Page 63 of Demo

“Who says I’m just going to break them?” Demo retorted.

“The fuck?!” Clifton shouted. He tried to sit up, to look important and powerful. But it was all a façade. “Do you have any idea who I am?”

“I know exactly who you are,” Demo answered darkly, “and I don’t give a fuck.” He looked between his club President and SAA. “Do you have anything we can tie him up with? I don’t want to do this here.”

Which was code for,I want him in the cellar.

“Yeah, Angel should have something in her cage—” Bulldog started but then a pair of flex cuffs flew over their heads to land on Clifton’s lap.

Clifton let out a shout as if someone had just dropped a grenade on him.

Bulldog let out a growl as menacing as his namesake was capable of. “Scar, you son of a bitch!” He rounded to face the former enforcer, who was standing behind them as if he’d been there all along.

On Scar’s chest was a vest worthy of Batman. The club used to joke it was Scar’s Bat Vest. It used to be hidden under Scar’s club cut, but now he wore it openly. The vest consisted of many pockets that held things, like flex cuffs, in addition to the number of knives, daggers, and throwing stars in sheaths all along it.

“Outside, now!” Bulldog shouted, pointing an accusing finger at the scarred man. If Scar were anyone else, Demo was fairly certain Bulldog would have scruffed him to force him outside. Thankfully Scar followed Bulldog without argument—or vanishing into thin air like a fricken ninja to avoid whatever confrontation was about to take place between the two friends.

Demo wasn’t sure if he could even classify Scar and Bulldog asfriends. The word seemed too casual and familial. He knew the rumors around the club were that Bulldog and Scar had served together prior to the club. That made the most sense since Bulldog had chosen Scar to be his enforcer before Scar had left the club. But Angel had served under Bulldog’s command and she claimed that she’d never seen Scar before she joined the club. Therefore, the history between Bulldog and Scar remained a mystery.

Unfortunately, the two seemed more at odds than any other pair of friends Demo had ever seen before. Demo knew that Bulldog trusted ScarandScar had given up his place in the club for Bulldog. But Demo had to wonder what sort of conversation was going to happen outside in Paige’s driveway. Besides a one-sided one, that is…

Clifton tried to scramble away but Steel threw him to the floor and held him there with a knee to his back. With ease, Steel cuffed the man’s hands behind his back.

Demo helped Steel raise Clifton up onto his knees. “What was your plan, tough guy? To scare a woman and her two little boys into giving you money she doesn’t have?”

“The bitch turned us over to the FTC! If it wasn’t for her, my dad wouldn’t have gotten arrested?—”

Demo threw a punch at the man’s chin to shut him up. Clifton’s head snapped back with a sickening crunch. “That was for calling Paige a bitch,” Demo sneered. “I would choose your words more carefully in the future,” he warned. “Though, where you’re going, it’s not going to matter much.”

Paige tookDemo up on his offer to stay the night. She was honestly grateful for it, not sure she could have gone to sleep otherwise. Demo told her he would sleep on the couch downstairs, but Paige took his hand and led up up the stairs to her bedroom. He took what was usually her side of the bed, the one closest to the door, while Paige slept on what used to be Richard’s side. The boys slept between them.

Steel, Bear, and Lucky said they were taking Clifton to the sheriff’s station. Paige couldn’t help but wonder if there were going to be any pit stops between her home and dropping him off to the police. She hadn’t been kidding when she’d told Demo she’d picked up on how the club handled some things. She hadn’t seen anything herself, but she’d heard some of the ol’ ladies’ vague words, and more importantly, seen some of their pointed looks between each other. As if to warn one of them to not say anything incriminating or too openly. The men of the club were not the sort to let something like breaking into her house with a gun slide.

She wondered if she was going to need to go down to the station in the morning to make a statement, but Demo told her that it wasn’t pressing.

As she fell asleep with her boys cuddled between her and Demo, Paige’s hatred for her house increased. She couldn’t wait until she was financially stable enough to move out of it. She hated everything about it—including her bed. She hated that she couldn’t even afford to replace the mattress Richard had once slept on with her.

Maybe someday, Demo and she would go mattress shopping for a bed of their own. That was a nice dream to hold onto.

After he spent the entire next day with her and the boys, Paige was sorry to see him go. She tried to contain her sadness as she walked him to the front door.

“I wish I could stay,” he whispered against her lips. “You have no idea how much, but I need to get back. Steel’s called a meeting for the officers. I’m already running late.”

Paige nodded solemnly. “Is it childish of me to say that I understand but I don’t like it?”

Demo chuckled. “Not at all.”

“You know…” Paige started and then bit her lip.

Demo used his left hand to raise her chin up. “I know a lot of things, beautiful, but I don’t have the ability to read your mind. Just tell me.”

Eased by his attempt at humor, Paige went on. “I was just thinking that maybe you’d like to come back here after your meeting.”

Demo was silent for a moment. “It might be late.”

“I can give you a spare key.”

“It would mean remaining here all night.”

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