Page 15 of Breathing

“Did that feel like I’m mad at you, baby?” he panted, licking his kiss-swollen bottom lip. I shook my head. He grinned and pressed a kiss to the tip of my nose. “I fucking missed you.”

I softened, my hands sliding under his shirt to feel his hard, muscular body. “I was miserable,” I confessed.

He brushed his nose with mine. “No one will ever be able to keep me away from you long,” he promised. His fingers linked with mine, and he gently pulled me away from the wall, leading me to where Joey, Ink, and Alejandro were sitting at one of the round tables, suddenly appearing once Whiler came home. When Whiler took a seat, he settled me on his lap, his thick arms binding around my waist.

“I don’t know what comes next,” Whiler said, looking at Joey, then Alejandro, “but those divorce papers need to get signed one way or another. And then, we take care of her fucking husband. They arrested me on he-said-she-said bullshit, which means he’s fucking got someone in his pocket.”

A chill raced down my spine at that thought. Whiler, feeling it, pushed his hand under my shirt to caress my belly and my hip. Despite the anxiety thrumming through my veins, his touch relaxed me. I rested my head on his shoulder.

“For now,” Joey began, leaning forward and bracing his elbows on the table, his fingers steepled under his chin, “you two lay low. Stick close to the clubhouse if you go anywhere, which I prefer if you didn’t. Alejandro has pull, but I don’t know who else this asshole might have in his pocket. Hethoughthe had the judge and the chief of police, but Alejandro’s price was better. That’s the only thing that saved your ass this time.”

Whiler grunted, hearing the warning in Joey’s words as clear as I did. “Stay close to home. Got it. So, that means you’re not fucking letting me help find this son of a bitch.”

Joey shook his head. “No. You’ll chill here. Keep her safe. Understand? I’m giving that order as your president.”

Whiler gritted his teeth but nodded his head, his eyes focused across the room. I gently cupped his cheek and turned his head to face me, brushing my thumb over the stubble along his jaw. He did that a lot; I had a feeling he was seeing his sister. “You here with me?” I whispered.

He rested his forehead on mine and closed his eyes, blowing out a soft breath before he nodded. “I’m here, baby.”

Oh, baby.

I pressed my lips to his in a soft kiss before circling my arms around him and resting my head back on his shoulder.

10

Whiler

Idrummed my fingers on the table, watching as Joey took his seat at the head of the table. The low murmur of chatter silenced immediately once his ass hit the seat, and I sat up straighter, ready to get this show on the road.

He’d called church at an ungodly hour because Alejandro had found where Cannon’s husband, Paul Rigford, was holed up at. And we were going to hunt him down and solve this shit once and for all.

I was more than happy about it, which was basically the only reason I wasn’t fucking grumbling about being up before the sun even began to break over the horizon. I wanted this son of a bitch taken care of and out of Cannon’s life for good, especially since he’d not only rolled up here and come at her sideways as if he had any right to but had also put her in a horrible accident that could have killed her.

Helena suddenly appeared against the wall behind Ink’s head, a soft smile on her face. Her image was fuzzier this time—not as clear as it normally was. And it made my chest ache because it was a sign I was moving on from what happened to her. From what I hadn’t been able to save her from.

But Ink and Cannon were right—I couldn’t keep selfishly holding her here. She deserved to move on to the afterlife and find her happiness there.

I forced myself to look away from her and at Joey. Alejandro stepped into the room before he could start and laid a tablet on the table. Joey slid it closer, eyeing whatever was on it. “Alejandro got the layout of the cabin he’s staying in, as well as the state park’s layout. This is going to be tricky as fuck.”

“Fucker holed himself up in a state park?” I asked incredulously. I shook my head. “Did he really think that was going to keep him safe?”

“Probably,” Vern snorted.

Alejandro handed me a manila envelope. I opened it and slid the papers partway out, eyeing the top of them. “The divorce papers,” he explained. Nodding, I slid them back into the folder. “You can go about this one of two ways. One, you can force him to sign those papers and run the risk that he has his attorney fight it and put all of us in prison.” I gritted my teeth. I wouldn’t risk leaving Cannon vulnerable where he could snatch her up at any time. She’d stayed here for a reason—that fucker had almostkilledher. I promised her he would never touch her again, and I was keeping that promise.

“Option two,” Alejandro continued, “is that we can just get rid of him, dump his body somewhere to be found, and I can wipe anything away that leads officials in our direction. They’ll come ask Cannon questions, but if she doesn’t know anything, then she’s safe.”

“Option two,” I said immediately, looking at Joey. It would be easy to keep Cannon in the dark about what happened to her piece of shit husband. He nodded in agreement. “I don’t want this fucker alive. Letting him live gives him the opportunity to come after Cannon, and she won’t be able to live in peace until he’s gone.”

Joey grunted. “Then we move after dark,” he announced. “Alejandro will get us into the park.” He slid the tablet to Ink, and Ink began looking over everything there. “The park rangers and volunteers’ routines are already marked here, and the cabins aren’t monitored at nighttime. If we sneak in, we can easily keep him silent, get him into a vehicle, and get rid of him where there are no witnesses.”

“Cameras?” Vern asked as Ink slid the tablet to me. I began looking through the map and the layout of the cabin.

“They’ll have glitches while we’re there,” Alejandro told him with a smirk. “I’m not dumb, kid.”

Vern rolled his eyes at Alejandro. “Can’t blame a guy for asking, can you?” he retorted.

I snickered, feeling a little lighter now that I was going to be able to free Cannon from the chains her husband had her in.

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