Page 32 of Trigger

“We’ll head out in a bit,” I assured him.

Johnston ended the call after telling Scorpion he’d touch base with him later today once he’d held church himself. Scorpion leaned back in his chair. “For now, we lay low and wait,” Scorpion said. “This shit’s going to be a long game. Patience is going to need to be a virtue we all have. Got it?”

A round of affirmatives went around the room. Scorpion slammed the gavel on the table, adjourning church. Chase stood and turned to face me.

“Sophia isn’t going to like this.” What he left unsaid was that he didn’t like it either. But our loyalty was to the club. We understood this life.

I sighed. “I know,” I murmured. “But she’ll be okay. We’ll navigate this just like we always do.”

Because what other choice did we have right then?

24

Chase

Sophia was wiping down the tables with Jessica and Gabriel when we all filed out of the chapel. Trigger headed on upstairs, and I went to fetch her. She frowned at me when I grabbed her wrist, halting her movements. “What’s going on, Chase?” she asked, her brows pulling low over her eyes.

“Need you to come upstairs,” I told her.

She ran her eyes over my face for a moment before she set the cloth on the table and grabbed my hand in hers, linking our fingers together. It was clear she was nervous as I led her upstairs, but when I pushed open the door to our apartment and she saw Trigger packing, understanding dawned in her pretty eyes, and then, her lips were trembling.

Goddammit, she was breaking my fucking heart already.

Trigger tossed the shirt he’d been holding onto the bed, then opened his arms. She crashed into him, tears rolling down her cheeks. Pain lanced through my chest at the sight of her falling apart. I didn’t want Trigger to go either, but I knew andunderstood the club came first. I was used to shoving aside my own feelings for this club and my position in it.

We both knew it was much harder for our woman. Our woman who felt everything so deeply and wholly.

“I don’t want you to go,” she mumbled into his chest, her words barely audible. “I hate this. I hate this so fucking much.”

I gripped her hips and dropped kisses along her shoulders, wishing I could do something to make this easier for her. One glance up at Trigger’s pained eyes, and it was clear he felt the same way. He hated this, too.

But the club still came first. While the Russians were a problem and people in our community were being threatened, the clubhadto come first. There was no other option.

“This is not forever, sunshine,” Trigger gently reminded her. He gripped her damp cheeks and tilted her head back, resting it against my chest. He swiped his thumbs beneath her swollen, red eyes. “It’sneverforever. Whenever I can, I will come here, even if I can only stay a few hours. Just like I always do.”

“Sometimes—” She drew in a deep breath. “—I hate that I fell in love with you because you’re always so far away.”

My lips quirked in amusement, and Trigger chuckled, dropping a kiss to her forehead. “We were inevitable, sunshine.” He kissed her soft and slow, and my fingers tightened on her hips. The two of them together was beautiful and always settled something inside me. “Help me pack. I need to get on the road soon. Johnston is an impatient son of a bitch.”

I released her and settled at my desk, deciding to kill time by looking over her store books. When he went home, she was going to want to bury herself back in her store until his absence didn’t hurt her so much. I understood it, and I’d be right here ready for her when she came back into herself.

It was a pattern I’d grown used to over time.

Trigger tapped my shoulder a few minutes later, and I blinked, coming out of a numbers daze as I looked up at him. Sophia was curled up in bed, her eyes shut. Her lashes were damp with tears, but she seemed to be sleeping. I frowned and rubbed my eyes.

“How long has she been asleep?” I quietly asked as I stood up to follow him out of the room.

“Not long. Couple minutes. When I put her to bed, she crashed easily. You know how draining it is for her every time I have to leave.” He sighed and reached up to thrust his fingers through his hair as we reached the stairs. “I hate having to fucking leave you two.”

I gripped his arm, turning him to face me on the stairs. “Don’t,” I told him. “I’ve got her. I’ve always got her. And I’m okay. We’ll figure out this Russian shit—no matter how long it takes—and then, we’ll figure this whole living situation out from there. Okay?”

He gripped the side of my neck and pulled my lips to his in a hard, bruising kiss. One of my scabbed cuts split back open, and he groaned, his tongue swiping out to lick up the blood before he pulled back. “Take care of her?”

“Always,” I promised. Stepping down one step, I wrapped my arms around him. He dropped his bag and crushed me to him. “Be careful, Kane,” I rasped, calling him by his real name. He shuddered at the sound of it. “Don’t go off half-cocked, and keep your head on straight.”

“You don’t either,” he said, his breath warm on the skin of my neck. “She needs us, and I fucking need you, too. If something happens to you again, I will burn all this shit down.”

I leaned back a little, a small smile tilting my lips. “I love you.”

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