Page 81 of Through The Woods

Something was wrong—had there been an accident? If so, why was he not panicking?

He shrugged calmly. “I picked the lock. I thought we needed some time to talk; one on one.”

My heart beat out a steady warning and adrenaline coursed through my veins. “You can’t be here—the guys will be back any second. They’ll kill you.”

He laughed and shook his head. “Now that’s not exactly true, is it? We run an empire together—he got weapons and I got the drugs.”

No.

My legs began to buckle beneath me. It couldn’t be—it made no sense. He’d lost his sister to a drug overdose; he ran the club differently to ensure it never happened again.

How could he?

I noticed the small mirror on the table near the couch and my feet instinctively took a step closer, even as my brain urged me to run. Addiction was incredibly naïve—I knew next to nothing about this biker; only that he’d given me a bad feeling the last time I encountered him, but with a pile of snow poured out on the table, all my misgivings suddenly disappeared. “What is all this?”

He pointed to the lines of powder and grinned. “It’s blow, Neve. Surely these bikers haven’t been depriving you. It’s some of the newer stuff I’ve been getting for Charm. Keeps you feeling high for so much longer, without the letdown after.”

My mouth watered; my body suddenly craving a bump. Just a small one—just to remember what it was like. It had been five months.

Twenty-two weeks and four days, to be exact.

3,792 hours.

227,520 minutes.

13,651,200 seconds.

“Neve?” Blade frowned up at me. “You’re fucking spacing out on me—did you already take a hit today?”

I shook my head. “You need to leave. They’ll be back.”

He stood up and came over to me and I cowered against the door frame like a defenseless kitten.

Damn you, Neve.

Blade ran his hand down the side of my head and I froze. His eyes softened. “Don’t be scared of me. I’d never hurt you.” He pointed toward the table with his hand. “Normally, Charm likes to be the first to sample everything, but I’m willing to make an exception. You like it and you can tell him how good it is.”

I wanted to do exactly as he asked; instead, I shook my head from side to side, refusing to make eye contact with him or the coke. It called to me like a siren, but then, I saw Charm’s face in my mind and my body relaxed. He was soon joined by the other bikers and my breathing became steady again. I couldn’t do this to them.

I clearly heard Twitch in my head. “Most of the time, our greatest enemy is staring at us in the mirror…”

I refused to be my own downfall. If I went down that road and began using again, I knew that I would never find my way back again. I’d end up just like Rae.

“Get out.” I raised my voice and pushed Blade away. “I don’t care what deal you think you have with him, but it’s over. He’s not buying your shit. Final answer—and your MC is gone. Scarred Savages don’t deal in drugs.”

Blade clenched his hands into fists and exhaled slowly. “Neve, I don’t deal with club whores or ol’ ladies, so your word means shit to me. I don’t give a flying fuck how many of these pricks you’re fucking. Your pussy disqualifies you from having an opinion.” He shook his head maniacally, as if trying to revert back to the nice guy he’d been a moment before. “No, it’s fine,” he muttered before taking a step forward, punching the wood paneled wall with a loud roar. “FUCK! Did you give them the money?”

I took another step backward, stumbling in the process. I was going to have to run…again. Unfortunately, Blade was on top of me before I could regain my footing. I pushed and clawed his face as I struggled underneath him and he brought his fist down against my cheek; violently crunching the bone.

My head swam in confusion and I attempted to fight him off again as he dragged me across the floor. Black spots danced in my vision long enough to stun me as he slammed my face against the surface of the coffee table.

He gripped my arm in a tight hold, squeezing until I was certain the bone would snap and in my agony, I made the mistake of sucking in a ragged breath, inhaling the line of coke beneath my cheek instead. I immediately coughed and spluttered, trying to expel it, but it was too late.

Charm.

I’d let him down.

“Shhhh…it’ll feel good in a minute, Neve,” Blade said quietly. “I wanted you to get a taste of the good stuff, but I gotta be honest here, I thought you’d be down to snort it. When did you get too good for it? Every time I visited Clint, you were always so strung out; I could’ve fucked you and you never would’ve known.”

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