Page 90 of Riot

Rushing to the edge of the road, I throw up a hand, flagging down a taxi.

I step back from the kerb as he pulls in, then I drag the door open.

I barely hear him asking if I’m okay.I’m not.I’m terrified.

He was inourroom. Our safe place.

The walls are closing in as I cup my daughter’s head with my hand.

“You need me to take you to the police station?” the driver asks through the partition separating the front from the back.

I close my eyes. “The Untamed Sons Motorcycle clubhouse.”

He stares at me as if I’ve lost my mind. “You sure?”

“I’m sure.”

Because if that message didn’t come from Jackson, then there’s only one other person who would have sent it.

My fucking ex.

EIGHTEEN

RIOT

Ivy fills my thoughts.Her sweetness, her beauty… everything that makes me love her fiercely. I don’t deserve that softness from her, but I’ll take it anyway.

I glance up as a glass breaks and cheers erupt like we’re in a fucking student union rather than the clubhouse of the Untamed Sons.

When seats are filled again and the noise quiets, only then do I let my shoulders unclench.

Shit is fucking fraught today. I don’t know what’s going on, but I can sense the tension vibrating in the air.

It’s like the electric in the air before a storm hits, and it has me on edge.

So, I keep my usual spot at the bar, waiting. Watching. Hoping nothing goes south.

One day, I’ll be able to sit in this room without watching my back.

One day.

Since that ain’t now, I’m ready for this shit to be over. I just want to get back to my girls.

I meet Riley’s gaze over the bar and see his expression is just as tight as mine. Does he feel it too, the weight of whatever is coming?

His eyes flick to where Crank is sitting with Grub and a few other brothers, laughing as if they don’t have a care in the world.

I don’t know how much more I can fucking stand. The bands are wound tight around my ribs, pulling harder every day.

It would be so easy to break that fucker’s neck, so easy, and it takes all my strength to keep my seat.

It would sure as fuck put an end to his rule, but we don’t know how much support Crank has within our chapter. Brothers like King and Diesel, even Riley, could support him.

Crank could even have support in other chapters, brothers he can call on if we move too prematurely.

Months of work would be undone in an instant, though it would solve a big problem quickly.

It would also make a martyr of the dick, and that can’t happen. When we take him down, we have to make sure this divide in our club disappears with him.

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