Page 42 of Ours to Keep

My leg bounces as I try to push down my simmering rage.

“Don’t say anything to Lily,”he says, grinding his jaw. “She doesn’t need to worry about that on top of everything else, at least not yet. Fuck!”He sits back in his chair. His anger is as palpable as mine. The entire situation is already bad enough with Richard. But now this fucker thinks he’s going to just get away with what he attempted to do to Lily.

“He’s an entitled prick. I can’t say I’m surprised he went down that route.”

River’s frame fills the doorway. “What route? What did I miss?”His eyes scan between me and Jax as he steps deeper into my office.

“George, the arsehole from the gala, is now pleading diminished responsibility.”

“The fuck he is,”he says, kicking the legs of the empty chair beside Jax and sending it back against the wall.

“For crying out loud, River, would you sit the fuck down,”Jax says, his eyes moving to the surrounding offices, the clear windows making his outburst even more apparent.

River concedes, crossing his arms over his chest.“Well?”

Jax turns his face towards River.“Well, what?”he questions, his tone brusque.

River raises his eyebrows. “What are we going to do about George?”

“I literally just got the email, Riv.”I wave my hand towards my computer.

“And your point?”

I hold up my palm, he’s been fucking insufferable the last couple of days, and I get it, of course I fucking do. “Calm down, Riv. We’re on the same team.” I hate being at odds with him, but being separated from Lily has all of us turned on our axis.

He drops his chin and shakes his head, his hair falling over his brow. “Yeah, shit. I know.”He swallows before he looks up, the brown in his hazel eyes more dominant.

“Whatever we do, we need to be careful and strategic,”Jax says, tapping his chin in thought.

“What a fucking surprise,” River says under his breath.

Jax ignores him in favour of me. “Elliot, can you find out where he frequents? Someone as entitled as him, as you say, is probably a member of aclub or two.”

I sit up straight. “Yes, hell, you’re probably right.”

“Okay, this is something I can get behind,”River says with an edge of eagerness.

“You don’t even know what I have in mind,”Jax tosses back.

River cocks his head. “But I do brother, and it involves us paying the cunt a visit and me introducing him to my switchblade.”

I let out a groan.

“Hmm, well, the visit, yes. The switchblade is debatable. The last thing I need is you getting locked up for carrying a knife.”

River scoffs at that. “You’re implying I’ll be caught, Jax. You, of all people, know I’m better than that.”

And that right there is a glimpse of the cocky bastard I’ve grown to love, some of his humour making a brief appearance. If you can call his threat to pull a knife on George amusing. I’d get some sick satisfaction seeing him squirm, so there is that.

I pull up one of the databases I use and begin a search.

“What are the fucking chances,”I say, my heart rate increasing.

The first hit is no other than Formidable—a highly sought-out club—which also happens to be run by our close friend, Octavia.

Finally, it seems like we have a little luck on our side.

“You are not going to believe this,”I say, smirking as I turn the screen to face Jax and River.

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