Page 71 of Tempting Fate

If my gut is right, an arranged marriage is the least of his sins.

With a caustic laugh, Lily retorts, “Oh, I know who you are and what you do. I’ve always known. I grew up in this club, remember?” She laughs again. It’s a bittersweet sound. “No matter how much you men embrace your code of silence, things have a way of getting around, and we women hear about them… Sure, some of what I’ve heard about you horrifies me, but this is the life I chose when I fell in love with an outlaw, so I take the good with the bad… I can separate Zeke from Venom.”

Although it scares the living shit out of me to know that she’ll eventually discover that Zeke and Venom are one and the same, I force myself to offer my agreement. “Can’t ask much more than that from you.”

“No,” she quips. Lily’s chin wobbles when she adds. “But I can ask you to trust me like I trust you.”

“I do.”

“You don’t,” Lily objects. “If you did, you wouldn’t lie to me over and over.”

When she falls silent instead of pushing her point, I know that shit’s about to get real. Wild Lily, the girl who flies off the handle and says what’s on her mind without thinking, is scary enough. This Lily, the quiet and contemplative version, is fucking terrifying.

Physically and mentally, I brace for her to lash out at me over the jailhouse beatings and the letters. I wrap my fingers around the handlebars, flexing them, before I run my thumb over the ignition button, ready to ride off the moment Lily stalks away from my lying arse.

“Honestly, I always suspected that you arranged some payback… that’s just how you roll. Doesn’t mean you’re to blame for what he did yesterday. That’s on Alex.” The sigh that leaves Lily’s lips is filled with exhaustion. “And, as for the letters, let’s put a pin in that argument for now since I, kinda, already knew about them.” When I frown, she shrugs. “I’m going to tack it right alongside the fact you hid his release from me ’cause I’m more than happy to hash this out once you’re free to make it up to me with multiple orgasms.”

“Sweet thing?—”

“Don’t sweet thing me,” Lily cuts me off. “Just listen.”

“Okay.”

“Nothing you do today is going to change how I feel about you. I love you, Zeke. Heart, head, and soul. Is there stuff about you that should scare me? Sure… but I know you’d never hurt me, and for that I can accept your darkness and your danger—” She makes air quotes around the last word. “—Because those two things give you the strength to pull me free of my nightmare when Alex’s darkness and danger threatens to overwhelm me.”

“And that’ll never change, metukà shelì.”

“Which is why your love is literally the only thing I’m completely certain about in my life right now.”

At that, my woman gives herself a shake, then dips her head, and curls into my back again. I flip down my visor and bite back a growl when Brutus stares at me with undisguised loathing. Instead of giving him my rage, I offer him a sardonic salute with one leather-clad hand.

“Move out,” Brutus orders.

The Harleys in the front of the compound roar to life. The sound is deafening but revitalising at the same time. After patting Lily’s hands to let her know to hold on, I pull out into my rightful place at Brutus’ six and follow him out of the city to meet with Alex and his captured sidekicks.

As we ride, the freedom of the open road that usually relaxes me doesn’t work. If anything, as I glare at my president’s back, my body becomes tenser as I wonder what’s to come.

What are we about to walk into? Will it be a scene where we’re in charge or one where Alex is pulling the strings? Why is Brutus trying to drive a wedge between me and Lily now that I’m VP? And why is my dad openly going against his best friend to defend me?

Too many questions. Not enough answers. But the main problems are clear…

My president is shaping up as suspect numero uno in my pursuit of the Shamrocks’ traitors.

My fiancée is about to face her nightmare and, hopefully, watch me put a bullet in him.

The solutions should be clear—out Brutus’ disloyalty to my brothers and support Lily through the shock of seeing me kill someone.

It should be simple.

Except my gut is screaming that the outcomes are going to be anything but…

13

LILY

Half an hour after we pass the city outskirts, we slow to a crawl and pull off the highway onto an unsealed road. It’s bumpy. It’s dusty. The aching in my ribs is hard to take as I bounce around behind Zeke. I sink my teeth into my bottom lip to distract myself as two huge farm sheds come into view, but that only makes my stitches pull.

With my dad leading the way and Zeke riding directly behind him, the other Shamrocks follow us into the yard that surrounds the sheds. As we pull to a stop, I see that there’s already six or seven Harleys parked here, as well as four blacked-out SUVs. The sight of them sets my hair on end. Only one person I know uses these vehicles for transport.

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