Page 2 of My Secret to Protect

‘Miles, you’re…’ he held my gaze and then inhaled deeply. Wrecker didn’t show sentimentality, not here, but I knew he saw me like a son.

‘I can do it, but I need something more if I do.’ I glanced at Mikey, and he shook his head. ‘He’s a dirty mother fucker, the kind of criminal with no honor. He beats his wife, pays for sex with fuckin’ kids, and he fucked this club more than once. I want him in the ground as much as you, and I won’t think twice about doing it and making it hurt.’ Wrecker looked to Mikey. ‘No, I do it alone, just me, but I need to know my family are safe.’

Wrecker blew out more smoke, and my mind drifted to the fact that I couldn’t even smell the cigarette smoke in here anymore.

‘Kid…’

‘You know as well as I do, Wreck, that all it takes is one slip of the tongue, one sloppy drunk, pillow talk with the wrong girl, and my name gets out as the one responsible, and the mayor’s guys will put me down, but not before making me watch them hurt everyone I love, and that vendetta won’t just go away once he’s done. You said it yourself; it took the mayor twenty years to get revenge on that shithead from the Raiders, but he, his fuckin’ crew, they didn’t quit. Even after they got to him, they still went after his kids, and that took them another five. You know my parents, Wreck. I can’t be three hours away from them, raising my babies and just waiting for the news that they’ve been taken.’

‘Viking,’ Wrecker turned his ice blue eyes on Mikey, ‘thoughts.’

‘He can do it,’ my best friend answered without hesitation, and I was grateful. I knew he didn’t like it, but he always had my back.

‘You do this, you send a message. I want it to hurt.’ I nodded, knowing how this needed to be. ‘You do it, and you’re out. You understand what that means, right?’

‘Yeah.’ I nodded again, my attention coming up to Mikey as he inhaled deeply, letting his shoulders rise and fall.

‘I send a message. I get out. You make sure none of this touches my family, and I stay gone.’

‘No contact.’

‘Yep,’ I agreed.

‘You two have been brothers a long time,’ Wrecker pointed out as though it might make me rethink things, and I nodded as I held my best friend’s gaze.

‘Yeah,’ Mikey said, pushing to stand and heading for the door. ‘We always will be.’

I watched him leave the room with a clear head and a heavy heart. I was walking away. For my family, for my babies. I was walking away from this brotherhood I’d grown to treasure and from the best friend I’d depended on for years, and I was selling a piece of my soul to be able to do it.

Leaving hurt, losing Mikey hurt, but I knew, contact or no contact, MikeyVikingHarper would be my brother until I died. I just hoped that day was not coming anytime soon, but if it did, my family would always be safe in his hands. I never believed anything more than I trusted that.

Stood up. Officially

Bree

Eight Months Ago

Unknown:You look beautiful tonight x

Staringdownatmycell phone, I turn to look around the bar. I know everyone here. Returning my attention to my phone, I feel confused by the unknown number in a room of people I’ve known my whole life.

Me:Um, who is this?

Unknown:You’ll know soon enough x

I swallow, my eyebrows knitting together, unease settling in the pit of my stomach.

Me:Ok, you’ve had your fun. Don’t make me trace your number and arrest your ass.

Unknown:Princess, you can try tracing the number, but you won’t get far. You don’t need to worry. I will never hurt you, Bree x

Six Months ago

Unknown:Sleep tight, princess x

Mywateryeyestryto focus on the screen in my hand. Blinking away the tears, I swallow hard and squeeze my phone in the dark and quiet of my bedroom. It’s been two months of this, and I have no idea who it is. It’s not every day, not even every week, but every time I drop my guard, there’s another message. Always unsettling and menacing in a way that twists my stomach. Always with a kiss at the end as though that will take the edge off the way it makes me feel.

Me:Stop this, please.

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