Page 14 of Shadow

Rurik might very well kill me for that move, but at least then, I’d be fucking free of him. Because I couldn’t keep playing this game with him.

I needed him to go away.

“Any particular reasonyou blew up your ride?” Kaleen asked before he raised his glass to his lips, taking a sip of whiskey the bartender had set in front of him.

“Being tracked, I think,” I said, partially lying. Because I didn’tthinkI was being tracked. I knew without a single doubt Rurik had a tracker on that SUV. With shit in the air like this, he wouldn’t let me go somewhere alone without him knowing my every move.

I wondered if I’dfinallybroken through that calm facade he always wore. God, I couldn’t wait to see him fucking fracture and break with fury.

“Couldn’t just find the tracker instead of leaving yourself abandoned without a ride?” he asked, amusement lighting up his eyes.

I snorted and lifted my beer to my lips. “Wanted to send a message.”

The bartender looked at me, then nodded his head toward the beer in my hand. I shook my head at him. I didn’t drink much anymore—not since I’d gotten out of prison. More than one beer would make me tipsy. I’d become a bit of a lightweight now that I didn’t drink much anymore.

I needed to keep my head about me because Rurik was coming for me. I knew it with every fiber of my being.

Kaleen had brought us to a bar on the outskirts of his territory. It was neutral ground—I knew that much, even without himhaving to tell me. It would be a safe place for us to have this talk, and we were surrounded by other patrons, so there was less risk of either of us doing anything stupid to each other.

“So, what’s up?” Kaleen asked me. “Why the meeting just between the two of us? Your prez don’t wanna meet with mine?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think it’s that. I’m sure you know the GBMC has major connections. Those major connections are calling the shots. This is out of Sicle’s hands,” I said, referring to Hutch by his road name.

“The fucking Russians,” Kaleen growled, disgust coloring his tone.

Yeah, that basically summed up how I felt about them right then, too.

“Yeah… the fucking Russians,” I agreed because one in particular was a pain in my ass. He’d gotten so annoying that I’d had to snap my burner phone in half and toss it about halfway here. I couldn’t deal with his constant calling any longer.

“You moved into territory near us without talks or negotiations,” Kaleen told me. He didn’t sound pissed—just very matter-of-fact about it. “Burn ain’t fucking happy about it. He wants blood and to wipe your charter off the map. The Savage Dreams has been an established club since the fifties, and the Ghost Born completely disregarded that. You understand why he’s furious, don’t you?”

“Sounds like a bunch of dick size comparisons,” I admitted.

Kaleen barked out a laugh. “Honestly, it is. But it’s the lack of respect, too. And trust me when I say Burn doesn’t take well to being disrespected. It makes him… blood thirsty.”

“So… what?” I finally asked as I set my empty beer bottle aside, waving off the bartender when he moved to get me another. Fucker couldn’t take a hint that I didn’t want another goddamn beer. “Sicle just needs to have a meeting with him? Work this shit out?”

Kaleen shook his head. “Pretty sure it’s past that now, brother. Burn wants blood, and he’s not stopping until he’s got it. And he’ll take down anyone in his path.But—” he said, looking at me over the rim of his glass— “I can sit down with Burn and see if he’s open to a talk.”

I nodded. “That’d be good. Let’s do that.”

Kaleen tossed back the rest of his drink and stood from his barstool. “I’ll be in touch. When you get a new phone, give me a ring so I’ve got your new number.”

He turned to leave. I stood as well, planning to find somewhere else to chill for a while, maybe grab a bite to eat. Wasn’t like I had any way of getting somewhere. I was down a rideanddown a phone.

The door to the bar slammed open, and Rurik stalked inside, all lethal power and enraged man. In pressed, fitted black slacks, shiny Oxfords, and a white button down rolled up to his elbows, he looked every bit the influential, powerful man I knew he was.

And his steely, icy blue eyes were locked right on me. I halted, my stomach dropping to my feet. I’d hoped to make Rurik snap, but in the face of him when he was fractured…

I’d fucked up.

Kaleen whistled low and clapped me on my shoulder. “That who you’re running from, bro?” he asked, sounding highly amused.

I sighed, every muscle in my body locked tight. “Unfortunately,” I muttered.

Kaleen snickered and patted my shoulder. “Good luck, man.”

He walked out, not paying Rurik a bit of mind. But Rurik didn’t even seem to notice. Or if he did notice, he didn’t give a rat’s ass. He shoved one hand in his pocket, and the other pointed to the door he’d just barged through.

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