The motherfucker should feel the kiss from my precious blade just for that alone.
No worries.
Cold acceptance settles in me.
She’s mine.They’re mine.
It’s timeevery-fucking-bodyin this world is reminded of that.
I knew he was a dead man walking the moment I saw his arm curled around my woman’s shoulder.It was only a matter of time.
When I turn around with a smile on my face, everyone still in the room peers at me a little warily, some falling back a step.It’s a smart move.It always is.Who knows what can happen when the crazy comes out to play?
“Right,” I start, clapping my hands.
Cyanide lifts a brow, but I merely give him the finger and continue.
I glance at Manic.Normally, he’d be wherever his boy is, but since I called for council members only, he had to send him with the others.“Need you to get Valkyrie in here.Bring my kids, the twins, too.”
Birdie has her eyes glued to me, so I approach her slowly before squatting in front of the chair.Hannibal cleaned up as much of the dried blood as he was able to.The cut next to her left eye is stitched up, and a new butterfly bandage sits across the bridge of her nose.There’s not much he can do for her swollen black eyes.
She’s still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life.
“I’m going to get you and the kids set up in my room.Your sister can go sit with you.I’m going to have Devious sit outside the door.He’s a new prospect.”She shakes her head quickly, and I go quiet, lifting a brow and waiting for what she’s declining.
“No new members,” she whispers.
I nod, seeing the terror in her eyes.My fists clench against my thighs.“Fine.How about I get Basilisk to sit on you?”
Her eyes widen as much as they can.“He’s finally out?”
My smile is a little wonky.“Yeah, little mama, he’s out.”
“Okay.Yeah.I trust him.”
And why wouldn’t she?He wasn’t here to participate in the betrayal seven years ago.He was still upriver, waiting for his lawyer to get him out.
“Basilisk?”I call.
The tall, broad, inked-up, bald-headed motherfucker steps next to me.Those inky blue and glacier eyes of his swirl with darkness as he stares at me, waiting for his orders.
“Need you to keep watch over Birdie and my kids.You good with that?”
The scar that cuts through his right eye and across his top lip moves when he nods his confirmation.
Birdie sucks in a sharp breath as she gets her first good look at the club brother who’d spent a year in prison before she left.He went from a muscular, teddy bear of a man with barely any tattoos to this version of him.Back then, he had smiles waiting for those he cared about, and his eyes would twinkle playfully.It never diminished the fucking crazy he carried with him, though.
We all had it to some extent, having gone through our own versions of hell before we joined the Saint’s Outlaws.
“You can lock it if it makes you feel safer.I’m the only one with a key, but if you need that, I’ll hand it over to you.”
“I’d like the key,” Birdie whispers.
I try not to let my disappointment show.It’s not as if I don’t understand.She doesn’t trust us, and the hell she’s gone through at her husband’s hands has only added to that mistrust.
Doesn’t mean I don’t have to swallow back my growl.
Birdie’s head is so fucking full of demons, it’s a surprise she’s able to function.Just shows me how goddamn strong my woman is.
