Page 73 of Savior

Better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

Sweat was clinging to almost every part of my body when Bear finally appeared in the yard, flanked by his usual guards. “Celia,” he said patiently, seemingly ignoring the gun being held on his prospect. “To what do we owe this pleasure?”

“You know damn well why I’m here!”

He made eye contact with someone behind me and shook his head, causing me to crane my neck to see all of my enemies.

“Don’t have the slightest fuckin’ clue, but I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say it ain’t because you missed me,” he replied with a smirk.

I wanted him unsettled, but Bear looked as relaxed as ever. The hands clenched into tight fists at his sides were the only indicator that I’d caught him off-guard.

Somehow, that was scarier.

The sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach intensified when I realized he wasn’t calling off his dogs. “I want to talk. Alone.”

“See, if you wanted to talk without an audience, you should’ve left the gun in the truck,” Bear said, raising his palms in a helpless shrug. “It don’t come across as real fuckin’ friendly if you know what I mean.”

“I just came from your storage facility.” I relaxed my hold on Alex before calmly firing a round into the dirt between Bear’s feet. “I saw what you did to my father! Now, tell me where Jamie is, or I won’t hesitate to put the next one in your head.”

Bear’s eyes flashed briefly with surprise before he nodded to his men. Two prospects took me down to the dirt, knocking the gun from my hands and the breath from my lungs.

“Everyone inside,” Bear demanded as I lay gasping on the ground.

The men moved off of me, and I forced myself up onto my knees, slowly breathing in through my mouth while pushing my stomach out in an attempt to get my diaphragm working properly again.

The biker who’d always felt more like an older brother than Jamie’s second-in-command watched me warily as he emptied the bullets from the magazine on my gun before tossing it into the dirt. “Which storage facility were you at?”

“The one off the interstate,” I rasped.

“You found your father there?” He asked softly, no longer smiling.

“Don’t pretend like you don’t know!” I pushed myself up and staggered toward him.

“There’s a lot of things I don’t know, Celia!” Bear growled. “Like, how did Grey’s kutte end up at my house after your daughter visited—”

“She found it on your bed!”

His nostrils flared, and he took a step forward, placing us toe to toe. “And why the fuck would I have it?”

“Because you’re the traitor!” I looked down at the leather vest caught in my fists, knowing by laying hands on him I’d just sentenced myself to death. Sadly, I no longer cared. “You turned him over to the Sons, killed my father—”

Bear laughed. “You still believe that I’m behind it all! The fuckin’ mastermind who sold out his own club for an enemy! Jesus fuckin’ Christ!”

The sound of tires moving over gravel drifted through the trees, but I kept my focus on the biker in front of me.

“Just tell me what you did to him, you son-of-a-bitch!” I screamed, driving my fist into his chest. “Tell me… put me out of my misery!”

For months, I’d clung to this naïve hope that we’d find Jamie alive. Today, it had been my father’s body. Tomorrow, it might be my husband’s.

If the Sons hadn’t killed him yet, there was a reason. I just didn’t know what that reason was.

Bear stood motionless, letting me batter him with my fists. “Celia.” His voice was low, a warning, vibrating beneath my arms.

“Where is he, Bear?” Mikey called out from behind me. “Don’t make this hard on yourself.”

“Fuck you, Sullivan!” Bear spat.

I sucked in a ragged breath before launching myself into his large body again, knowing that if he wanted to, he could easily take me down.

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