Page 92 of Whips and Chains
The similarities between him and Violet were obvious. Their eyes. Their hair color. Their height.
But where Violet had a gentle softness about her, Fang was all brooding intensity that gave even me a slight pause.
Mostly because he knew I’d slept with his sister.
And that was awkward.
“Fang.” I nodded at him. “Just here to see Grayson.” I held up my phone like that explained everything. “He texted me.”
Fang pushed a passcode into the control panel on the brick pillars holding up the heavy gates, and I gave him a small smile as I walked between them.
“They’re down in the workshop. Grayson wanted somewhere private for you all to talk…or whatever it is you do at your meetings. Go down the hill, past the clubhouse, and the turnoff to Grayson’s place. There’s a big shed beyond that. Can’t miss it if you stick to the road.”
“Got it. Thanks.”
I went to walk away, mentally trying to place where this workshop was on the compound, though it was a useless endeavor because, even though I’d been here half a dozen times for various reasons, I’d never gone any deeper into their vastproperty than the cabin Gray and his family had built here behind the safety of the fences.
“Whip?”
I was already halfway down the hill but turned back to Fang. “Yeah?”
“I like you. I really don’t want to have to kill you. So don’t fuck up whatever you and X and Reaper are doing with my sister, yeah?”
Even that sentence was complicated. And a promise I wasn’t one-hundred-percent sure I could make. Because I couldn’t see a future where I was in Violet’s life in any meaningful way. If there was a competition for her hand, I was in dead last position and I knew it.
I didn’t fucking like it. But I knew it.
“All I want is for her to be safe,” I called back to her brother.
His lips flattened into a line, and I could tell my lack of promise wasn’t exactly going down well, but it was the best I could offer.
I trudged down the dirt road until I rounded a bend and a huge industrial building rose in front of me. It was smartly positioned in the property, shielded by thick scrub and tall trees. I would have never even known it was there until I was right on top of it if the trees around it hadn’t been thinned out by a fire I knew they’d had about a year ago. The garage looked new, probably built after the blaze, I guessed, maybe at the same time they’d built Grayson’s place, but there was already a couple of old bikes and cars sitting out front, waiting for someone to work on or strip for parts.
There was a big roller door to one side, but a smaller regular one to the left. I beelined for that, taking a deep breath before I twisted the knob to enter, the sounds of talk from inside already filtering through the thin corrugated iron walls.
Doc raised a hand from the center of the open space, beckoning me over to the circle of chairs he’d made in the middle of the oil-stained floor.
There was only one chair left. The rest were taken up by Trigger, Ace, Torch, Scythe, X, and Levi.
Of course, the one open chair was right beside the man I’d very nearly had sex with just a few nights previously.
I didn’t say anything to him when I sat. Didn’t really acknowledge any of them. Just crossed my arms over my chest and sank low in my chair, the brim of my baseball cap pulled down on my head, shadowing my eyes.
Levi stiffened beside me.
A silence fell over the group, and even though I wasn’t looking at any of them, I could feel their gazes on me.
The most irritating thing about a group of psychopaths was they were annoyingly in tune with other people at times. They watched shrewdly, and it was like it was a natural trait for them to pick up on any little weakness or vulnerability they might be able to exploit or use to their own advantage.
It didn’t even surprise me they’d noticed the weirdness between me and Levi so quickly.
Ace waved a finger between the two of us. “What’s up with you two? You’re being weird.”
“Nothing,” Levi and I both said at once.
Fucking hell. We’d responded too quick. Too reactive.
I was right. The entire group pounced on the tension like they were kittens toying with a string.
