Page 46 of Ravaged and Ruined
“Don’t start preaching at me now, Padre,” I grit out. “We’re past prayers.”
The club murmurs in agreement. Low voices, tense shoulders, every man here ready to snap bones.
Crank cracks his knuckles and leans in. “If they’re stupid enough to target your woman, they’re stupid enough to slip again. Let me track down one of their prospects. I’ll make him talk.”
I give him a nod. “Do it. Quiet and quick.”
I pace in front of the table like a caged animal. My hands curled into fists at my sides, my knuckles white.
“They weren’t just sending me a message,” I grind out. “They threatened my woman. That makes it personal.”
No one dares comment on that part. Because they all know it. This isn’t business anymore.
This is war.
“They think they can rattle me? Let ’em see what happens when you poke the fuckin’ devil.”
I stop pacing, and look around the room at my men. My brothers. Every one of them ready to kill for me.
“This war’s coming,” I say, my voice like thunder before a storm. “And when it does, we burn the Scorpions to ash.”
I bang the gavel on the table. Every man here rises. Unified. Ready.
I don’t play nice when I’ve got blood in my sights.
Chapter Nineteen
Lacey
I don’t move right away. Not even after the door slams behind him like a gunshot, rattling the walls and what’s left of my damn composure. The warmth of his body is still on my skin, but he’s gone, and the shift is immediate. Cold. Crushing.
My heart is beating too fast in my chest like it’s trying to outrun the storm that just blew through the room. When I do move, it’s to drag on the nearest clothes I can find, yesterday’s jeans, and the black tee he flung at me. His tee.
I want to chase after him. To make him hear me out. There’s so much I need to tell him but he wouldn’t hear me anyways. Not with the rage burning in his veins right now.
I sit on the edge of the bed, my heart may be hammering, but my body is still humming from his touch and now it all feels like I imagined the tenderness in his touch, the way his voice went quiet when he admitted he was scared too.
I stare at the door like he might come back through it and say he overreacted. But deep down, I know better.
There’s a soft knock, then the door creaks open and Emery slips inside before I have the chance to gather myself completely. She doesn’t ask permission. She doesn’t have to. One look at me and she knows I’m holding it together by the thinnest thread.
Zoey follows, with Marianna behind her, both of them wide-eyed and tight-lipped. We don’t need to speak right away. The tension in the air is still lingering heavy and electric.
“What happened?” Emery finally asks, crouching in front of me.
I give her the short version. The bullet. The threat. That she didn’t even know about. The way Aero looked at me like I’d just confirmed every worst-case scenario in his head.
Zoey curses under her breath. Marianna sits on the edge of the bed and grabs my hand.
“Are you okay?” she asks.
“I’m scared of what he’s going to do about it, but mostly I’m scared that I fucked it all up.” I say quietly. “I’ve never seen that look in his eyes before.”
They nod like they understand. Emery squeezes my knee.
“He’s not the type to leave things half done.”
“No,” I say. “He’s not.”
