Page 38 of The Grief We Hold

WRAITH

“Fuckers,” Butcher shouts as he storms toward me at the bar a week later. “We need a precautionary lockdown.”

A heady rush of adrenaline threads through me. “Why?”

“That was Wilder. The Bratva just raided our grow-op.” Butcher yells, “Atom! Do me a favor. Go grab Ember from home.”

Atom nods. “On it, boss.”

It must be serious if our enforcer has to retrieve Butcher’s daughter.

“Is everyone okay?” Catfish asks from behind the bar.

Butcher shakes his head. “Kong and Tap are both dead. The Bratva stole a whole bunch of weed. Shot up the lamps, cut down plants. Fucking destroyed the place.”

“Do we need to ride over there?” I ask.

Butcher sighs. “Wilder is gonna drag his ass to the hospital. They thought he was dead, so they left him on the ground. Overheard them discussing coming here next. He thought they decided against it. But it puts them about thirty minutes away ifthey are. Get everyone in, now. Just in case. This’ll be retaliation for the other evening.”

Butcher types the message that goes out to all the members suggesting they bring family with them as a precaution. Most do.

“I need to go.” I grab my phone off the bar. “Catfish, can I borrow your truck? I came in on my bike.”

“You aren’t leaving,” Butcher says.

Catfish tosses me his keys before he dashes out from behind the bar.

I spin the keys on my finger. “You and I both know I am. I need to go get Raven and Fen.”

“As sergeant at arms, it’s your job to make sure the Iron Outlaws are secure.”

As Butcher challenges me, I recall Spark’s words. To protect my club or King will find someone else to do it for me…even if Butcher won’t.

“I know what my fucking job is. And you’ll have my full attention once they’re both here. We’ll be back here in less than fifteen if you just let me get going.”

I spin on my heel to go, and Butcher grabs my arm roughly. His cheeks flame red, a sure sign he’s about to lose his shit with me. “There is no ‘we.’ It’s the club or nothing.”

“Don’t put either of us in a situation where we end up saying shit we can’t take back.”

“Raven and her kid aren’t part of this club. Unless you’re claiming her.”

I look down at the floor and scuff some imaginary stain with the toe of my boot. He doesn’t know the reason I didn’t go to Kansas wasn’t because he told me not to, but because of spending time in Raven’s orbit and that damn brush of lips. “I don’t know what I’m doing with Raven. She confuses the shit out of me. There are days I can’t think straight because I don’t want to let Hallie’s memory down. But the call you’re making rightnow might mean she doesn’t live long enough for me to find out if the Bratva hits the town. And I can’t let another woman and child die on my watch.”

“We don’t have the room for people who aren’t?—”

“They can stay in my room. I’ll grab extra food on the way back if I have to. But I’m going to get them, Butch.”

Butcher pulls his shoulders back. “What if I said if you leave, we won’t open the doors to let you back in?”

I shrug. “Then you aren’t half the man I think you are.”

Butcher growls. A weird sound of frustration and anger exploding from his lips. “Fine. Go get her and her kid.”

I rush out into the lot, scan for Catfish’s truck, and jump in. I don’t want to give Butcher a millisecond to change his mind. It’s been a week since I saw Raven. I avoided the diner. Hell, I avoided town completely. Didn’t want anything to remind me about the way she’d felt when my lips brushed hers. Fuck, I don’t know what I’d been thinking.

Yeah. I do.

I even played it out one night in bed. How she’d feel as I fucked her. How my hands would circle that tiny waist as I thrust into her. Came so hard, I saw stars.

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