Page 11 of Acid

“I did, five times…” I mumble back as I spin my phone on the oak table, and yes, I’m fucking sulking.

Why can’t she understand I’m no good to her, that friendship is just better?

Why the fuck does she have to push me away?

Piston sighs as he leans against the bar, “Ol,” I look at him, “she lost her dad, her hero, and you knocked her back.” I open my mouth to defend my actions, but he speaks a little louder, “She was sixteen, emotional, and our pasts hang over us daily, I get it, but at that moment, she needed someone to help take her mind off her loss, just for one moment, and now she’s struggling. Cass mentioned she hasn’t been home much, staying out late at night, and she’s worried. It’s why Hammer convinced Pez to continue working at the diner when she tried quitting so that he could keep an eye on her.”

I run my hand through my hair with frustration and admit, “I fucking miss her, Eli. I miss her smiles, her laughs, our sparring. I fucking miss her!”

He nods. “I know, and I know she doesn’t speak much when we see her at Huntsmen Grub. It’s only been two years, brother, give her some time. John wasn’t just her father….”

I sigh. “I know; he was her best friend, her hero.”

She fucking idolized him, as girls should do with their fathers, but Perrie, anything went wrong, whether it was school, her mom, even boys, John was the person she went to.

Piston nods and goes to speak, but we both look in shock as shouting echoes from the kitchen before Steal comes into the room, dragging a sobbing Cass, who is covered in fucking blood, by her hair.

What the fuck?

He shoves her, causing her to stumble, before he gets his gun out and aims it at her head. Cass looks at him with absolute heartbreak and betrayal.

“What the fuck!” I snap and rush in front of Cass, not giving a shit that this man is my friend, my pres.

“Get out the fucking way, Acid!” he growls as his body shakes with anger.

Piston steps up next to me and snaps, “We aren’t going to let you shoot family just because you’re our prez, Steal. Cassidy is family!”

His nostrils flare as a crying Faith grips his arm, but her brown eyes show something I don’t fucking like—glee.

What the fuck has she done?

“Fucking move now!” Steal booms, and I move so my whole body covers Cass, who grips my arm, her hands trembling.

“Listen, Ollie; I w-won’t have you hurt. Perrie has l-lost too much as it is, s-she can’t lose you, too,” she whispers, her voice trembling.

I shake my head and say, “And she can’t lose you!”

Steal curls his finger around the trigger, and I hold my arms out, “Go on then, shoot me, a brother, someone you fucking sponsored, just so you can shoot the woman you claim to love, a woman you promised to keep safe.”

His jaw tenses, and he growls, “She killed Brute. Stabbed him in the heart!”

I raise a brow at him.

Brute was fucking massive, an absolute fucking tool, and our Road Captain, a role I’m supposed to take over soon, and Cassidy is fucking tiny.

“You saw it with your own two eyes, did you?” I ask him, and his nostrils flare.

Fucking thought not….

“Faith saw her do it and I trust Faith’s words over hers,” he nods to Cass who chokes back a sob, and, in this moment, I know whatever fuck up has just happened, he’s lost her.

Years, fuckingyearsthey were together, and he’s just confirmed he never trusted her.

Idiot!

Piston speaks up, “Since when do you take word of mouth from a woman who wants your patch, Prez? I have cameras in that kitchen and yet you’ve gone from zero to a hundred all on the say of someone you used to fuck, someone who has been trying to split you and Cassidy up since day one.”

“Put the gun down, Steal,” Anchor, our now VP, demands, the brothers all nodding in agreement, all-knowing Cass wouldn’t be capable of killing someone.

---