Ellie turned to me. She took Tabby from my arms and set her on the floor, then pulled me close and hugged me too.
“We’ve missed you,” she whispered, and I tightened my arms around her.
Ellie was sweet. She burned hot in her anger, but it fizzled quick and she loved far greater than she hated.
“Can we talk?” King asked.
Ryder turned his back and walked toward his office.
“Go,” Ellie encouraged.
“If I’m not back in twenty minutes, tell my family I love them,” King said.
Ellie smirked and shook her head. “He won’t kill you. Just maim you a bit. You never wanted kids of your own, right?”
King chuckled at her nonsense and followed Ryder toward the back of the store. He looked back and raised an eyebrow.
I dropped my head and sighed. This wasn’t fucking about me. I didn’t need to be here.
When we entered his office, Ryder sat behind his desk. The ironic shift in the power dynamic caused my mouth to curl at the corners. King noticed it too, I was sure. He could have summoned him to the club. And based on the cut he still wore, he would have come.
But they both deserved this, I guessed. I might hate the man, but what King did was an asshole move.
“Blade told me what you said.” I looked at King, wondering what Blade had said to him. “About not being sorry.”
“I’m not,” he confirmed.
I shook my head at my president. He was an arrogant son of a bitch.
“You’re an asshole,” Ryder clipped.
“I am,” he said with a sigh. He didn’t sit, and I understood why. King might be willing to apologize, but he would still make sure you knew he was in charge. “I stand by what I said. She was never in any danger. If I thought for a second she was, I never would have given it to her.”
“You have any idea what the underworld would have done to get that drive?”
“Did you?” King countered, and Ryder blanched. “You had it in your house for weeks before Ellie gave it to me. All I did was send it back to your house.”
“Without fucking telling me!”
“What difference does it make? How was having it in your home any less dangerous when you knew it was there?”
“My daughter had it!” he yelled, standing from his chair.
“And no one but me knew it,” he shouted back.
I stood by the door, quiet. This wasn’t my shit.
“I would give my life for that little girl whether you are in the club or not,” King continued. “If someone had shown up here looking for it, I would have pulled you all in. I would have taken the thing and done something else with it. But there wasn’t a goddamn motherfucker who knew it was here.”
“Sypher knew.”
“Sypher was the asshole who gave it to Ellie. Have you given him any shit for it?”
That was when Ryder lost his steam. He dropped into his chair because he knew King was fucking right.
“I get why you’re mad. I won’t tell you not to be. But I would do it again. She was never in any danger. You want to get in the ring and kick my ass? I’ll make it happen. You want to leave the club? I’ll let you go. It would be a fucking mistake. But I won’t stop you.”
“Will it always be like this?”
