Page 28 of Trigger

I blew out a harsh breath, then gripped his chin, pressing my mouth to his in a kiss hard enough to make his lips bleed. A feral grin tilted his lips when I pulled back, and he swiped his tongue over his bottom lip, licking up the blood.

“I love you,” I told him. “And if something happens to you, I will come in guns blazing.”

He smirked. “I’d expect nothing less, baby.”

With that, he spun on his heel and headed out the door. Sighing, I headed up the stairs, ready for a shower. And then, I needed to find something to occupy my time while I waited for darkness to roll around.

Sophia straightened the fitted sheet on the bed, humming under her breath as she worked. I watched the way she stretched, her ass sticking out. Grunting, I reached for a shirt in my dresser. “You’re being a fucking tease, cupcake.”

She snorted and straightened, turning to look at me over her shoulder. “I’m literally just making the bed, Chase.”

I flashed her a quick grin. “Yeah—erotically.”

She barked out a laugh. A knock sounded on the door. She moved forward to answer it, pulling it open before I could stop her. When we were alone like this, we never thought much about my chest. The only time it bothered her was when we were in bed late at night and she was tired enough to let her fears surface.

But no one outside of our triangle of three knew about my chest.

I froze with my shirt around my neck as Scorpion stared at me, his eyes wide with horror.

Sophia made a horrified choking sound, tears welling in her eyes. My brave girl tried to shove the door back closed, but it was too late. Scorpion stopped it with his boot before forcing it open to step further into the room. Sophia cast me a terrified, worried glance as she stepped out of the way, but I kept my gaze locked on my president and best friend as he entered my safe space.

Silently, he shut the door behind him. Sophia trembled, her eyes wide and full of fear.

Fear forme. And I fucking hated it. I couldn’t hide from this now. Her fears were coming to life, and I couldn’t do shit to make them go away. To quell them.

“We need to talk,” Scorpion growled as I tugged my shirt on the rest of the way. The muscle in his jaw ticked. Closing his eyes, he drew in a deep breath. “Get to my office. Now.”

With that, he stormed back out of the room, but despite how angry he was, he quietly shut the door back behind him. I winced even though he hadn’t slammed it. Part of me wished he had; it would have made more sense. I couldn’t deal with his eerily calm shit right now. Not knowing he’d seen my biggest goddamn secret.

“Chase…” Sophia’s voice trembled. Erasing the distance between us, I cupped her face in my hands, hurriedly swiping her tears away.

“I’m okay. It’s going to be okay,” I tried assuring her. But I knew she didn’t believe me. Hell, I didn’t fucking believe myself. We both knew what this could mean. “I need you to stay up here, okay, cupcake? Can you do that for me? And do not letanyonethat’s not me into this room.” I wouldn’t take the chance that if Scorpion decided I needed to go, they’d hurt her trying to remove her too due to her attachment to me.

“I don’t like this.”

I blew out a harsh breath. “I don’t either, cupcake. I just need you to be brave, okay? Whatever happens, we’ll face it together. Just like we do everything else.”

She nodded, her lips trembling. I kissed her hard and quick, then shoved my feet into my boots and headed down the stairs. I knocked when I reached Scorpion’s office. He barked out a, “Come in,” and when I stepped inside, he pointed to the chair across from his desk. “Shut the door and fucking sit.”

I did as he instructed. As soon as my ass was planted in the chair, he scrubbed his hands down his face before looking at me, pain residing in his eyes. Pain for what? The decision he was about to have to make?

My stomach twisted uncomfortably.

“Why did you hide it?”

Well… that hadn’t been the first thing I’d expected to come from his mouth.

A bitter laugh escaped my mouth. “The fuck do you think?” I snapped. He narrowed his eyes at me. “Because of this, Scorpion. Because I didn’t want to facethis. That’s why I’m here, right? So you can boot me out of the club or put a bullet through my skull?”

“What?” he asked, sounding bewildered, his anger bleeding away. I frowned, now not sure where the fuck I stood. If that wasn’t why I was here, then why was I? “Jesus fuckingChrist,Chase, I’m not kicking you out of the fucking club or—or fuckingkillingyou, brother.”

I wasn’t understanding. “But I’mmarked.”

He snorted and threw his arms out to the side. “Look around you, brother. We’reallmarked. Crest in our skin or not, we’re fucking marked. We’re targets for the Russians. You should have told us so we could put more protection around you because theywillcome for you, and to get to you, they’ll come for Trigger and Sophia, too.”

“I know,” I said quietly, reaching up to scrub my hands down my face. It was one of the reasons I was so terrified of Trigger leading this fucking operation. “Trust me, I fucking know.”

Scorpion blew out a harsh breath and shook his head. “This club will never turn their back on you, Chase. You’refamily. And while Johnston is a huge asshole, I know he’ll agree with me on this.” He shook his head again, like he was in disbelief. “I can’t believe you fucking thought we’dkillyou over this, Chase.”

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