Page 82 of Sypher

“What are you two doing here?” Ellie asked, grinning from ear to ear, as a brother in the club I hadn’t met yet walked up behind her and gently pulled her back toward him, wrapping his arms around her.

“Could ask you the same thing, Ellery.” I huffed, glaring at the man who held tightly to one of my closest friends. Ellery Livingston was hands down one of the sweetest, kindest women I had ever had the privilege of knowing. She was also the first friend I made when I started college. She was shy like me, and we just hit it off. Like two peas in a pod, we stuck like glue. No one would ever be good enough for my bestie, especially not some second-rate fucker I hadn’t vetted yet.

However, when the fucker refused to back down, I reached for Ellie’s hand, and the bastard actually had the nerve to snarl at me. “Mine.”

Ignoring the fucker’s threat, stepped closer. “She was mine first, asshole,” I clearly said and smirked when he took what I said completely out of context and stiffened. Letting the bastard believe whatever he wanted, I heard someone laugh loudly.

“Oh God, this is fucking perfect. Fucking sucks, doesn’t it, Ryder? Piss off a Golden Skull. I dare you.”

“Shut up, Cash,” the man sneered. “I don’t give a fuck who this fucker is. Ellie’s my wife.”

“And Rachel’s my fucking old lady. Payback’s a bitch.”

“You got married!” Dante gasped. “Bitch! Why wasn’t I invited to the wedding? We had a pact.”

“It was spur of the moment,” I vaguely heard Ellie say as Ryder and I faced off.

“Alright, you two.” King stepped up between the two of us. “No one is going to start a fucking club war in my house. Ryder, back the fuck off. Sypher, chill the fuck out.”

“Girl, you have to tell me everything,” Dante said, pulling Ellie away as they started talking a mile a minute.

Standing firm in my spot, I refused to move first when King growled, and Ryder backed down.

I smiled and blew the fucker a kiss.

Jack and Blade moved fast to contain the fucker as King hung his head, groaned, then walked off, muttering, “Fucking children. I’m surrounded by fucking children.”

“So how do you all know each other?” Becks asked, eyes wide with mischief, eager to get the lowdown. Looking over her shoulder, I saw Ellie’s old man sitting at the bar, snarling my way, while Jack, Blade and Gunner surrounded him, refusing to let him move.

Winking at the fucker, I chuckled when Gunner slapped his hand down on his shoulder, preventing him from moving.

Punching my shoulder, Ellie leaned close. “Stop it, Danny.”

“He started it.” I grinned, leaning close, kissing the side of her head, when a glass shattered from across the room.

Reaching for my phone, I raised it up, snapping a picture of the fucker, and my phone started running a facial recognition trace on him. Within minutes, I would know everything there was to know about the fucker my best friend married.

“We were all in school together,” Dante spoke up, shaking his head, knowing damn well what I was doing, and I knew he was okay with it because he didn’t stop me. We both cared for Ellie like a sister and considered her family.

No one fucked with my family.

Ever.

“I bumped into Danny on orientation day. I was so lost and had no idea where I was going. I looked up and saw Danny. He looked so out of place and just as lost.”

“Because I was,” I muttered, scrolling through my phone.

Hugging my arm, Ellie continued, “We were, weren’t we, but we got through it together.”

“And what about Dante?” Sam asked as she rocked our sleeping girl in her arms. “When did you meet him?”

“Oh, that was a few days later in computer science class. Danny and I realized that we had a lot of the same classes together, even though we were both different majors. I was at school to learn business, and Danny was there for computer technology. But as incoming freshmen, we had a lot of the same general classes to take. Though Dante had already finished his undergraduate program at Texas A&M, he was there because he got accepted into an advanced Computer Technology program, and when Danny and I walked into class, I met Jesse.”

“Speaking of which, what hasJessabelbeen up to?” Dante asked.

“Ask her yourself.” Ellie smirked. “She will be here any minute.”

“NO!” Dante grinned from ear to ear as the front door slammed open, and in walkedJessabelherself.

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