Page 42 of That Girl is Trouble

I let out an angry breath and grip the back of my neck, kneading at the building tension. “Walk away, Deck, before I lose my fucking temper.”

Ramrod straight, heaving angry breaths, we have a silent standoff. But, like I knew he would, he retreats, muttering a string of insults as he stalks off through the large church doors leading back outside.

Fucking Decker.

The asshole brings out the absolute worst in me. Maybe there’s too much history between us. Too much bullshit. The bastard took the first shot, and we’ve been taking swings at each other ever since. But then there was that night, when we did what Sinners do best—took vengeance on someone who wronged us. Only it wasn’t us looking for payback. No, it was Decker. We gave him that. Handed it to him on a big, blood-soaked platter, and now he’s as stained as the rest of us. Just as guilty.

He made a choice. He got into bed with us, and once a person’s in, they’re in. There’s no getting away from the Sinners once that line is crossed. These days, Decker knows that better than anyone.

Kat doesn’t look at me when I approach. She doesn’t move when I sit beside her. Silence. The heavy kind. And suddenly, I get it a little, why she hates it so much.

Best to just get this out. But Kat speaks before I can.

“I… I was bad for him,” she says. Tears stream down her face as she keeps her focus fixed on the altar in front of us. “We yelled all the time, fought all the time. Threw things. I can’t count how many damn holes he punched in the wall because of me. Because of how crazy I made him. How crazy we made each other.” She lets out a pained laugh as more tears fall. “I—” A sob rips through her chest and her words clip off. She takes a big breath. “I loved him. But it was more bad than good, you know? He knew it too. But I couldn’t end it. I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Because—”

Kat finally looks at me, studying my face like she’s memorizing every line. Fuck. I already know what she’s gonna say. And more than anything, I wish she wouldn’t.

“You, Axe. Because of you. I didn’t want to leave the club because there’d be no you. And saying that out loud? It just feels—”

“Wrong. It feels wrong. You’re confused. Jess’s death was… It was a fucking tragedy. A shitty thing to have to watch. But you’re confused.”

She shakes her head. “I’m not.”

“You are,” I say, adding an edge to my voice.

Seventeen. I don’t fuck teenagers. And despite how confused my dick has been about that the last couple months, my head is crystal clear on the subject. Especially now. Graves ended things with Triss. Jesse’s gone. Kat has no reason to hang around anymore. With men like me, who like living in the bad. She’s like that too. We’re the same. People like us pull to each other. I can’t be pulling to this girl. Getting her the hell away from the Sinners is the best thing for her. I can’t protect her from what’s about to happen, all the shit that’s about to rain down on us.

We’ve become a target, and I don’t take that lightly. If I know one thing about retaliation, it’s that it goes shot for shot until one side is dead. It’s like us and Decker. We keep hurting each other, keep pushing until the other breaks. But the Sinners don’t break. So whoever’s after us? The people who think they can take us down? We won’t stop fighting them until we’re on top or dead. There will be blood, and none of it will be Kat’s.

“Axe, listen—”

“No. That’s enough. Whatever you think is happening here, it isn’t,” I say roughly. “You’re a girl, Kat. A kid. You don’t belong in this world, and I need you to stop coming around. You can’t come to the clubhouse tonight. You can stop in tomorrow and pick up your shit from Jesse’s room, but there’s no more of this. You’re done. You got it?”

Shaking her head, she says, “So, what? You want me to pretend there isn’t something between us? That I didn’t fucking betray Jesse thinking the shit I was thinking about you? And now he’s not here. He’s fucking dead.” She yells that last bit, and the few other people in the church all whip their heads in our direction.

“Kat,” I say, dropping my voice low. “Nothing happened. I didn’t touch you.”

Barely. I barely touched her. She touched me. In my bed. In the dark. That’s it. And there was the icing. And the lip gloss. Cherries. God. And that last night, when she needed to forget and so did I. The night I was so close to giving in and losing myself in her. But I didn’t do it. This isn’t anything.

“But you wanted to.”

“Wanting and doing are two different things.”

“But—”

“Stop. Talking,” I snap.

She flinches and drops her chin, her eyes downcast and her bottom lip caught between her teeth. Her fingers twist in her lap. “Fuck you, Axe,” she says quietly. “Fuck you for picking today of all days to be a piece of shit.”

Abruptly, she pushes up from the pew and stalks off towards the side exit of the church. And I follow. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s the selfish part of me, the part that wants to make sure she’s okay, even though I got no business asking or caring about how she’s feeling. Or maybe I just need to be sure she understands.

She’s at the bottom of the set of stairs leading towards the door to the parking lot when I catch up to her, blocking her exit. Before I can get a word out, she slams her palms against my chest and pushes with all her strength.

“Fuck you!”

Her open palm gets dangerously close to my face before I catch her wrist. I snag the other when she lifts that hand, ready to go for another slap, and push her against the wall, securing both her hands above her head. Tears spill down her cheeks as she struggles against my hold, rage burning in her eyes. She’s angry. Maybe at me, maybe at Jesse, maybe at herself. This whole situation, likely. But I can’t be her outlet. Because I’m angry too. And if she were a year older and a different woman, I’d hate fuck her against this wall until I couldn’t feel anything. Until the blood was washed from my hands. Until the bodies were out of my mind.

I point my finger in her face, my words ripping out of me in a snarl. “I think you forget sometimes, Kitty. Who the fuck it is you’re talking to. Watch that tone with me.”

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