Page 16 of Protector

The screen door slammed shut behind Angel. “If you’d sit the fuck down, we can.”

I raked my fingernails down my jawline with a growl. “Sit the fuck down? Jesus fuckin’ Christ! We need to find them!”

“That’s what they’re hoping for,” Slim stated flatly. “It’s what you’ve always done; and most of the time, it’s paid off. One of our own rolled over and joined up with a Serpent and a member of Los Dictadores… why? Why them and why now?”

Los Dictadores?

Another group that had been wiped out, as far as we’d been concerned.

“Hawk patched in after the war with the Serpents,” Bear added. “It don’t add up.”

I took another drag, pausing at the deep rumble of exhaust pipes coming down the street, before slumping against the bricks. “Wolverine’s here. We got anyone else?”

Angel cautiously walked over to where I stood. “Every brother is on his way here right now. Don’t go runnin’ into this with your dick out. We need a plan—”

“They beat her,” I ground out with a stream of smoke, hands trembling again. “They—they used their fuckin’ teeth, and you want me to sit back and let ‘em slip away?”

He took a step back and looked to the others for help.

“Grey, ain’t no one tellin’ you to let them get away with it.” Slim stubbed out his cigarette on the sole of his boot before standing up. “We need to find out who knows you’re alive. You go after them like this and—”

“What if it was Lou?” I spun toward Bear. “Or Molly? You expect me to believe that you’d all sit on your asses and wait to come up with a plan? Fuck, Comedian, I think even you’d agree with me here.”

He nodded. “You’re fuckin’ right, and those pricks will be screamin’ for mercy long before I’m ready to send them to the Reaper, but Slim and Angel got a point. We need numbers—”

I flicked the ash from the cigarette and took another long drag. “I don’t want ‘em breathin’ the same air as her…”

Bear rested his arm against the smoker, nodding along. “We fucked up, Grey. Before, I mean. With the Serpents, it was a goddamned ambush, and we were lucky to have made it out of that alive.”

“You’re welcome,” Slim stated flatly as he lit up another cigarette, knowing that his sniper skills alone had gotten us out of that one.

“Yeah, fuck you, Slim. What I’m sayin’ is that we made mistakes… just took a few years to catch up to us. What is it Wolverine always said?”

“Better to leave your enemy thinkin’ you’re weak while you come up with a strategy than to run in and get your goddamn head blown off. Is that the one?” Wolverine asked, before stepping out of the early evening shadows.

I shook my head with a bitter laugh. “Yeah, you’d know all about that, wouldn’t you? When it came to Molly, we sat back and formulated a plan—oh, shit. No, we absofuckinlutely didn’t!”

“That was different—”

“How in the fuck was that different, old man? Because unlike my Ol’ Lady, Molly was stupid enough to involve herself with gangbangers? And not only that but let one of them knock her up?”

Bear pushed off the grill and stalked toward me. “You better watch your fuckin’ mouth, Grey. We’re tryin’ to help.”

With a curse, Angel stepped in between us. “Can we at least agree we need a fuckin’ plan and go from there?”

I nodded with a smirk. “Yeah, just as soon as Wolverine takes responsibility for this shit. Have you seen her? Have you seen what they did to her?”

His brows shifted together. “How in the fuck is this my fault? Way I see it, the club kept your ass out of a federal prison. That’s your problem though, Grey. Always assumin’ you’re somehow above everybody else. Maybe take a good long look in the mirror the next time you want someone to blame.”

I cracked my neck and launched myself forward with a roar, slamming into Bear as he moved in front of Wolverine. “You think I don’t? I can’t even look at her right now without seeing every wrong decision I ever made!”

Slim pulled me back before turning to Wolverine. “Celia told Angel and Comedian that one of the guys was from Los Dictadores and the other was a Serpent. If that’s true, then we all have blood on our hands.”

Wolverine stumbled back, panting. “Jesus fuck. Jamie, I—”

“They’re goin’ to die… all of them. Anyone who had a hand in what happened to her.” Realization struck, and I paused. “What the hell am I sayin’? Bear, you’re in charge now. Do whatever the fuck you want.”

I stubbed my cigarette out against the bricks and rubbed at my eyes, wincing when my knuckles came in contact with the bruises Angel’s fist had left behind.

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