Page 38 of Kade

“I love you,” I whispered.

He angled his head back to see me. His voice dropped low. “How the fuck did I get to have you as mine?”

My heart skipped a beat. I clung to his arms and Iyearned.

I yearned for him.

16

MASON

Logan jerked forward, seeing where I’d driven us. “What the fuck?” He looked my way. “Why are we here?”

I brought him back to where the underground fighting ring was located.

Unlike the night before, the venue was closed, and the only vehicle out front was ours. I assumed there were some Harley motorcycles parked behind.

Nate kept quiet in the back except his eyes met mine briefly. His mouth flattened.

I cut the engine and thrust open my door, not answering him. “Let’s go.”

Logan scrambled out next to me. I could feel his excitement. He was almost skipping beside me, like a serial killer who’d been told he could have his pick of prey to hunt. I felt every day of my age, but him? He was giddy like a teenager. It’s why we were here tonight—among other things. I knew we couldn’t make someone deal with their grief. It had to be on their timeline, but I knew my brother. He needed a nudge to get some of it out. He could deal with his grief on his own schedule, but I wanted him just to start feeling something. This was also for me.

There weren’t a lot of great ways to deal with the pressure building inside of us in a legal way. So organized violence it was going to be.

Stripes met us just outside the warehouse door. He straightened, his foot falling to the ground as we approached. He scanned over us, his gaze dead. Unemotional. “Ready for this?”

I handed over the money. “Rules?”

He tucked the money away and shrugged. “Rules are what we talked about. No permanent damage. No killing, obviously. Just some good, old-fashioned violence between strangers. I ran it past the club, and we got a nice selection of guys to face you. No weapons except your fists in there.”

I grunted. “Sounds good. Give us a minute.”

He tilted his head down and slipped inside.

“What the fuck, Mason?” Nate’s nostrils flared.

I shot him a look. “You don’t have to do shit, but I am.”

Logan bounced on his heels. “I amsodown for this. Fuck yeah.”

“These guys have a history with Channing,” Nate noted.

“Which is why he’s not here,” I countered.

Nate bit back his next words, his eyes flicking upward. He stepped away from us. “I’m not okay with this.”

“Then leave,” I retorted coolly.

Logan stopped bouncing, his gaze skirting between us. “What’s your issue?”

“This—Channing won’t be okay with this. It’s like you’re going behind his back.”

“Look.” I moved to face him directly. “I need this. Logan needs this. If you can’t be here, fine. Go. But they run the only underground fighting ring in the area now. There are no others.”

“You could’ve set this up with Channing’s crew. Those guys would fight us.”

“They would’ve held back.”

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