Page 150 of Lamb

It seemed I had a type.

“And killing him?” Anna did not look up. Her blonde hair fell in longer strands around her face as she pulled loose a pen and pursed it between her lips, eyes scanning over a page in front of her.

When I had killed Maximus, I had not felt relief or peace. I had felt joy. A tremendous, euphoric bliss had possessed me. I had been satisfied and happy as my bullet had hit home and hehad dropped to the floor. Even if I had not been able to confirm it at first, I knew I had done it. Knew I had killed him.

Sometimes it takes a monster to kill a monster.

I was okay with that. Rather than having been the weak victim I had been all my life, what I had gained from killing my tormentors made me feel strong. Made me powerful.

“It was an accident,” I half-lied. “Self-defence.”

Anna glanced up at me, her eyes flickering between each of mine. No weather roiled in response to my deception, even as she saw straight through it.

Anna nodded, her pen making fast, sharp scratches against the paper, the noise filling the room for a few long, pregnant moments.

“And Lamb?” Anna finally spoke up. Her gaze had hardened now, and I was not looking at my old best friend, but instead, I saw the mother of the club. The queen of her domain.

I paused, feeling a knot tighten in my chest for the first time since Anna had walked in.

“I know I may not come out of this,” I breathed, thinking about those deep hazel eyes and the pained burning that stirred in my chest. “But If I go back to him,” I breathed, dodging saying his name, knowing the weight that would sit on my tongue and the pain it took to swallow it back, “I want to live without a fake name or identity. I do not want to have to hide or to run. I want to move on. I want to be happy. I want to beme.”

It was an indirect answer. But it was honest. If I thought too hard about what I had done to Lamb, what this betrayal had meant for him, my resolve would crack. And if I broke down at the first hurdle, I was not sure how I could cope for the years to come. I was to be tried for murder, and I would not be coming back. Not for a long time. All I could do was what I thought was best, and pray that when I returned, Lamb would be ready to listen to me. Even if he would not wait for me, I understood.

This was my war to fight.

And I would come back victorious.

“Well then, we’ve got a lot of paperwork to get through,” Anna groaned, clicking her pen with an echoing snap, “if we’re gonna shave a few of those years off.”

Confusion riddled my thoughts. I thought the papers had been a guise for my fake phone call, but now that I was looking, I saw all the details of my case splayed across the table.

“Wait. You are going to represent me? But I am not club.”

“No, you’re not,” Anna agreed, her pen pausing, eyes hovering on the edge of the paper, a fight to not let them rise fluttering over her face. “You’ll just have to pay my fees in full.”

Emotions heavier and thicker than any I had experienced before threatened to suffocate me. This was not forgiveness, nor did it fix any of our past.

But it was a start.

Anna looked up, her blue eyes sharp, and her pen poised and ready.

“Let’s get started.”

EPILOGUE

Lamb

Three Years Later…

Oregan was hot and humid, and the bonnet of my Lamborghini burned through my thick jeans as I leaned against it. Heatwaves rippled from the surface of the tarmac, the concrete strip and grass wavering in the distance.

“Investigators have been digging at those old forensic files again,” Hound grumbled, the phone line crackling.

“And?” I sighed, sick of hearing this type of report.

“And nothing.” The Reaper’s irritated tone had become an unfortunately familiar constant in my life. “The one that split Maximus’ head in half was never found, so it’d be impossible to match it back to any weapon, as per yourrequest.”

“Then why are you calling me?”

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