Page 38 of Look What You Made Me Do

She shrugs. “Is it true?”

I blow out a breath and sink back into my chair. If she’s saying this, then other people are talking about it, too, which is mortifying. But there are no secrets in the Burning Crown, so I shouldn’t be surprised. “Yeah, there’s definitely something between us, but he hates me, so…I don’t think anything is really going to happen.” Finger-fucking notwithstanding.

Lux nods slowly, absorbing the information with more chill than I would have guessed. “Just promise me you’ll be careful. I’ve heard Lucas can be dangerous when he’s provoked…”

Yeah, no lie. But how can I possibly be careful when Lucas is determined to punish me for God knows what?

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Lucas

I’min the basement of Rush House when Roman comes down the staircase. “Yo, Lucas, there you are,” he says when he spots me in the gym. The basement is huge. The Panic Room is in the back, but the rest is set up with weights, a punching bag, and a shit ton of expensive gym equipment. There’s a full bathroom and a small sauna in the back.

I set my weights down, and straighten, wiping the sweat off my forehead with the back of my arm. “What’s up?” I ask, out of breath.

“What are you doing down here?” he asks.

I lift my hands, exasperated by that question. “What the fuck does it look like I’m doing?”

“You never work out, so my guess is that you’re hiding,” he says, leaning against a beam, arms crossed over his chest.

Not true. For the past couple of months, I’ve come down to the gym every day, for at least an hour, sometimes more. All in an effort to sweat Wyn out of my system. It’s clearly not working,but it takes the edge off my anger, so I’ve kept up with it. Some days, I come down here multiple times.

Shaking my head, I pick the weights back up and continue my workout. “You’ve had your head buried so deep in Lux, you don’t know shit about what’s going on around here.”

I’m low-key annoyed that he’s been building castles in the sky with his fucking soulmate, while I’ve been handling everything around here, on top of grieving for my cousin.

“That’s not fair,” Roman says.

“Isn’t it?” I say, curling the weights, already feeling the burn in my biceps. “You set up house and now we never even fucking see you.”

Maybe he’s right, and I’m not being fair. Roman has been through a fuck-ton of shit in the last few months and he deserves a slice of happiness. But at the cost of the guys that have been with him since the beginning?

Fuck that shit.

Roman pushes out a breath. “I came to grab something, and the guys wanted me to come down and tell you Ash just called a meeting with the Sacred Sons.”

I set the weights down again and turn to face Roman more fully. “What the fuck?” I ask, trying to catch my breath. I grab my water bottle and squirt the cold liquid into my mouth. “Has anyone told Ash he’s not the one in charge around here?”

For fuck’s sake. The second that guy was initiated, he started in on his reform bullshit. The literal fucking second. And now he’s calling meetings?

“It was mentioned,” Roman answers, pushing off the post. “I don’t think Ash gives a fuck.”

I grab a hand towel off the bench and wipe off with it. Fuck, it’s hot down here. Slapping the towel over my shoulder, I point at Roman. “This isyourchick’s fault that we have to deal with him.”

Months ago, Lux tried to usurp the Sacred Sons and replace us with Ash, who’s had an axe to grind with the Burning Crown for years. Some shit about the patriarchy, and how toxic the Sacred Sons have become. Whatever. Ever since he joined, he’s been moaning about revisiting the bylaws. Bylaws that have been in place for over a hundred years.

He needs a vote from each Sacred Son to do anything, though, so we usually just ignore him. It pisses him off, and that’s fun, so there’s that. But he’s become more and more insistent lately.

“You doing okay?” Roman asks, ignoring my comment about Lux.

“You already asked me that.”

“No, I didn’t,” he replies.

Maybe it’s because everyone asks me that all the fucking time. “I’m fine,” I bite out, grabbing my shit so I can go upstairs and take a shower. I could shower down here, but I prefer my own bathroom.

“You look like you’re on edge.” Roman has always been observant, but right now, that trait is annoying as fuck. “Is it about Ava?”

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