Chapter 44 Slade
Slade
We enter Ash’s office the next morning where the Council is waiting for us. Bane insisted on holding my hand, and Ash slowly rises from his desk, glancing down at our hands before turning to me.
I smile at him, stepping closer to Bane to reassure Ash that this is my choice.
I love that he still feels that fatherly protective bond; it’s something I never ever felt with my own flesh and blood.
And maybe there lies the daddy issues…
That nearly makes me choke on a laugh, and Bane looks at me with a hiked brow, to which I only shake my head.
Pix grins at me. “Looking good, girl. Like you got dicked good and hard.”
That does make me choke. Ash, too, as he coughs into his coffee.
“Fucking hell, Pix,” Bane growls, but there’s a laugh there. He sits on the couch and pulls me down beside him.
Digits shakes his head. “Pixer, you got a death wish.”
“Duh.” She rolls her eyes, and Digits’ jaw clenches at that. She ignores him, though, and turns back to me. “Let’s get back to the reason we’re here.”
“And it’s not to talk about Slade getting dicked,” Bane says drily.
“Have you found anything, or has Len’s team?” I ask Digits and Army.
Army sits in the chair close to Ash’s desk and shakes his head. “Not yet.”
Digits pushes up his glasses. His eyes are bloodshot, and the guy looks like hell, which makes a pang of guilt run through me because I know my situation has added more to his plate. “Nothing on my end. So far, you’re in the clear there, Slade.”
But that doesn’t make me relax, because I know it’s just a matter of time before the Vanderalls catch up to me.
Bane stiffens beside me. “What do you mean, ‘in the clear there,’ Digits?”
“Of course, you’d pick up on that one word,” he grumbles.
Tension stiffens Bane’s posture even more. “Spill it.”
“Digits,” Ash warns at the same time.
“It could be nothing.” He glances around the room and ends on me. “Have you had any interaction with the Mambo Posse?”
“No. Who are they?”
“They’re a gang from Miami who are trying to make inroads here,” Bane explains.
“They’re mostly the Saints’ problem, but us and the Chamber want them gone because of their deep ties to human trafficking.
” He pulls me closer and shifts his attention to Digits.
“What specifically was the intel you intercepted?”
“It was mostly about the Havoc Guardians, but with loose comments about a little bird returning home.”
Army stiffens. “That could mean Leeva. Everyone knows I called her little dove.”
Ash shakes his head in disagreement. “It could mean Slade since she’s recently returned home, and Tyr used to call her baby crow.”
“Which all means someone inside the MC is talking.” Pix pulls out a thin knife that looks suspiciously like an ice pick, bringing memories of stabbing Antwane with a similar weapon. Which I feel no guilt over.
Bane and Ash exchange a dark look. “It could be Cutt,” Bane says.
“Where is he now?” Army asks.
“Crashed in his room here,” Ash growls.
“So, let’s slit his throat,” Pix suggests, holding up her knife.
“You know we can’t just outright kill him,” Ash grits, and my head swims listening to them talk so freely in front of me.
“So we inject him with something that will make his heart stop,” Pix says. “No one will question that, given the amount of blow he’s been snorting.”
“Thunder will,” Bane warns.
I try not to spiral with panic as they argue.
They know about the Vanderalls. They know that my friends’ dads are leaders of the FBI and NSA.
And now there’s a gang possibly talking about me.
What will make them save themselves and send me packing?
Nothing, you idiot. You slept with Bane; he told you you’re his.
On top of my brothers and Ash’s past promise to protect me, Bane now has even more reason to refuse to let me leave.
Shit. What the hell was I thinking?
I’m really starting to panic, and I need some space.
I stand up quickly, and Bane grips my wrist. “What’s wrong?”
All I see when I look at him are the flashes of fourteen people lying dead on the table, all because of me.
“I need…” I blink, trying to clear the images from my vision. “I need some space.”
“I’ll come with you then.”
“No.”
Pix flashes a look at Bane and sheaths her knife, turning to me. “I’ll walk with you, Slade.”
Bane reluctantly lets me go. “You okay?”
I wet my parched lips. “Yeah.”
He rises and kisses my forehead. “You’re safe here. We’ll protect you. I’ll protect you with my life.”
But Bane protecting me with his life is exactly what I’m afraid of.