Page 12 of Shadow

I dropped my fork to my plate with a loud clatter, glaring at him. People turned to look at us, but I ignored them. Rurik sighed and scrubbed a hand down his face. A wire would just set Kaleen off. He was fucking stupid if he thought the man wouldn’t pat me down for something like that. If he was part of the Savage Dreams MC, then he was definitely going to know who I was attached to.

Wearing a wire was a sure-fire way to get me killed. No fucking thank you. My mother would resurrect me just to kill me herself.

And that notion was more terrifying than dying in the first place.

“A wire isnotfucking happening,” I growled. “You want me to fucking die, Rurik? Because make no mistake, Kaleen will put a bullet through my skull quick as fuck if he catches me wearing one.”

Rurik clenched his jaw. “I can’t have you going in without being able to keep check on you, Malik.”

I scoffed and grabbed my fork again. “I’m more than capable of taking care of myself, Rurik. Don’t ever doubt that.”

He blew out a harsh breath and grabbed his coffee. “It’s not you I worry about. It’s every other uncontrollable mother fucker in the world I worry about.” He lifted his gaze to look at me over the rim of his mug, his blue eyes meeting mine. My stomach swooped, and my heart stalled in my chest at the possessive, predatory,claiminggleam in his eyes. “I don’t want you in a situation I can’t fucking control.”

My fingers tightened around my fork. Clenching my jaw, I forced my gaze away from his and glared down at my plate, forcing myself to breathe and focus on forking food into my mouth. I wouldnotgive in to Rurik. I wouldnotfall into whatever trap he was planting in front of me. He wanted to… what? Possess me? Own me?

It could not happen. Already, I wasn’t myself around him. It was like I lost all control of who I was. He made me so fuckingagitated, but when he looked at me like that, all that agitation melted away.

He left me feeling… discombobulated. And what the fuck was I supposed to do with that feeling? How was I supposed to operate when he left me feeling so goddamn unhinged?

“Tough luck, Rurik,” I finally said after I’d chewed a bite of my food and felt a little calmer. Like I could fucking breathe again. “You put me in the GBMC. I’malwaysput in situations you can’t control.”

When I looked at him, his jaw was tight, and for a second, I for sure thought he was about to grab me by the front of my shirt, drag me across the table, and kiss the ever living fuck out of me. But then, he closed his eyes and took another sip of his coffee, reigning himself injust like that. Always in control. Always calm.

God, I fucking hated him.

10

Malik

Rurik passed me a flip phone and a slip of paper, dragging my attention from the passing scenery outside the window. I took it from him without a word and flipped the device open, typing in the digits he’d given me. The SUV hit a pothole, almost making me hit the wrong number, and I shot a scowl at the driver.

“You couldn’t have avoided that?” I snapped, irritation lining my voice.

“Ignore him,” Rurik told Denis. “Malik is in a foul mood for some unknown reason.”

Denis cast Rurik a look through the rearview mirror that practically screamedwhen isn’t he? My skin flushed hot, and my fingers tightened around the stupid fucking phone in my hand.

Everyone was on a mission to piss me off today, apparently. And it didn’t help that Rurik and I had another dumb fight over a wire after we left the restaurant—a fight I won. But he didnotwant to drop it. I knew Rurik was trying to keep me safe or whatever, but a wire was a sure fire of way of getting my head blown off.

I’d like to keep it firmly on my shoulders—thanks.

“If you two shut the fuck up for two goddamn seconds, I can make this phone call,” I seethed.

Rurik smirked at me. “Denis didn’t even say a word, Malik.”

I sneered at him, my upper lip curling. Rurik hummed and sat back in his seat, turning his head to look out the window. Muttering under my breath about what a dick Rurik was, I pressed the button with the little green phone on it and lifted the phone to my ear. It rang three times before a deep voice asked, “If you’re a fucking spam caller?—”

“Not a spam caller,” I said, interrupting him. I hadn’t heard Kaleen’s voice since I got out, and honestly, it was kind of nice to hear the voice of someone who’d once been on my side. Sure, we’d been behind bars and being cellmates had been the center of our friendship, if it could even be called that, but being in prison would either make or break someone.

Kaleen and I decided to let it make us.

“Who the fuck are you?” Kaleen growled, a dangerous edge leaking into his voice. “I don’t like fucking games.”

“It’s Malik,” I told him.

He was quiet for a moment—long enough that I had to pull the phone away from my ear to make sure the call hadn’t been dropped.

“Malik fucking Carter?” he finally asked, his voice a bit lighter now. I swore, his moods flipped like a fucking switch. It’d always been alarming. Bunking with Kaleen had always been a trip. I never knew what version of him I was going to wake up to. “Well, fuck me with a brick, brother. How the fuck did you get this number?”

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