Page 22 of My Knight

“Just wait and see, girl. I don’t think you’ll be calling us crazy for very long.” Dove bumped me gently. “Just let it happen.”

I shook my head. “Enough, enough. How about I say I’m tired and need to rest?”

“Okay, okay,” Mac said and tried not to smile. “We’ll behave.”

“Temporarily,” Poppy added.

I leaned back and rested against the pillows. “You guys are chaotic and crazy.”

“That’s going to be one of the things you love about us,” Dani said and grabbed the remote. “Now, what movie are we going to watch? Pirate said that was all we could do with you.”

“What? We can’t go skydiving?” I joked.

“Next week,” Olive said with a wink. “I think you need to recover a bit more.”

I nodded and smiled. “I think I’m good with that.”

This didn’t feel like recovery. It didn’t feel like being broken or bruised or stuck in Pirate’s bed.

It felt like belonging and gaining seven new friends.

And that? That was the best medicine I could’ve asked for.

Chapter Eight

Pirate

Yarder sat at the head of the table with his posture straight, and his expression was carved and cold as stone. The gavel hadn’t hit yet, but silence had already blanketed the room.

I was seated to his left, between Dice and Smoke. Dice was drumming his fingers against the wood like he couldn’t sit still, and Smoke had a toothpick dangling from his mouth with his arms crossed as he leaned back in his chair.

I kept my hands clasped in front of me, jaw tight, and my thoughts split between what was happening here and the fact that I’d left Saylor with all the ol’ ladies. God knew what I was going to walk back into.

She was safe, though.

I repeated it in my head like a chant. She was safe. She was with Mac and the girls. She was in the compound. She was safe.

But that didn’t stop the twitch in my knee.

“Let’s get right to it,” Yarder said, his tone clipped and heavy with intent.

Good. No small talk. No bullshit. Just business.

“I hope the next words outta your mouth are we’re killing Boone and Gibbs,” Aero said. His voice was sharp and full of fire. I wasn’t the only one ready for all of this to be over.

“Or you’ve got a better lead on how to find Russ,” Throttle added from the other side of the table, arms folded and eyes locked on Yarder.

Yarder didn’t answer right away. He shifted slightly in his seat and gave Compass a quick glance.

“Or the cops know who attacked Saylor,” I threw in.

Any of those things would’ve been nice. Would’ve saved us some time. We knew Boone and Gibbs were behind whathappened to her—she didn’t get jumped by accident. They didn’t do it themselves, but they’d orchestrated it. Cowards always worked from the shadows.

If we found who actually laid their hands on her, they’d lead us back to Boone and Gibbs.

Or, hell, maybe we’d just work our way down the ladder and eliminate them all.

“Or,” Dice cut in, “how about this—you found Stretch.”

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