Page 25 of Trigger

He was quiet for a moment. I dug my blunt nails into his arms. “Trigger, I need you to fucking promise me that.” I couldn’t cope if I didn’t have his word on that.

His next breath sounded strangled, like the mere thought of making that kind of decision killed him inside. But he finally nodded. “I promise,” he croaked.

19

Trigger

Chase was oddly silent as we entered the chapel. It was like he’d come to terms with the fact that he wasn’t going to be able to change my mind about this, but he was still moody about it. I didn’t know what else to do or say to settle his mind.

Pulling out Chase’s chair, I waited until he settled into it before I pushed it in a bit and then stood behind it, my hands resting on his shoulders just as they’d been the day before.

I needed to feel like I was protecting him, even if there was no threat to him in that room… yet. So long as I kept his chest a secret, he’d be okay. I didn’t think the club would turn their back on him, but I also knew Johnston was a cold-blooded mother fucker, and he would do what he had to protect everyone else, even if it meant he tossed aside a damn valuable patched member.

“We need to form a plan,” Scorpion said, looking at me. “You got any ideas yet, Trigger?” he asked me.

“They’re going to be underground right now. Recuperating and readjusting after I wiped out quite a few of their men when I rescued Chase. I need someone working on tracking them down.”

Scorpion grabbed his tablet, which had been sitting beside him, and spun it around to face me. “Geek and I have been working on tracking them, and we finally got a ping from the Pakhan’s personal phone at about three this morning. They’re close by. I’m assuming the Pakhan wouldn’t be trailing far from his men.”

No, he wouldn’t be. Leaning over Chase, I grabbed the tablet, sliding it closer so he could see what I was looking at as well. I zoomed in, grinding my teeth when I saw where they were.

“They’re holed up in town,” I said. Scorpion nodded, his eyes hard and flinty. I looked at Blayke. “This is going to make this difficult.”

Blayke’s smile was pure trouble. “I like difficult.” He strolled around to stand beside me. Chase grunted in annoyance, no doubt irritated he was being crowded, but he didn’t say a word. I had a feeling he would fuckingexplodelater when it all became too much, and I was goddamn ready for it.

There was something about Chase losing his cool that made me fucking hot for him.

“We can set up a base at Sophia’s bookstore,” I said, using my finger to turn the map to see what was around. “We can get Geek down here, and he and Scorpion can access the cameras around the building to keep us informed of what’s happening. We infiltrate quietly. No guns. This can’t be loud. It’ll draw attention from law enforcement, which I don’t have time for.”

“No guns…” Halo said, frowning at me. “You expect us to go in there, where every single one of those mother fuckers is no doubt heavily armed, with what—knives?”

“At least someone is speaking sense,” Chase muttered. I ignored him, only giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze to hopefully simmer him down.

“It can be done,” Lawson told Halo. “It’s going to require a lot of stealth and doing this when most of them are asleep and unaware. This will be an all-hands-on-deck mission.”

“Not all,” I grunted. “We need people here—just in case shit goes sideways. If they get the jump on us, someone needs to be here to get everyone out and on the road toward the mother charter.”

“I can do it,” Chase snapped, that temper of his spiking hotly. My cock jerked in my jeans. “I might be injured, Trigger, but I’m not fucking incapable.”

“You can barely walk half the time,” I calmly reminded him. “You’ll need help.” I looked at Reese and Halo. “You two will stay here with them.”

They nodded once. Chase’s teeth audibly ground together. Scorpion shot him a worried look, but Chase pointedly ignored him. When he tried to shrug my hand off his shoulder, I dug my fingertips in until he hissed in pain and stopped moving.

“When do you want to do this?” Scorpion asked, leaning forward and bracing his elbows on the table as he arched a brow at me.

“We need to get things set up discreetly at Sophia’s store. And then, we need to be able to get close enough to find out how many are there, which we’ll have to do by heat signatures.” I looked at Blayke. “Three days?”

Blayke nodded in agreement, then looked at Scorpion. “We infiltrate in three days. I’ll touch base with Johnston and Geek.”

Scorpion nodded once, then slammed his gavel on the table. Chase abruptly shoved his chair back, slamming into both me and Blayke. Blayke grunted, glaring at Chase as Chase angrily stood from his chair. “Hey, fucker?—”

“What?” Chase growled, turning to him, practically vibrating with rage. “You wanna fuckin’ have it out, Blayke? Because I’m in the goddamn mood, dickface.”

I pressed a hand to Blayke’s chest, holding him back. Blayke’s blue eyes were sparking icy fire, daring Chase to swing first. “Let it go, Blayke,” I quietly told him as Chase spun on his heel and stormed out of the room. His entire body was tense as he went, no doubt in a shit ton of pain, but he was too worked up to let it hinder his forward progress.

I’d known he was going to explode, and he had. And now, I needed to deal with the aftermath.

Dropping my hand, I quickly followed Chase out of the room. He was already halfway up the stairs. Sophia was watching him go with worried eyes. I shot her a small smile before quickly following him up. I knew she’d give me time and space to calm him down. After all, I was the one he was pissed at.

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