Page 17 of Wrath

“Hurting over what?” I figure hearing about someone else's problems will be a welcome distraction from my own. Especially since I haven’t stopped thinking about how incredible it felt to have Aaron comfort me earlier.

“Just before everything happened with my brother and the Reapers, she had a one-night stand with one of the club members.” Peyton looks at me awkwardly.

“Wait, isn’t Saul her brother, I thought all that was off the cards?” I find myself becoming more intrigued. The fact I’m Raze’s sister was always such a big deal to Aaron in the past.

“It is, and I guess Griller will never feel the repercussions of it.” She smiles sadly. “My brother killed him.” She looks down at the table, guiltily.

“What?” I stare back at her in shock.

“He came here to take me, and Griller knew I didn’t wanna leave, so he stopped him.” I can see that Peyton is still hurting too. “He was gonna tell Alicia that he loved her that day. No one knew, but he’d had feelings for her for a really long time. To him, it was way more than just a one-night thing.”

“That's kinda heartbreaking.” I look over to Alicia and can’t help feeling sorry for her. I also get a chilling reminder of how dangerous this place can be, even with my brother in charge.

“Alicia’s feeling guilty because she never felt the same way about Griller. She’s had her eyes set on Vike ever since he and her brother became friends, and that was forever ago.”

We both watch how her eyes keep flicking to him while she talks to Saul.

“And did this Griller know that she was in love with another guy?” I’m really getting invested. Turns out I’m not the only person with a complicated life.

“I think everyone around here knows, except for Vike.” Peyton laughs, but her smile quickly fades, “I guess what they say is true. Life really is too short to hold anything back.” She keeps the sad smile on her face as she glances across at my brother, and when he notices her watching him, he looks so happy as he grins back.

“And what about her and Vike?” He’s busy talking to Dev and Saint now. I can see what attracts her to him. He’s built sturdy and has sharp, handsome features. I figure they call him Vike because his hair is shaved at the sides and worn in a long braid through the middle.

“From what Raze tells me, even if he did, he’d never act on it. He’s the club's treasurer, and he’s all about loyalty.”

“And what about him?” My eyes move to the corner of the room, where another member who intrigues me, is sitting by himself. I’ve not been here long but I’m still yet to hear the guy who’s long, black hair reaches all the way to his waist say a single word. His eyes burn into the table where he’s using the switchblade in his hand to make rivets.

“That’s Tawk, and he’s hurting bad, too,” Peyton clues me in. “Apparently, he had some kinda thing going with Wrath’s sister before Cliff took her.”

“Cliff took Freya?” I check.

“No, Cliff took Willow, the younger one.” What she says shocks me even more. I don’t remember much about the little girl I’d see here from time to time when I visited, but I do remember how protective her mother was over her. Amber was Cliff’s favorite at the time, and she loved her daughter. The fact neither she nor Willow are here anymore has me wondering what happened to her.

“And Wrath is okay with Tawk and his sister being a thing?”

“There isn’t really much he can say, especially not now.” I can tell from the look on her face that she wants to talk about it. I, however, do not. Not until I’ve got everything straight in my head.

“So, Freya…where's she these days?” I move on by asking after Wrath’s other sister, she was around the same age as me, and if I remember correctly, very free-spirited.

“Freya? Apparently, she ran away with the circus.”

“Thewhat…?” I spit the mouthful of wine, I’ve just taken back into my glass.

“I know how it sounds, but the more I’m learning about Cliff Adams, the more I’m understanding why his kids wanted to be as far away from him as possible.”

“You know what, the whole circus thing doesn’t surprise me. Freya was always the rebellious one.” I shake my head and laughwhen I remember the few times we spent together. She was always stealing pot from her dad’s office and sneaking down to the beach to smoke it. I never told Aaron, he had enough to deal with.

“How’s Aaron dealing with all that?” I guess when he chose to leave here he abandoned them as well as me, and that must lie heavily on his conscience. I know he cared about his sisters very much.

“The same way Aaron deals with everything, by throwing himself into the club and keeping himself busy, especially now he’s got you.” She smiles.

“I don’t want to be a burden to him, and I’m not the solution to his problems, in fact, I’m the start of them.” I put on a brave smile when Raze and Ruckus make their way over from the bar to join us then I shake my head when I notice Ruckus is carrying a tray of shots.

“Things are lookin’ far too serious over here.” He places one in my hand.

“Take it steady, remember we need you at the gym tomorrow. 6 am,” Raze warns him.

“This better not mean I’m losing you to that gym.” Peyton slides her arm around Raze and tucks herself under his arm when he sits beside her. It’s strange seeing my brother be so open to affection. When I first came here all these years ago, he had an old lady, but with Stacey, he was never like this.

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