Page 75 of Devil's Vengeance

Croy was normally a violently angry kind of guy. I lost track of the amount of glasses he’d broken throwing them against the walls. When he got pissed, he got loud and whoever earned his wrath would feel it almost immediately. I expected that would be me since I caused all this, but he didn’t say a word to me or anyone else. He stalked through the doors of the clubhouse, making a beeline for his office. I figured it was probably for the best so he could have a minute to cool off, but I didn’t notice Mariah standing nearby until she called out to him.

“Fuck. What the hell is she doing?” I muttered under my breath, jogging across the room to pull her out of the way before she got herself shot. I couldn’t hear everything she was saying thanks to the noise in the room, but when I got close enough, she was talking a mile a minute.

“...So I thought if we made it so I was at the library at night, he would show up without endangering a bunch of innocent people and–”

Croy shot me a dirty look. “Deal with her,” he snarled before storming past her. He slammed the door to his office so hard, it made Mariah jump and I swore I heard the wood crack. She spun around, staring at the door incredulously.

“What the hell was that?”

Grabbing her elbow, I pulled her farther away from the door. “What thefuck were you thinking? Why would you approach him? Are you trying to piss him off?”

She jerked her elbow away, glaring at me. “No! I’m trying to suggest a plan that won’t get dozens of people killed! I can accept my part in all this, but innocent kids come to the library, Chase! I don’t want them to die because of your club issues!”

“You got a better plan?” Brewer growled from behind me. When I turned, all the officers were surrounding us. It made my hackles go up, and I shifted automatically to put myself between Mariah and them.

Mariah wasn’t intimidated in the slightest. Or if she was, she didn’t let it show. She lifted her chin, glaring at them. “Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. I can stay after hours to work on updating the archive database. We’ve been meaning to digitize a large portion of it to make more room for new material. It’ll leave me out in the open like Croy wants while keeping away innocent patrons andchildren.” She emphasized that last word, trying to sway them. And while none of the guys in the crew would knowingly hurt a kid as far as I knew, it didn’t immediately change their minds.

“That won’t work. He’ll know it’s a trap. You’ll just be wasting everyone’s time,” Knox argued.

“That’s what I said,” Neo interjected. He wasn’t far from us, sitting on a stool at the bar with an empty plate in front of him. Probably taking a break for food. He didn't get away from his computer often so he had to take the chances when he could. He kept going. “We came up with a plan for that too.” He nodded to Mariah. “She’s gonna pick a fight with Chase. Full blown screaming match where everyone can see them. Make it look like they broke it off. Then she’ll volunteer for the night shift to avoid him because he keeps showing up during the day looking for her. If that asshole is as cocky as she believes, he’ll try to take advantage of the fight to come after her while she’s unprotected, since it’ll look like Chase is still attached to her.”

It was a sound plan, but a dangerous one. It’d leave her all alone, and I didn’t like that.

Reaper ended up going with Mariah’s plan. I think it was the kid thing that swayed him. Quinn was pregnant and he was more protective than usual because of that. The idea of it being his kid probably floated through his mind, aligning him with Mariah’s cause. He brought the plan to Croy, who must’ve given his approval because the following day, I was pulled aside and told to stage the fight and make it look convincing. Mariah had stayed with me, but I needed to bring her to her parents’ place to get changed. At least, that was the plan before this shit came up.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“If he is following me and he sees us happy together then switching on a dime a few hours later, he’s going to know it's fake,” Mariah argued. She was determined to go to her parents’ house alone without an escort and wanted me to show up at the library after she already got there to argue more about it.

“We don’t even know if he’s following you. It could be a waste of time.” I really didn’t like the idea of sending her off on her own. She’d be completely unprotected while we were apart. He could come for her while I wasn’t around to help.

“If he’s not following me, then it won’t matter. He won’t even notice we’re separated for a little while. If he is, it’ll help.” Spinning around from where she’d been pulling on her clothes from the day before, she cupped my cheeks and smiled softly at me. “I know you’re worried. I’m worried too. I never thought showing up at a biker party would lead to something like this.”

I scowled at her. “I told you–”

She put a finger over my lips, raising an eyebrow at me. “Don’t. Unless you want the fight to be real. Just play along for a little while. I’ll be fine.”

I wished I had her confidence about all this. It felt too risky. I didn’t want her involved.

She pressed a quick kiss to my lips before stepping out of range to ensure I didn’t grab her and stop her from leaving. “Okay. Time to get this show on the road. Do me a favor and don’t take anything I say personally.”

Rolling my eyes, I followed her out of my room. “I think I can handle it. Are you sure we can’t get cameras up first?”

“No. It’ll be a tip-off,” Reaper said with a glare. He stood at the bottomof the stairs waiting for us. He was the lead on this as Sergeant at Arms. Our security was his business. He handed what looked like a USB to Mariah. “Keep this on you. It’s a tracker. If he does get to you before we can get there, we can use it to find you.”

My shoulders came down a little. At least one of the officers was taking Mariah’s safety seriously. I already installed a tracker on her phone, but more than one wasn’t a bad thing.

Reaper jerked his chin at the door. “Go. And make it look good. I want this guy to believe it.”

Mariah nodded once. She shot me an apologetic look, then her face transformed into a furious scowl that shocked the hell out of me. How did she do that so quickly?

With a frustrated growl, she shoved past me, heading for the front door. I had no choice but to chase her.

“Mariah, wait!”

She shoved the front door open, shouting over her shoulder. “No, Chase! I’m tired of this! I’m not part of your little club! Stop dragging me into your shit!”

I caught her elbow, forcing myself to glare at her. “I’m not dragging you into anything. I’m trying to keep you safe.”

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