Page 82 of The Oath We Take

I’m grateful that someone from the fire department thought to do that, while simultaneously grateful to Atom for saving me. This was all a gas explosion waiting to happen had the fire burned for much longer.

Maybe that’s what they wanted…for it to look like a gas explosion, but it never got that far because of Atom’s actions.

As I look around, I wonder what I can do to help my father understand I’m a grown woman, with grown desires, who completely owns who she does and doesn’t fall in love with.

I shouldn’t be sneaking around and lying about the man I love.

Perhaps I can find the approach to explain that to him, ahead of the conversation with Atom.

Maybe there is something that would…

The land.

The land the clubhouse sits on.

I know how much my father wants it for the long-term security of the club.

My chest tightens when I think about what I’m actually suggesting. Atom could do a trade or deal. Maybe laced with a threat.

Perhaps an offer to give Dad the land in order to keep Atom a member of the club. I don’t see this as buying me because I think, no matter what, Atom and I stay together. But maybe it’s a reverse dowry, of sorts.

And perhaps the opposite is true if my father refuses. If he says no, perhaps Atom asks his grandfather to take the land back from the Outlaws.

It’s mutiny.

And I have no idea how Atom will react when I tell him Dad is looking for a way to own the land.

But it might just work.

Until I see the bald man who came that night, peering in through the rear kitchen window.

26

ATOM

“Atom.”

Ember’s scream ricochets off the walls and does the same damage to my heart that a bullet would. A sharp, agonizing pain screaming that Ember needs me.

Catfish and I run to her but she’s already on her way to us.

“It’s him. He’s out back. The one who hit me.” She removes a concealed panel quickly to grab her weapon.

“Fuck,” I curse. “Call your dad and lock the doors.” I pull my gun from its holster; so does Catfish.

“Is the upstairs apartment locked?” Catfish asks.

“Haven’t been up there since we arrived. Should still be locked. I’ll take the back. Cut ‘em off out front.”

Catfish runs to the front door of the bar, and I hear Ember lock it behind him as I shove the bar on the emergency exit so I can give chase out back.

I boot the door shut, hopefully securing it so no one can double back inside.

A different truck is parked on the curb, engine running. We blew the tires and smashed the lights on the one we found at the safe house. There’s a different ugly bastard sitting in the driver’s seat, which makes sense given the previous driver is currently wandering aimlessly around hell without his eyeballs.

“Maksim, let’s go,” he yells, and I hear the passenger side door slam.

Maksim.

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