Page 31 of Vendetta
“You’re not going through with it now?”
“I told you,” he said.“I plan to shut them and their entire fucking operation down.But I could have lost you tonight, Dylan.And I realized… I need to keep you safe more than I need to deal with all of that right now.After what happened tonight, you’re in danger from your uncle and the Cottonmouths.Do you understand?And the minute they figure out who I really am…”
“Who are you,really?”Dylan needed to know.
“My name is Josh Lawrence,” he admitted.“Before they killed me, my brothers called me Tank.”
Considering he was built like a brick wall, she could understand why he was called that.
A corner of his mouth curved up.“I was a Marine, a tank operator… But Tank died that night, under the tree they hung him from.”
They hung him?Your uncle gave the order.
“The minute they figure out who I am and you’re with me, you’re as dead as I am,” he added.
The sincerity of his words left Dylan scared.As much as she had reasons to doubt Jason…Josh’s intentions, she cared enough about him to hope he wouldn’t go by himself to face Eli and his Cottonmouths.What if they actually killed him this time?
“Did you plan on facing them alone?”Dylan shook her head, her eyes wide with disbelief.“That’s vigilantism, Josh.And you could die for real this time.”
Shifting next to her on the edge of the bed, he folded his arms across his chest.His body language told her that he’d made peace with that risk long before tonight.
“I’ve been living on borrowed time since the night they hung me,” he said, his voice low but even.“Every day after that’s been a choice.And I’ve made mine.”His gaze locked on her, unwavering.“I didn’t come back to Oak Grove just to survive.I came to shut this shit down.What they’re doing, what Eli’s fucking enabling, it’s not just club business.It’s slavery.It’s kids and women like you being traded like property.It’s the dangerous drugs sold to ruin lives.If I don’t stop them, who will?”
His tone was heavy with conviction.“I’ve been careful, Dylan.I’ve collected proof, stuck with my plan.This was never a suicide mission.”He hesitated, adding, “And if I walk away now, after everything I’ve seen… after what almost happened to you?Then I don’t deserve to still be breathing.”
Josh blew out a breath.“Right now, I need to get you out of here.Out of Eli’s reach.”
“Where would I even go?”She had returned to Oak Grove because she had no other place to go.
“I’ve got friends in Mercy,” Josh said.“Strong enough to keep you safe and hidden.Strong enough to help me when the time comes.”
“Who?”
“The Hounds of Hell,” Josh replied.“Yeah, another MC.But when this criminal network came totheirtown, they fought them off.They didn’t just hand over the fucking keys like Eli did.”
“I’ve heard of the Hounds,” Dylan said.“They’re enemies of the Cottonmouths, right?”
“Not always,” he said.“They owe me.”
“Even if I’m Eli Crizer’s blood?”she asked.
Josh’s gaze met hers squarely.“You’re not your uncle, Dylan.”
Dropping her head, Dylan’s heart cracked in her chest.Her whole life had been upended in a single night.
Josh moved closer to her on the edge of the bed.“We’ll wait until morning,” he said quietly.“I’ll call in to work, take care of it.I’ll drive you to Mercy myself.They’ll protect you.”
Dylan traced the rim of the glass in her hands, the water inside untouched and shaking faintly with her movement.She set the glass aside.“I came back here to get my feet under me,” she said, her voice low.“To prove I could build something for myself.And now… now I feel like I’ve got nothing but wreckage.”
The silence between them carried the weight of the truth they both now knew.
After a long pause, Dylan said, “You said the Hounds owe you.But what about me?What if I don’t want to run?What if I want to help you?”
His brow furrowed, he tilted his head slightly.“Dylan --”
“No, listen,” she interrupted, finally turning to look at him.“I almost got trafficked tonight by my own fucking uncle.I hadyouto save me… I don’t think I could live with myself if I just hid out while my uncle and his men are doing worse to other girls who don’t have someone like you.”
Josh exhaled slowly, his gaze steady on her but shadowed.“It’s too dangerous, Dylan.And if your uncle managed to get his hands on you…” He studied her for a long moment.Maybe he heard the bruised pride in her voice or saw the pain she wasn’t hiding anymore.Underneath it all, she had the quiet rage of someone who’d been wronged and was no longer willing to be a victim again.
