“Which is bad enough.” He looked down now, the cruel lines of his face fading as pain engulfed him. “Because now I know Roy will be gone too. He’ll never recover, just like Hunter wouldn’t recover without you.” He shook his head, scoffing. “This is why you don’t mix pleasure with love. This is why youfuckanddiscardandmove the fuck on.”
Shock finally set in. I shivered, the urge to vomit coming at me in full force. My neck was throbbing; every breath hurt. I pressed a hand against my throat, wanting to sob because I thought I was done for. The worst part was hearing Hunter tumble out of his bed, roaring for me—
“Jesse,” I choked out. “I think he’s dead.”
Miles wouldn’t look at me now. He stared out the window into the dark streets as Faden drove in silence, the tension heavy. I glanced at the giant body next to me, catching the vacant look in his profile as he managed to keep his emotions under control.
It was a façade.
Both of them were hurting, and they were hiding it.
“What now?” I asked.
Faden answered, “We’re going to take you to the clubhouse, and then we’re going to station more men at the hospital, just in case Itani decides to strike at Hunter.”
But Miles shook his head, frowning. “He won’t.”
“He might,” Faden argued. “If he’s getting personal enough to try and remove the girl, he might try and remove Hunter—”
“He would have done that already.”
Faden shook his head, sounding frustrated. “Do we want to take that risk, Miles?”
“We need to be strategic, that’s all I’m saying. We’re fighting two enemies at the same time. Half our men are knocking out the Walker brothers—”
“The other half shouldn’t be looking after a girl,” Faden hissed now, gripping the steering wheel tightly. “Especially one that’s fucked off past the enemy lines for some rich cock—”
“That rich cock is helping us eliminate the Walkers.”
“Because he sees an opening, probably.”
Miles let out a dry laugh. “What, he’s gonna take over their storage facility, Fade? He’s gonna start smuggling drugs in? Is that what you’re saying? That man’s got a seat on a throne to hell of a lot more resources than that hole in the ground they’re attacking right now. He’s fighting because Hunter was—fuckingis—his brother. So right now, right this fucking instant, Leo Itani is not an enemy, and neither is the girl.”
I stared at Miles in shock, never once having heard him say anything remotely supportive of me, much less Leo. He wouldn’t meet my eye, choosing to look elsewhere, like he knew how unusual it was. The man kept not only his emotions under lockdown, but his thoughts too. Hearing them—seeing him hurting—made him look more human to me.
The pub was closed early, and the lights were out as we turned into the parking lot of the clubhouse. There were only a handful of bikes and cars parked out front, belonging to the remaining members. I felt suddenly exhausted, like my body had been wound tight and was finally loosening.
Faden stopped the car in front of the Lounge entrance, waiting for us to get out. Sensing my exhaustion, Miles shuffled to me and unbuckled my seatbelt, still avoiding my eye as he said, “I’ll take you straight in, you’ll hide out in Hunter’s room, and then I’m going back to the hospital.”
I nodded, stiffly. “Okay.”
“You’ll be safe here.”
“Will you call me and let me know he’s okay?”
Miles nodded, finally glancing at me. In the dark, I barely made out his face, but I could tell the frown lines had disappeared. “Yeah.”
I swallowed hard. “And Jesse, too.”
“I will.”
It felt wrong to be here. I took a moment before stepping out, looking at Miles again. “If I’m a target, I shouldn’t be here, Miles. I can’t—I don’t want anyone to get hurt because of me.”
Suddenly thoughtful, Miles asked, “You belong to Hunter, don’t you?”
Faden turned his head to look at me in the dark, waiting intently for my response. I felt my heart crack just then, understanding their question entirely.
If I told them I was Hunter’s, then I didn’t belong to Leo.