart in her hands. I kiss her so she knows I’m doing this for her. So she saw what she told me went to my heart. I wasn’t lying when I said I was going to fix this. When I pull away, she’s gasping for air.

“Now get that sexy ass up, and let’s go meet with the others,” I tell her. I roll off her and climb out of the bed, but I can still feel her eyes on me. I look over my shoulder, and she smiles.

“I wasn’t sure how I’d like an ass tattoo, Silas, but on your ass, it really looks hot,” she teases. I’ve gotten more tattoos since we’ve been in Florida. My whole left side is covered now, and Angel seems to like looking at them.

“Yours is next,” I tell her. She laughs and shakes her head.

“No way am I tattooing my ass.”

“What about your chest?”

“What would I even put there?” she muses as she climbs out of bed and grabs her clothes.

“My name.”

“You would like that, wouldn’t you?”

“You know I would. Then when you wear those slutty little bikinis out on the beach, everyone knows who you belong to,” I tell her.

“I might just like having your name tattooed on me.”

“Yeah? We can make that happen, baby.” After our brands were burnt off, none of us knew what to do. That was who we were and what we were. That was all taken away from us in the blink of an eye.

Over the last couple of months, we’ve been talking with Hunter and Hoax. After Matt was stripped of being a leader, my dad was put in his place, and I bet you can’t guess who was made his right-hand man. Fucking Tom. The little motherfucker came back out of nowhere after all this shit happened and took his place like he never left.

Hunter has been trying to get us to come back and clean that shit up. He wants us back as Kings. He’s talked with the younger Kings, and none of them really want to follow my dad and Tom. From what Hunter said, they’re twice as bad as before. They limit the girls’ outside time. They don’t get to go to school on campus anymore as they’re to be homeschooled. It all seems like a huge fucking mess to me, and I’m not sure just yet I want to clean that up. I’m happy here in Florida. We’re safe; she’s safe. The girls love it, and we do what we need to do. We’ve talked about looking into opening up and running some clubs down here, but nothing is solid yet.

Would I mind being back in California? No, I wouldn’t. That place is home, no matter how you look at it. The good and the bad. That’s where I was raised and taught to be who I am today. Maybe I’m not the best man in the world, but I am who I am, and I can’t forget that.

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