Page 46 of The Devil's Weakness

He’s gesturing to my very naked torso. He knows exactly what happened downstairs. I’m thankful he didn’t come down and put an end to it.

“Stone, we need to talk.”

It wasn’t a question. I feel stares from my brothers, scattered between the kitchen, dining, and living rooms, all burning holes in my skin. Stone is angry, so enraged that he can’t even speak in full sentences.

“My office,” he points behind him. “Now.”

I follow him across the house and out into the garage. Stone’s small office is in the corner of the large space. He slams the door closed and pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Blade, what the fuck are you thinking? How could you be so stupid?”

“She’sminenow.Myresponsibility.”

“That isn’t how this Club operates, and you know that. Howdareyou give her hope that she’ll actually live to see tomorrow after what she did.”

“What she did was an accident that she feels terrible about.”

My heart clenches as I defend her. I should never have locked her back in. I should have brought her up here with me and said what I needed to say in front of her. That’s what a man would do. That’s how I could have shown her that I’ll fight for her. I never claimed to be a prince in shining armor, but Iron taught me to be better than this.

“She could have driven away doing nothing about it, but she didn’t. She got out to make sure he was okay. She called the cops and tried to get help. She knows who we are, and when she realized who she’d hit, she ran. Can you blame her?”

“We only have that reputation because we don’t allow slip-ups like this to go unpunished.”

“We do when they benefit us. Or does that only work for you, Stone?”

I narrow my eyes at him.

In a flash, Stone is up from his chair and has me up against the wall with a hand around my throat. I bring my own hand up and secure a grip around Stone’s throat at the same time. We stare into each other’s eyes, neither of us backing down.?

A few years ago, one of our brothers was murdered. He was about to be ousted from the Club for misconduct, but we were still out for blood after it happened. There were murmurings throughout the biker community that it was a member of Death’s Road that killed him, but we could never prove it. Stone knows more about it than he’s letting on. It’s yet another secret he’s keeping from us.

My brothers and I wanted a war, but Stone refused to let us look into it further. He only promised that if we pursued a fight, he’d see that we got one.

“You dare bring that up? Talk to me like that? You can’t keep her around. You’re going to give this girl the impression that she can disrespect this Club, and you will be there to protect her from punishment.”

“No. I will make sure she knows how things work around here, but I’m also going to see to it that no one hurts what’s mine. I just needed to remind you that everyone makes mistakes.”

With fury in his stare, Stone speaks again.

“Montana was not a mistake, and that’s all you need to know. Keep your little whore around for now. But if Iron doesn’t make it, game over. I’ll fucking kill her myself.”

A feral growl escapes from my chest. My newfound protection over Sasha was overpowering me. The small room grows hot with tension before Bon-Bon steps inside. ?

“Stop that now, both of ya,” she orders.

When neither of us lets go, she speaks again.

“Iron is awake. Hawk just told us.”

Bon-Bon’s words break us from our violent trance.?

“What?” we say at the same time, looking at her.

“Yeah, he opened his eyes about half an hour ago. Hawk’s been looking him over since. He’s asking for ya.” She nods her head toward me.

Stone loosens his grip around my throat, and I do the same. ?

“We’ll all go,” he commands as we follow Bon-Bon back into the house.

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