Page 81 of Wrath

“That’s not gonna happen, not while he’s weak. He seems to have lost all friends since he lost his power.” Raze sounds deflated.

“This place is turnin’ into the Cliff fuckin’ Adams crisis center.” Trinity passes judgment as she struts past us and when I go to stand up and put her in her place, Aaron grips my thigh harder.

“Leave it,” he tells me, narrowing his eyes at her as she walks out onto the balcony. I’m pissed the hell off that he won’t let me give the bitch what she deserves, and I’m starting to wonder what kind of power the woman has over everyone. No one seems to like her and yet, like Sinner, they let her stick around.

“I’ll speak to her,” Raze assures me.

“Yeah, well make it fast because I swear to God, the next time I get a nasty comment from her, I will rip the synthetic hair from her head and make her choke on it.” I notice the way Aaron smirks.

“Don’t think I don’t mean it.” I side-eye him, and he wraps his arm around my shoulder and pulls me in.

“You’re hot-as-fuck when you’re angry,” he whispers into my ear, and Raze must hear because he clears his throat and gets back to business.

“I just don’t know if Cliff would have risked coming here to dump that body on the beach?” Raze states his thoughts out loud.

“I think you're underestimating him. Cliff thrives on power. He thinks he’s indestructible,” I point out, during the months he had me, I saw him do some awful things.

“That was while he was president, he had the club, he had power. Now he’s got nothin’.” Aaron loses that playful look and gets back to being angry.

“He’s got her.” The voice that comes from the corner of the room belongs to Tawk. I never even noticed he was here when I came in. I’m told by the girls that he’s always been a quiet member, he patched in here after he made his cut in Colorado. Some say he came here to be Jimmer Carson's eyes after he’d got suspicious of Cliff, but they’re sure the real reason he came was to look out for Willow. They’d met after Cliff sent her to Colorado as a punishment for acting like a brat and partying too hard.

“D’ya think I’m not thinkin’ about that every fucking’day?” Aaron stands up. “You think I don’t wanna find this fucker and use every fuckin’ sick tactic I’ve been taught to get the truth outta him?” He moves across the barroom and grips Tawk by the front of his cut. Tawk says nothing, just remains seated, and looks up at him with dead, cold eyes.

“What I see is you puttin’ all your attention into a fuckin’ fightin’ competition,” he speaks through his teeth. “This club should only have one focus right now, and it should be bringin’ her home.”

“I want my sister home just as much as you do.” Aaron looks wild and I nudge my brother under the table hoping that he’ll intervene.

“But you wanna win the fight more.” Tawk shakes his head like he’s disgusted.

“Tawk, we’re gonna find Cliff, and we’re gonna find Willow.” Aaron sounds more like he’s trying to convince himself than anyone else.

“Yeah, well, I don’t see that happenin’ anytime soon.” Tawk stands up so they’re foreheads are touching and Raze acts fast and puts himself between them.

“Come on, this ain’t helpin’ shit.” He forces Aaron back and when I move to go to him he shakes his head at me as he backs up toward the door.

“Where are you going?” I ask, feeling the heat expelling from him.

“Somewherehefuckin’ ain’t!” he shouts pointing at Tawk before storming out.

“That was uncalled for.” Raze warns Tawk, “You don’t get to sit in the fuckin’ corner and judge. I don’t see you doin’ anythin’ productive since you’ve been back.”

Tawk looks down at his feet, clearly disappointed in himself.

“Now, I suggest ya give him a little more time to cool off, then apologize. Everyone in this club is doin’ what they can.” Raze glances his eyes toward the side door that leads out to the balcony, signaling for Tawk to leave through it, and when he does as he’s commanded, my brother heads back over to join me.

“Glad to see you’ve got things in order.” I breathe out a sigh as he takes a seat and when I see that he has the weight of the world on his shoulders, I get serious. “This is all my fault, if Aaron wasn't so transfixed on this fight, maybe he–”

“Stop right there, none of this is your fault. First off, Wrath has always wanted in on this tournament, you just upped the importance of it. The whole reason he wanted to fight in the first place was for the distraction.”

“Distraction?” I stare back at him blankly.

“Take it from someone who thought they’d lost a sister. A man will take anythin’ to try and take his mind off his failures.”

“I would have let you know I was safe if I wasn’t so scared you’d find out what happened, and hurt Aaron. Cliff had really fucked with my head.”

Raze shakes his head as if it’s no big deal when I know that it is.

“Aaron was never the same after he left here. All he’s focused on is his hatred for his father. Jimmer promised that he’d be the one who got to kill his dad, and it doesn’t matter that the two of you have found your way back to each other, he needs that. He needs it to move on from what happened. Eden, there ain’t a pain in this world that hurts more than guilt. And this fight is exactly what Wrath needs. He needs to do somethin’ good for ya, he needs to save you to make up for the time when he couldn’t. So, just go easy on him.”

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