Page 74 of Wife Number One

Or were they hanging around here, just waiting for their chance to spill mine?

Anger took the place of grief, and like the relief Rebel had found in arguing with Hawk, I found it in letting myself hate the men who had done this.

Josiah. Onith. George or Tyson or one of the many others Josiah considered his inner circle.

Which one of them had been the man who’d put a cord around my sister’s neck and tightened it so much she couldn’t breathe? Had she even seen them coming? Had she fought?

Or had it been Kyle, who she’d so openly trusted?

He hadn’t returned. We’d seen no sign of him or his truck.

Anger boiled my blood.

It was a familiar feeling. One that had tried to eat me alive before, and one I’d had to learn how to conceal.

So I did it again now.

But it was there, a waiting demon, ready to be unleashed.

Josiah had created it when he’d taken away my child, and he’d fed it again now by murdering my sister. He’d known it too. He’d tried banishing the evil from inside me with prayers and beatings and cruel words.

But the demon had only grown stronger.

Maybe that was why I had never left. The demon inside me was drawn to the demon in him.

Rebel and Hawk argued until we got back to the clubhouse, where she got out of the car and slammed the door.

Fang had his teeth mashed together and twisted to glare at his VP. “If that argument hadn’t kept her from focusing on her sister tonight, it would be my fingers around your throat right now. You hear me?”

Hawk waved him off. “Yeah, yeah. I know. But I got her to stop crying, didn’t I? Give me some fucking credit where it’s due.”

Fang shook his head. “She’s not wrong when she calls you an asshole, you know? You’re seriously a fucking prick.” He shut the door before Hawk could respond.

He raised an eyebrow at me instead. “You want to tell me I’m a cunt too?”

I cringed at his word choice but shook my head. “I’m not in the habit of calling people names. Excuse me. I need to get to my daughter.”

“I’ll tell you you’re a cunt if you want,” Aloha laughed deeply, Ice joining in with a chuckle of his own.

I ducked my head and made my way out of the van door that Ice held back for me. He went to touch my arm to get my attention, then clearly thought better of it when Hawk shoved him out of the way.

“Jesus fuck, Hawk! Quit pissing all over her like a dog marking its territory. I was only going to tell her I was sorry about her sister.”

“She doesn’t want your grubby fingers all fucking over her, all right? If I see any of you fuckers so much as lay a finger on her, I won’t think twice about breaking them.”

Aloha laughed like Hawk hadn’t just threatened him with bodily harm. “That go for you too? You breaking your own fingers off every time you touch her? Didn’t look like it back there at the morgue. Seemed like you were doing a whole lotta touching indeed.”

Hawk’s growl came back. “You. Saw. Nothing. Now shut the fuck up and get out of my face. I was just doing my job, protecting her like my prez told me to. Shame you two fuckheads couldn’t do the same.”

I hurried toward the clubhouse and my daughter inside, trying to block out their harsh words, but hearing each and every one all the same.

Queenie was still in the same armchair she’d been in when I’d left, Hayley Jade sprawled out over her lap, and Queenie’s eyes squinty like she might have drifted off for a little bit too.

“She’s been sleeping like an angel the entire time,” Queenie assured me. “Didn’t wake once. She must have been exhausted, poor poppet.”

I nodded.

“You want to take her home?” Queenie shifted slightly on the armchair.

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