Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
RORY
“What the fuck did you get her into?” Tyler snapped, apparently deciding to jump into the argument too. “She wouldn’t have just killed someone for the sake of it.”
“I cut her a deal that she’d prove her loyalty to us if she helped me deal with a new member,” Slash answered with a shrug, giving me the side-eye.
The truce we had seemed to have vanished, any kindness from earlier now replaced with the threat of violence.
“Starting to think I should’ve just shot you and made it look like a fucking murder-suicide. ”
“Bite me. Where’d that appreciation go from yesterday?” I spat, intending on swatting at him, but Skeeter grabbed my wrist and tugged me against him with a scowl.
“Stop putting your hands on him.”
“He touched me first!”
“He’ll also touch you last if you don’t stop it,” he warned, letting my wrist go, only to drop an arm around my shoulders. To anyone else, it probably looked almost sweet, but I knew it was to keep me in place.
“You coerced her into murdering someone in the name of your crew? Bullshit. Rory does dumb shit, but never for someone else,” Caden scoffed, glaring at the hold Skeeter had on me. “What did you do to convince her to do that? Did you fucking threaten her?”
“If you shut your mouth, I’ll tell you,” Slash snapped. “Skeet felt like something was off about one of our guys, so I convinced Donovan to seduce him and see if he’d talk crew business with her. He was all over her in minutes and asked her to meet him at his house once he was done for the day.”
Caden was staring at me now, and I could tell his mind was wandering. He was trying to give the murder a valid reason, but he was wrong.
Sure, I’d panicked, but Liam was going to destroy the Psychos and take Skeeter down with it. Slash was a prick, but I didn’t want him dead either.
I’d sold my soul to protect the Devil, and that was it.
“He told me a bunch of stuff, threatened to kill Slash and Skeet, and I shot him. End of story,” I replied flatly, but Slash chuckled like I amused him.
“You’re not going to give them the details?
It was glorious. She met him at his house, managed to get his dick out and his mouth talking a mile a minute, and dealt with him for me.
I showed up to make sure she was okay since I hadn’t heard from her, and she was standing in the kitchen naked, covered in blood.
Was almost enough to make my dick hard.”
“Oh, please. You get hard over me daily. I’m starting to think it’s why you like fighting with me,” I muttered, but I winced as Skeeter gripped my shoulder to shut me up.
Slash conveniently left out the part where he’d had anything to do with the dead body, and Caden shook his head.
“You asked her to fuck someone for information? What kind of asshole does that to someone who’s recently been assaulted?”
“An asshole that doesn’t give a fuck. She wanted to prove herself, no one forced her,” he replied with a grin. “Right, Donovan?”
“Right,” I answered bluntly, shrugging Skeeter off. “Can you guys leave now? I’ve had enough of your shit today.”
“When will you learn?” Skeeter grumbled, but he didn’t say anything else.
“I think you’ll want to be nicer to us. After all, my crew’s a little pissed at you for killing one of our own,” Slash chuckled dryly, my eyes flashing to Skeeter, who gave me a look that said he told me so.
Slash had no intention of keeping me safe, he was only using me as one of his fucking pawns.
“If you think I’ll just shut up and take the fall, you’re delusional,” I said with a light laugh, and Slash just smirked.
“I didn’t tell you to kill him, Donovan. You made that choice all on your own.”
Slight panic washed through me, and Skeeter’s fingers caressed the back of my neck in a weirdly affectionate way.
“I’ll talk to them about it. He was a rat, we would’ve killed him anyway.”
“We have rules,” Slash argued.
“Rules you already broke by sending an outsider into his home in the first place. She shouldn’t have known anything, but you told her we had a weak link and to weed him out. Information like that in the wrong hands can break a crew.”
“So you admit you don’t trust her.”
“Right now, I don’t trust you,” Skeeter growled, the others flicking their gazes between the two.
“You’re scheming behind everyone’s backs.
Yes, we have rules in place, but we also have rules about bringing in outsiders.
You put a target on her, so now you can talk your way out of it.
I’m loyal to you and our crew, but I won’t let you put the blame on Rory for this shit and watch her get hurt over it.
This one’s on you, and I’ll make sure they know that. ”
“You’re siding with her over me?”
“I’m doing the right thing. Do yourself a favor and don’t bother her again, I mean it.
You don’t want me to embarrass you by putting her first?
Don’t do dumb shit that forces me to make that choice in the first place.
She did as you asked despite her trauma, and when our lives were on the line as well as the future of our crew, she put us first. Remember that when you’re making her out to be the enemy.
