Page 3 of Shadow

Andfuckif that didn’t rub me the wrong way. Didn’t matter how much I snapped at the asshole, how much I got in his face. Didn’t matter what I did.

He just seemed to find me… amusing. And he was always socalm. So unbothered.

“Goddammit,” I growled, leaning forward. Reaching into my hoodie pocket, I pulled out my cigarettes and lighter. Chet’s lips twitched in amusement. Chet didn’t take much seriously. Everything in life was a game to him, and my intense dislike for Rurik was a major source of comedic relief for the asshole.

Rurik was the reason I’d been pulled into the Ghost Born family. I’d beat the absolute dog shit out of one of his soldiers when he’d been inside to get intel, and that put me on his radar. Come to find out, Rurik was also the reason nothing more ever got added to my sentence for all the shit I stirred up inside those walls. All the fights. The disobedience toward the guards.

He’d been the key to getting and keeping my freedom, and it just made me hate him even more.

Lifting a cigarette to my lips, I lit it and deeply inhaled. Chet dropped down into the chair beside me and slouched, his legs spreading—the perfect image of relaxation. That’d been me before I realized Rurik was on his way here.

“What’s your deal with Rurik anyway?” Chet asked.

“Besides the fact that he’s a pretentious, rich asshole that thinks he’s better than everyone else?” I flicked my ashes onto the ground. “He’s got a silent way of taunting me.”

Chet snorted, and without even looking at him, I knew he was rolling his eyes. “Brother, you lose your shit over the littlest things,” Chet reminded me. “Maybe you’re just overreacting.”

“Oh, fuck you,” I growled, pushing to my feet. Chet’s snickers followed me as I stormed off toward the garage. We were technically off today, but knowing Rurik was on his way had me sitting on a knife’s edge. I needed something to do. Something to focus on.

Using my keys, I unlocked the office door, then stepped inside. After unlocking the door between the office and the bays, I stepped in and pulled up the garage door that opened up the bay where the car I’d been working on was, letting in the cool, fresh air to hopefully chase away some of the cloying scent of gasoline and oil. I didn’t mind it, but I also wasn’t trying to die from the fumes.

My mom would bring me back from the dead just to kill me again for dying from something so preventable.

Holding my cigarette between my lips, I popped the hood on the old Corolla and set to work on replacing the water pump, pulley, and belt. I didn’t know how much time passed, but apparently, enough did that the sound of tires over gravel finally reached my ears. I ignored it, knowing one of the guys would deal with Rurik.

Because I had no doubt it was him.

Car doors shut, and then, silence rang again. I focused back on the task at hand. Maybe they wouldn’t need me inside for anything, and Rurik could go in there, tell Hyram, our president, what was going on, and then be on his fucking way without us having to cross paths.

“You should be inside.”

Every muscle in my body tensed at his voice. Grunting, I set my wrench aside, then turned and snagged my pack of cigarettes off the work table behind me. I lifted one to my lips, and just as I was about to grab my lighter, Rurik was suddenly there, holding his torch up to my cigarette. I narrowed my eyes at him as I inhaled, letting him light it.

Rurik was about half a foot shorter than me with a much slimmer build. Ink covered every bit of exposed skin I could see,apart from his face. With a strong jawline, narrow nose, and dark hair that flopped over onto his forehead, he could easily be a model. Instead, he’d chosen to become an underboss, second-in-command to the Pakhan. Didn’t make sense to me, but what the fuck did I know.

“What do you want?” I asked, turning back to the car. I could feel his eyes on me, and it had tension thrumming through my muscles. “Surely, you can just tell Sicle what the fuck is going on and be on your way back to Washington.”

Sicle was Hyram’s road name. His name had something to do with his little sister, Francesca, who was married to Arlo, the mother charter’s road captain. She called Hyram Pickle, for some reason I didn’t understand. And somehow, Sicle had come out of that.

“No, I can’t do that,” Rurik told me. “I need you at that table, Malik, so let’s go.” Reaching forward, he gripped my arm, attempting to turn me away from the car. I yanked my arm out of his grip, baring my teeth at him. I snatched my cigarette from my lips, and my upper lip curled into a sneer.

“Keep your fucking hands off of me.”

Rurik evenly met my gaze, not the least bit intimidated by my size or the rage pulsing through me like a separate, living being. “Chapel, Malik.”

“Fuck you,” I snarled. “I don’t follow your goddamn orders, Rurik.”

Before I could really even register what he was doing, he swung his leg out, knocking me in the back of my knees. I was barely aware of what was happening before I was on my knees in front of him. He knocked my ballcap off my head and wrapped hishand around my throat. My cigarette was long forgotten on the ground as I snarled at him, my body vibrating with the urge to knock his teeth down his mother fucking throat.

“You do starting today,” he told me. I hated every bit of his demeanor. His breathing was steady, and his eyes were still calm as he stared down at me. Not a single bit of his clothing or hair was out of place. His suit was still impeccable, fitted to his slim form like it’d been specially tailored for him. Fuck, maybe it had been. He had more money than he’d ever spend in three lifetimes.

I tried yanking back from him, but he just reached forward with his other hand and gripped my shirt, yanking me closer. He leaned over me until our noses were mere inches apart, his bright blue eyes staring into my dark ones. In that moment, he looked every bit of the man with all the power in the world.

And I fuckinghatedthat it made me tremble thetiniestbit.

“I’ve played your little games long enough, Shadow,” he said, a silk-edged warning weaving through each word he spoke. A shiver raced down my spine. I didn’t miss that he’d used my club name. It was a name that’d been used numerous times since I’d joined the Ghost Born MC, but it was the first time Rurik had used it. And the way he used it was almost like a promise.

A promise that my life was in his hands. A cold, cruel reminder of who I actually belonged to. And it wasn’t this club.

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