Page 61 of Daughters of Chaos

I scan the bar, looking for a distraction. When my eyes land on a hulking figure ten feet away, I consider another option to staunch my irritability. Maybe Reaper would be willing to spar come closing time. We could clear out the center of the floor and go a few rounds fist to fist.

Or you could have him rail you against the back wall. Hot. Heavy. Hard.

What the hell.

My body burns at the ridiculous thought that invades my mind. I feel my cheeks heat at the images that start forming, showing exactly howthatwould play out.

He’d have me spread wide as he lifted me up, pinning me against the brick wall. His hips thrusting fast and wild as he fucked me senseless. There’d be no room for soft and slow, not with Reaper. I’d have teeth marks and bruises all over from where he marked me, owned me, made me his. My core heats at the thought, and my breathing hitches.

I shake my head furiously, trying to dislodge the insane visuals now running rampant in my brain. Fuck’s sake.

I can still feel my face burning when I dare look up again, and goddamn it, if that rough sonofabitch isn’t staring right at me, looking like he can see right through me. Watching me through narrowed eyes as if he can read my fucking mind.

I have to turn away, especially when I start imaginingthatlook in his eyes. There’s no way it was real. I must have dreamed it up in my sex-deprived state—that look of lust, of desire I saw raging as he watched me.We can’t stand each other. It had to be a fluke.

There’s no way in hell that those visions will become reality. Nope. Not ever. I just need to fight someone. I need to—

“Holy shit!” one of the patrons shouts. “A warehouse exploded outside Grande.”

All the thoughts in my mind halt. Everyone in the bar turns to the man as he reads the live report. “They say it’s like a bomb went off. That there’s live ammo and weapons inside. Emergency services can’t get close enough to put out the flames yet.”

“Holy fuck.”

Murmurs ripple through the room as everyone starts commenting about the blaze. Someone asks Jesse to turn on the news, and every station is reporting the same story. A massive explosion in a warehouse filled with weapons is raging as city leaders try to contain the situation.

One look around the room at the Sons, and I know who's responsible for the blast. Viper made his move. He’d sent his message to the Desert Bastards.Come for us, and we’ll light you up.

I know it's only a matter of time before the Bastards strike back, but it's a damn glorious sight seeing their empire burning to the ground. With the size of that warehouse, it had to be the MC’s center of operation. With that now up in flames, it'll take the fuckers a while to regroup.

My lips twitch at the thought, and I can’t help but gain a tiny bit of respect for the man the guys called Prez.

35

Phoenix

Dad has been pacing ever since he and a few of the guys got back earlier tonight. I know something's up by the way they all keep checking their phones and fidgeting. Whatever retaliation they have in the works for their rival crew is going down tonight. I can feel it.

I was grateful when he pulled his group earlier and left Mason to stay behind with me and the others. I wouldn’t have been able to sit still if he had left with them to do . . . whatever it is that they planned. Since Martin’s attack, any time Mason has been away, even for a short time, I get sick to my stomach. I start thinking that something bad is going to happen to him or that Dom and his guys are going to come steal me away in his absence.

I hate that. Hate the constant state of worry I’ve been in ever since that night. It’s almost as bad as the guilt that’s still eating away at me over everything. Raven told me over and over againthat none of this was my fault, that I didn’t bring any of this upon us by not seeing through Kat from the beginning.

I want to believe her, but I can’t help it. I still feel responsible.

I was targeted as the weak link. Dom sent Kat to befriend me because he felt I was the one who would somehow show them what cracks existed in the Sons’ MC. I never talked with her about them, though. Never once said anything about the club or any of the guys outside of the fibs I told her about Mason when she’d ask what he did for a living.

It's still a shock to me that she was linked to anyone from the Desert Bastards. And doing drugs . . . I never suspected that from her. Not once. It still doesn’t make sense to me, but I guess that’s what made her so dangerous. That must be why Dom picked her for the job. She was a great actress.

She certainly had me fooled.

Martin is still in the hospital. He has some brain swelling from the attack and has to stay under observation until the doctors feel comfortable releasing him. It's awful. He met Kat because of me. If I hadn’t introduced them—

“We got the bastards,” Bear says as he storms into the living room.

Everyone jumps up and starts murmuring about Bear’s news. His interruption shakes me from my dark thoughts, and I turn to Mason. “What’s he talking about?”

His eyes flit to where Bear and my dad are now talking animatedly across the room. “Viper’s plan. It went down tonight,” he tells me. “We sent a message to Dom’s crew. Showed them what happens when they threaten our own.”

Something big happened tonight. I can see it on everyone’s faces. I still have no clue what that something is, though. The question hangs heavy in my eyes as I look at Mason. He opens his mouth to tell me when one of the others turns on the TV.

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