” He turned to me, and I could tell he was annoyed by the entire situation.
I could have avoided this if I hadn’t gotten involved in the first place.
“If you don’t get your shit together, I can’t protect you.
The guys might listen to me about the situation you put yourself in, but they’ll still see you as a liability.
Inner psychopath, remember? No feelings about it.
My guys won’t stand for you running around having meltdowns, so prove to them that you’re not a problem. Got it?”
“It’s hard.”
“So’s digging your own grave. Choose wisely,” he said sharply, his fingers raking through my hair gently before he jerked his head at Slash. “Let’s go. We’ve got shit to do. She’s fine.”
“The second this shit gets out, she’s going in a hole,” Slash said loud enough for everyone to hear, and when I went to flip him off, Skeeter’s hand shot out and squeezed my hand so hard that my knuckles cracked.
“I’m saving you from yourself at this point. Stop being a fucking brat,” he scolded, making me hiss out a breath as he swatted my ass where my cut was, surprisingly dropping his lips to mine briefly. “Stay home today. I mean it. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Okay,” I said softly, watching him leave with Slash glaring at me as they went.
“Jesus Christ, Rory,” Caden said under his breath, pity in his eyes. “Why the hell would you even want to team up with Slash in the first place?”
“That’s something you’ll never understand, rich boy,” I scoffed, moving towards Lukas and giving his hand a squeeze. “Thanks.”
Lukas’ smile was warm but unsure as he held my hand a little longer.
“If you need me to stay, just say so.”
“You’re leaving. I’ve got her,” Caden said bluntly, and Lukas didn’t even skip a beat.
“And I can come back if she wants me to. I’ll be at Jensen’s,” he answered, finally letting my hand go, but I grabbed his wrist.
“Can you stay a little longer?” I asked, not ready to be alone just yet. “Please?”
“Of course,” he said and lifted his hand to tuck my hair behind my ear, making Caden growl.
“You’re safe here. Do you think I’ll let anything happen to you? I can protect you just as much as Luke.”
An huff left me, and I absently leaned against Lukas as I gave Caden the side-eye.
“I don’t want to spend time with you. Your ability to keep the boogeyman away has nothing to do with it.
” I started tugging Lukas towards the stairs, and I rolled my eyes as I heard Caden hit something.
Tyler scolded him and called him out for his tantrum, and I was pretty sure they ended up throwing hands at each other.
I couldn’t care less if they beat each other up, and it seemed that Lukas didn’t either as he locked us in my room and got back into bed with me.
“How’d you even get in earlier? I locked the door,” I mumbled as I got comfortable, his eyes flashing with amusement.
“Spoiled rich kid, remember? I know how to pick a lock to access the wine cellar, so your bedroom door is easy. You want to watch another movie?”
“Do you have time?”
“I’ll stay all night if you need me to,” he murmured, pressing a kiss against my hair and going silent as he reached for the remote and picked another movie.
He didn’t leave until well after dark, pressing a kiss to my temple as he snuck out of my room when I was half asleep.
Movement in the bed woke me slightly as an arm slid around my waist possessively, my body instantly leaning back against the familiar hold.
“Skeet?” I mumbled, trying to roll over, but he wouldn’t let me.
“Yeah, baby girl. Go back to sleep.” His voice was rough as if he’d been yelling a lot, but his kisses on my neck were soft and sweet.
“What are you doing here? What time is it?”
“It’s just after two. I was at the Shed and thought I’d come and check on you.”
He sighed with annoyance as I rolled over to face him, and I noticed a cut on his eyebrow in the moonlight.
“Did you and Slash get into it?” I murmured, lifting my hand to touch it. He let me, his eyes on my face as he studied me.
“We exchanged words, it’s fine.”
“How’d you get in?”
“Magic,” he deadpanned, his hand dipping into the back of my sleep shorts to feel the cut he’d left on my ass yesterday morning. “The crew aren’t happy that you’re involved, but they agreed to leave you alone for now.”
“You defended me yesterday in front of the guys.”
It was a big deal to me. He’d stood up for me before, but this was different.
“Don’t get fucking mushy with me or I’ll leave,” he grumbled, leaning forward to catch my lower lip between his teeth. He bit down harder as my hand wandered his chest, a gasp leaving me from the sharp pain. “We can’t keep doing this, Aurora.”
“Sure we can,” I murmured, tugging at his shirt. “Strip off and stay the night.”
“We’ll wake Josie and your protective stepcunt.”