Page 139 of Under an Endless Moon

Not that he would have stopped, anyway. Not when it was on him to keep a roof over Haddie’s head. On him to pay her tuition now that she was attending USC. He’d promised her if she got in that he would take care of the rest.

Trent Lawson rose from the shadows where he lounged on a high-backed stool, his head cocked to the side as he approached.

He was their vice prez, and hisdutywas making sure the club ran smooth.

Dude was as intimidating as they came. Stealthy and quiet and filled with demons so dark the last thing you wanted was his animosity pointed at you.

“The fuck is this?” he asked, purely a threat as he came up to the two of them.

Gideon grinned, and his brother Dusty chuckled low beside him, as if they were sharing some kind of inside joke.

“Got a call from Cutter that we were needed elsewhere.” Gideon shrugged. “President always takes precedence.”

“Yet you didn’t contact me to let me know so I could send Otto backup?” Trent demanded.

Gideon feigned a flinch. “Must have slipped my mind.”

Otto wanted to rip the asshole’s throat out.

Trent scrubbed a hand over the top of his head, sighing, before he returned a glare at Gideon. “Make sure you don’t forget next time, yeah?”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

Otto’s hands clenched in a bid to subdue the violence skating through his veins.

Trent turned his attention to him, head inclining. “You good, brother?”

He took a step back, gritting his teeth when he muttered, “Yeah, I’m good.”

Otto wasn’t good.

He wasn’t fuckin’ good at all.

He was fuckin’ face down on the ground, cuffs being slapped around his wrists. “You’re under arrest for the distribution of narcotics. You have the right to remain silent…”

The officer’s words were muddled, like the rushing of water in his ears, rage and regret a crashing waterfall that gushed through his senses.

His gaze caught on the front door of the house he’d shared with his crew for the last nine years, only none of the guys were there to witness this.

It was Raven who stood on the stoop, a hand covering her mouth as tears poured down her face.

His chest squeezed tight, his brow furrowing as they hauled him to his feet. “It’s gonna be okay, Raven. Don’t worry. It’s gonna be okay. Tell the guys what’s going down, and tell my sister?—”

He didn’t get the chance to say anything else before he was shoved into the backseat of a cruiser.

He stared out the window at the girl who’d become a woman in the blink of an eye. Torment shearing through her being as she mouthed,I will.

The cruiser pulled away, leaving her behind while he wondered if he just had bad fuckin’ luck or if he’d been set up.

THIRTY-EIGHT

OTTO

Wrecked.

Completely fuckin’ wrecked.

And I didn’t know what the hell I was supposed to do about it. How to move on from here. How to stop the spiral that Raven and I had fallen into. Madness took over any time I looked at her precious face.

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