Page 106 of Straight to Me

“Deano. You must have known he’d pull something like this as soon as you got here,” Jack says.

VP covers his face with his hands.

“Did you know?”

“Of course I didn’t fucking know,” Jack hisses.

Tempers are rising in front of me. Jack sips his beer, looking round at the revellers. “I knew he wanted blood. I didn’t know how much.”

VP bangs his hand on the table outside making me and Jack jump. “Is there any way he could have made sure we got chased, to provoke a retaliation?”

Jack’s eyebrows raise, his mouth opens a fraction.

“You’re asking if my old man had me shot at, just to give us cause to kill Sodom Saviours the next day?”

Their eyes meet.

I’m merely a mouse sat between lions. At any moment things could boil over.

My legs start shaking. I genuinely wouldn’t know what the hell to do. VP doesn’t answer the question. He stares, holding his gaze. It’s scary how his face becomes so intimidating.

“I don’t think he would have gone that far. But I’ll find out,” Jack sighs, giving in.

The thought that we could have been set up so they could go to war is horrifying. VP takes a mouthful of beer. Jack and I exchange a glance, and I can tell he’s just as concerned as I am.

“Deano,” Jack says, waiting for VP to look at him.

“This is partly why I left, Jack. He’s even more reckless now than he was then.”

VP pulls out a cigarette. He lights it, taking a long inhale. “I think it’s safe to say Ronnie won’t give up the club until the day he dies. Well, that day might just come sooner than planned,” VP says forcefully, and Jack backs down, knowing it’s true.

Panic sends a hundred questions running through my mind. But I don’t have time to ask them as VP takes my hand and leads me to the outer grounds.

I can sense him deliberating whether to tell me what’s happening or not and what it means for us. Considering I’ve taken every piece of information he’s given me in the past well, he should know I can handle this.

“VP.” I dig in my heels, needing some answers.

“I know you’ve got something to say,” he blurts, looking to me. I raise my eyebrows. “You’re pinching your lips,” he adds.

I wasn’t aware I was.

“Has your uncle just declared a war?”

“Mads.” He steps closer to me, kissing my forehead as if to tell me not to worry. “It’s nothing.”

He’s lying. The reaction to Ronnie’s words was obvious. “Don’t try to protect me. Why did you get mad with Jack?”

His jaw clenches, his eyes narrowing at me.

“Don’t try to protect you? Mads, it’s my fucking job to protect you.”

“Tell me the truth. Please.” My glare is solid, hard faced and aimed at him. I won’t back down.

VP looks down, his jaw clenching before he speaks.

“Me coming here was meant to be nothing more than a sit down with my uncle, to give us the go ahead to start a new charter in the UK, that’s all. It’s a formality to sit down face to face—a show of respect. I didn’t want to come here, Mads, but Rocco… it was his choice to send me.” He looks back up finding my eyes. “Saviours deserve everything they’ll get coming to them, but it still doesn’t change the fact thatmypresence has spurred Ronnie on to want blood.”

“Why do you hate them so much?”

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