Page 80 of A Sinner's Truth

Are you okay?

His reply comes almost immediately.

Santo:

I’m good. How are you doing?

I’m about to tell him that I’m good too, but I don’t want to lie.

Me:

I miss you. I’ve literally become a stage-five clinger.

Santo:

Cling away. I like it.

Me:

I don’t like being needy.

Santo:

I love being needed by you.

Me:

Okay, well, in that case, I need you… all the time.

Santo:

Thank fuck.

I don’t reply to his last message. I know he’s working, and I shouldn’t be distracting him. But even that small interaction has set my mind at ease a little bit.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Oliver is dragged out by the collar of his shirt by two of Tommy’s men. He’s kicking and screaming all kinds of profanities, and then he sees me and stops dead in his tracks.

Yeah, that’s right, motherfucker. You better be scared now. The grim reaper is collecting your ass today.

“What the fuck? I paid you assholes!” Oliver yells at Tommy.

“You don’t have enough money to protect you from them.” Tommy gestures to me and my brother. “Do whatever you want with him. He’s a fucking whiny piece of shit anyway.”

I watch as the club president walks over to the woman who hasn’t moved from the stairs. He stops in front of her and whispers something in her ear.

“Take him out to the car,” Gio tells the two bikers.

“You can take him out to the fucking car yourself. I’m not your errand boy,” one of them replies while pushing Oliver forward.

Before I can step in, Gio has his gun drawn and fires off a shot, hitting the biker in the kneecap. “Next time, it’ll be your fucking head, asshole. Now, get up and take him out to the fucking car.”

The biker looks up to Tommy. “You just gonna let him do this!”

“Do what he says, Wren, and stop fucking bleeding all over my floor,” Tommy tells him.

After Oliver is escorted outside, and Gio and I turn to follow him, the woman from the stairs runs in front of us, halting our movements. “Wait! I just want to talk!”