Page 6 of Buried

Troy stopped talking, but I was already on my feet, jumping out of the booth. I rushed down the hall while Sam, Troy, and Kyle worked on getting out of the booth. Slinging open Henry’s office door, I found him straddling my fucking woman, his hand around her neck. She was bleeding from her mouth, and her face was swelling.

Rage pulsed through me as I gripped the mother fucker by the back of his shirt, slinging him off of her. He crashed against his desk, and Sam gripped my shoulder before I could go over and pummel my fists into his face. I clenched my fists, my breaths coming in short, quick bursts as I tried to control my rage.

No oneput their fucking hands on my woman and got the fuck away with it. In fact, the last person that did that ended up infuckingpieces. I’d goddamn made sure of it. Had hunted him down as soon as I dropped her off at the hospital.

“I’ve got him. I’ll take him to the clubhouse. Deal with Adelaide. She needs you, brother,” Sam said, his voice breaking through my rage.

Nodding once, I rushed over to Adelaide, clenching my jaw at the bruising and swelling already popping up on her porcelain-like skin. “She’s out cold,” Troy informed me, removing his fingers from her neck. “But she’s got a strong pulse.”

I just grunted in acknowledgment as I lifted her limp form into my arms, striding out of the office with her cradled against my chest. “Drake is right down the road with the truck,” Sam called out from behind me as I was striding out of the office.

“She going to be alright?” Troy asked as he walked down the hallway with me. I knew he gave Adelaide a lot of shit, but it was clear he still cared about what happened to her. At one point, she’d been like a sister to all of them.

But times changed, and she changed with them. We all did—some in better ways than others.

I nodded at Troy. “She’ll wake up with a massive headache, but she’ll be fine,” I assured him. “I’ll have Sam set up another day and time for us to meet.”

He nodded, taking his cue to leave as Drake rolled up with the truck. “Damn, Prez, what the fuck happened?” he asked as I gently set Adelaide in the passenger seat, leaning her seat back and strapping her in her seatbelt. Her face rolled to the side, still out cold.

“Fucking Henry,” I snarled in answer. I ran my fingers over her cheek, using her to keep me grounded. I needed to be with her right now. Not out murdering Henry like I fucking wanted to. His time would come just as soon as she was conscious again. “I need you to manage the bar until I find a replacement,” I told him as I strode around to the driver’s side of the truck.

“Got it, Prez.”

I threw the truck in gear and took off for Adelaide’s apartment, silently thinking of the pain that I planned to inflict on Henry when I finally got my hands on him.

Chapter Four

Adelaide

My head was pounding when I woke up.

With a groan, I slowly sat up, reaching up to rub the sleep from my eyes, sucking in a harsh breath as pain quickly flared up on my face, making me jerk my hand away. River’s cut was laying on the foot of my bed, alerting me that he was somewhere in my apartment.

Judging by the pain in my face and my head, I had taken a fucking beating last night. A girl could try to leave the rough-and-tumble life all she wanted, but it just seemed to follow.

I walked into my bathroom, gasping at my face as soon as I looked in the mirror. The entire left side of my face was discolored and slightly swollen. “Holy fuck,” I muttered, staring in horror at the battered woman staring back at me.

“Holy fuck is right,” River agreed as he leaned against the doorjamb to my bathroom. I looked over at him as he pushed off the wall, moving forward so he could gently cradle my face in his hands. “By the time my crew is done with Henry later,the mother fucker will be begging for me to put him out of his fucking misery,” he quietly promised as he ran his eyes over my battered face.

I turned to look back at the mirror, sighing softly. “Make-up is definitely not going to cover this,” I grumbled in disappointment. Henry had made sure he fucked me up good.

River walked over to the shower and turned the water on, pulling his shirt over his head. I swallowed thickly as I ran my eyes over his beautiful, tattooed body, subconsciously licking my lips. Would there ever be a moment that I wouldn’t want him?

When River turned to look at me, he groaned softly. “Keep looking at me with those pretty little fuck-me eyes, and I swear I will drag you to that bed and fuck you hard, darlin’,” River warned me, his blue eyes darkening. If he meant it to sound like a threat, I sure as hell didn’t take it as one.

I crossed the distance between us, trailing my fingertips up his abs, over his hard, defined chest, and finally laced my fingers around his neck. I loved that he still found me attractive despite the ruined condition that my face was in. “Promise?” I asked him huskily.

With a slow, sexy smirk, he threw me over his shoulder, smacking my ass in the process. I squeaked in alarm. “That’s always a promise, darlin’.”

I slowly untangled my arms from around River once he parked his bike outside of his clubhouse. I unstrapped the helmet he had for me and slid off, handing it over to River.

“Go on inside,” he instructed. I sighed, looking over at the clubhouse. I wasn’t sure about spending my day inside of one of these buildings again, especially around men I didn’t know. “The club has already been informed you’re going to be here today, so you’ve got nothing to worry about.” He stood from the bike and gripped my ass in his hands, drawing me against him. My breath hitched in my throat. “Make sure you get you something to eat.”

“I’m not hungry,” I told him.

He shrugged. “Tough.” I scowled at him. He rubbed my belly with one of his hands, softening my mood. How was he so fucking good to me—for me—without even having to try? “Got a little one to feed now, remember?”

I sighed, knowing that I wasn’t about to win this argument. He kissed my forehead before giving my ass a light tap and releasing me.

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