Page 57 of Filthy Devil

“I’m okay,” I say. “When this is done, I’m going to focus on the strip club, and maybe the Dark Horse can stay out of trouble for maybe five whole minutes?”

He chuckles. “Let’s fucking hope. But, Dad?” he calls out, his voice low and his tone serious. “Just know we want you back in Pineville.”

“When I’m old as fucking dirt and can’t wipe my own ass, I’ll come back and move into one of those old folks homes. But for now, I’m not even sixty, so I’ll be staying right here.”

“Fair enough,” he snorts.

CHAPTER

TWENTY-TWO

JAMES

Standing outside of the clubhouse,I stare at the rubble. It’s still smoking, even though the fire department has left. Tommy G stands next to me in silence, no doubt wishing he had a beer right about now.

Everything I had is gone again. I wonder if this is a sign that I need to leave. The fact that I had to kill someone and didn't even feel the least bit guilty. In fact, if I could do it again, I would do it without hesitation.

Nash is okay. He’s alive, and that was my goal. “This ain’t your fault, babe,” Tommy G mutters. “May feel like your fault. May seem like your fault, but it ain’t.”

He’s right, but then again, he’s not. This is my fault. It seems like my fault because it is. I wish I were with Nash right now instead of standing in front of this smoking place, but he needs his family around him. Not some dumb girl he was screwing.

“I guess I don’t need protecting anymore,” I mutter.

Tommy G snorts. “I would say you’re a prime target now.”

I turn my head to look at him. He’s still staring at the smoldering building. Looking at his profile, I inhale a deep breath and hold it for a moment before I exhale slowly. “I don’t want anyone else to get hurt,” I whisper.

He grunts. “Then you better not run, babe.” It’s like he can read my mind, especially when he finishes his thought with a single word. “Again.”

Shifting my weight from foot to foot, I wonder how I’m going to get away from all of this without anything else catastrophic happening. Before I can say anything, although I’m not sure what I’m going to say exactly, Bugsy makes his way up to me.

“We’re all going to the hospital.”

I flick my gaze down to my feet, then slowly lift it up to meet his as he stands across from me. He’s not smiling, and I don’t blame him. The men who came with King have left, along with most of the men from here, to go and attack the Southern Mafia.

Really, there is no reason for anyone to stay here because this whole place is gone. A pile of rubble. The people who didn’t go on the whole Southern Mafia hunting party are milling around, like me, dazed that everything is gone.

“Okay,” I whisper.

“So get your ass movin’, babe.”

Turning to look at him, I shake my head slowly. “I’m not going.”

He snorts then leans forward and reaches out, wrapping his fingers loosely around my bicep. He jerks me slightly, but not enough to hurt me. His gaze is focused, his expression serious.

“You’re going with us because this shit isn’t on you, babe. There is no way in fuck I’m going to show up at the hospital without Nash’s woman in tow.”

Shaking my head, I take a step backward, but he jerks me forward again. “Bugsy. This is my fault. Someone could have died,” I whisper. “Someone did.”

He snorts. “Someone who betrayed the club, and then someone who was going to kill Nash and take you. Neither of those people have earned even an ounce of anyone’s sympathy.”

I don’t argue with him, mainly because he doesn’t let me. Instead, he snorts as he tugs me behind him and walks straight toward a pickup truck. I recognize the truck. It’s Nash’s. I open my mouth to ask him why we’re taking this vehicle.

“Everyone else is going straight to the hospital. We are stopping by a store because you cannot go in there still covered in blood.”

I’d forgotten about that part. I’m still covered in dried blood, mainly because by the time I came to the clubhouse, everything I owned was up in flames. Well,ownedis a bit of a stretch because everything I had, Nash had bought for me.

So, everything that Nash bought for me was in flames.

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