Chapter 51
CHAPTER
FIFTY-ONE
CHASSIS
“What the fuck are you thinking?” Gauge hisses once we’re out of the building and standing on the sidewalk together.
I shake my head once, taking his hand before I walk us both a bit farther down the road. I don’t know if Samuil can hear through the intercom, and the last thing I need is for him to listen in on me and Gauge talking about what just happened.
“I don’t know,” I murmur.
My body begins to tremble as soon as we stop. The panic begins to consume me, because what the fuck?
“I need to protect this baby and Amos simultaneously. There was no way we were going to walk out of there alive if we didn’t agree to do whatever he wanted,” I continue, saying everything that pops into my head, because right now, I can’t think straight.
“I wanted to kill him where he stood. How you ever thought that he was worthy of you, I’ll never know,” Gauge says with a snort.
I should probably be offended by my brother’s statement, but I’m not. I shouldn’t have had such low self-esteem that a man like Samuil could ever potentially woo me and manipulate me. But I did, and he did. There’s no point in beating a dead horse now.
“It doesn’t matter. What’s done is done. Now we need to brainstorm and figure out where we’re going to go and how we’re going to fix this.”
I hear him chuckle, but I can’t look anywhere but his eyes. I don’t see the smile on his lips or the way he sinks his teeth into his bottom lip as if he thinks I’m being funny and cute. The same look he gave me when I was a kid and did something off the wall.
I love my brother. He is beyond special, but at the same time, I’m scared of the future. I’m terrified for him and for myself. Moreover, I’m scared for this baby and Amos. I screwed up bigger than I ever imagined possible.
I’ve lived beneath the veil of my family’s protection and then my husband’s, but it doesn’t matter, not really. There is nothing that could have protected me from Samuil. I allowed him to use me, and he’s not done yet.
“We’re getting the fuck out of town. We’ll figure it out. I’ve got a place an hour out of Vegas we can stay. That’s where we’ll sit down, breathe, and figure some shit out,” he says, somewhat shocking the shit out of me.
Sure, it’s what we agreed to with Samuil, but I didn’t think he would really do it—that we would do it.
I thought he’d have some other kind of plan brewing in his head, something that kept me here, maybe locked away at the clubhouse.
But going somewhere else, a place I’ve never heard of?
I didn’t expect it. So I just stare at him.
I reach out and curl my fingers around my brother’s wrist. He turns his head slightly, his eyes still focusing on mine, connecting. I watch, holding my breath and waiting, as his eyes search my own.
Then he speaks, and when he does, my whole body instantly relaxes.
My brother. He has my back, but he also has the club’s best interest at heart.
The club is his life—his past and his future.
It’s everything he’s ever known. I know that with him, the Iron Flame comes first. It doesn’t upset me.
Maybe it should, but I know my safety is woven right into that loyalty.
That is why I smile.
That is why my lips curve up.
Because yeah, he’s got the club, but he’s also got me.
“We’re gonna get this shit on lock. We can’t use our phones.
No telling what that fucker has tapped. We’ll grab a burner when we get out of town, along with a rental car.
But we’re going to get to Indian Springs, and then we’ll talk about what to do next.
Just know, there is no way in fuck that piece of shit is going to have an ounce of control over the Iron Flame MC. Over my goddamn dead body.”
We don’t walk back to my car. We leave it there, parked in the guest parking spot of Samuil’s building. If Amos comes looking for me, I hope he finds the car there. That way he knows I didn’t run away willingly and also that Samuil is involved. At least, that’s what I hope.
What is actually going to happen, I have no idea.
Gauge extends his hand and wriggles his fingers. “Phone,” he demands.
He’s looking down at his, then shoves it into the inside pocket of his cut. Reaching into my small purse, I slip him my phone. I watch as he powers it down, then slides it into the same pocket to join his.
“When we get outside of Vegas, I’ll get us a burner,” he states.
Gauge doesn’t stop walking, and I’m trying really hard to keep up with him, but the heat starts to pound down against my skin. I’m starting to sweat, and my breathing is becoming labored. I don’t remember the last time I struggled to just walk. I feel ridiculous.
Opening my mouth, I start to tell Gauge that I need him to slow down when he abruptly turns left and tugs open a door. He walks into a building, and I happily follow him, biting back the moan as soon as the air conditioning hits my skin.
I don’t even care where we are, because there is AC and a chair for me. My feet shuffle toward the chair, and I sink down on the seat as I close my eyes and attempt to catch my breath. I could use some water, too, maybe a snack.
Cracking one eye open, I look up to see Gauge standing at a counter. We’re at a car rental place. He grunts before speaking. If I had kept my eyes closed, I could have sworn it was our dad.
“Only renting a truck, babe, so find me something good.”
The woman giggles, and a few moments later, she slides a set of keys and a card across the counter to him. He laughs softly, murmurs something I can’t quite understand, then turns to me.
“Let’s get the fuck going,” he barks.
I roll my eyes to the ceiling, but with a smile, because this moment right here makes me forget all the scary shit. This is normal and typical. I’m glad I’m here and on the run with him. I just wish Amos were here, too.