Page 105 of Riot

The silence between us isn’t easy, but it isn’t strained either.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers. “I don’t know why I’m behaving like this.”

“You’ve been through so much, babe. It’s no wonder this threw you back into a place you didn’t want to revisit.”

She takes a ragged breath. “He wants to hurt me, doesn’t he?”

“You think it’s a man?”

“The anger in the messages, the fear, yeah, I think it’s a man.”

My jaw twitches. “We don’t know what this fucker wants, but this ain’t like last time, Ivy. You ain’t alone in this.”

Her tears drip onto my chest as she clings to me. “You can’t promise that.”

I press a kiss to her temple, my arms like steel bands around her. “Darlin’, it ain’t a promise. It’s what’s gonna happen. I have people lookin’ for this guy.”

And when they find him? He’s gonna beg for mercy, and I ain’t gonna deliver it.

TWENTY-ONE

IVY

When I open my eyes,panic punches my chest. For a second, I don’t remember where I am or how I got here.

Then it all floods in.

The messages.

The flowers.

Running to the clubhouse.

Riot’s admission that they killed Link.

Mybreakdown.

The pieces Riot was glueing back together feel loose again.

I’ve always been fragile, but this time, I’m weak.

He lied. The one person I thought was my sanctuary, my safety, my ride or die hadlied. He saw me crumbling under the weight of my past and said nothing.

I kept that darkness away from you ‘cause you don’t deserve that filth to touch you.

I close my eyes, biting back the tears. Part of me understands why he didn’t tell me, but the other half doesn’t care.

My foundations are shaky, and my chest is ripped open and bleeding.

This is the kind of storm that levels whole cities.

I don’t know how we survive this.

I love him. My heart beats for him. But this is an immovable wall between us.

He didn’t run.

I cling to that thought with pathetic desperation. I shattered into a thousand fucked-up pieces, and Riot just held me.

---