“My brother shot a man to death in order to protect you while you easily could have ended up in the crossfire, yet me killing a guy for hurting you is insane?” The sneer of jealousy in his voice was loud and clear, and it hit hard against my chest.
“Granite, that’s not what I said.”
For the first time, his expression wasn’t stone. There was something different. Softer. Almost pained. Silence wrapped around us, and he just kept staring at me as if he was watching me break into a million pieces. His dark eyebrows gathered in before he scrubbed his hand down his face.
“What is it you want from me, Granite? First you let it sound like I’m a pawn in some game you’re playing against my father. But then you tell me stuff like how you want me, and that I’ve always been yours. That shit is confusing the fuck out of me, and I don’t know what to think or how to feel.” My heart wanted to explode, my chest rising and falling with rapid breaths. I was so desperate for straight answers, it was tiring me out.
I stared at him with desperation, willing him to give me the truth. But the pained expression on his face was gone, replaced with those familiar hard lines. “Get dressed and try to get some sleep.”
“What? Granite—” But he was out the door before I could finish my sentence.
My mind was reeling, and I placed my hand on my forehead, feeling faint and confused. Nothing made sense. Every second I spent with that man, every word that came out of his mouth, only confused me more.
One thing I did know for sure—I’d be a fool to want to understand rather than fear him.
17
Granite
Seeingthe bruises that marred her body flipped the fucking coin. Alyx was so delicate, the thought of someone hurting her was like trying to swallow glass. And while she stood there, naked and so fragile, my chest got sliced wide open. In that moment, my main objective was not to fuck up the Pythons. It was not to finally have the girl I had been lusting after for years. But to protect her. To protect my innocent ballerina girl.
God, I was such a fucking contradiction.Kidnap the girl. Turn into a jealous savage. And then try to keep her safe from you and the entire goddamn world.
I walked out of the bedroom, determined to burn the road as soon as possible. We had to change our plan. Underestimating Slither was one mistake I’d never make again. I knew the son of a bitch would figure it out; I just didn’t count on it being so soon. But it didn’t matter. What mattered now was getting Alyx to the safe house.
Tomorrow, it would look like the Kings were just doing their normal Sunday run. Nothing out of the ordinary. Odds were Slither would be anticipating it. The man was a sociopath, but a clever one. For this plan to work, I had to be three steps ahead of him, as he’d try to be two steps ahead of me. And that was why we had to get Alyx out of here…now.
“Manic.”
I was halfway down the stairs when our road captain came rushing in. “Yeah?”
“Have two different runs mapped out. We’ll need to split up and do everything possible to make sure we’re not followed.”
“Already done.” The man had a huge, self-assured smile on his face.
“Fucking show-off.” I lit a cigarette as I passed him on my way to Dutch and Onyx, who stood by the door talking. “The unmarked van ready?”
“Yup,” Onyx confirmed.
“Has the safe house been secured?”
Dutch nodded. “We sent our guys out there three days ago. They’re scouting the area every few hours.”
I took a long, deep drag from my cigarette, letting the smoke linger inside my chest, practically feeling the nicotine cling to my lungs.
Neon passed us carrying a tray of beer. I grabbed one. “Pack your stuff.”
Neon’s eyes pulled into slits. “Here’s a question. Why?”
“You’ll be going with Alyx to the safe house.”
“Ha. Ha. Funny. You almost had me there for a second.”
“Does it look like I’m making a motherfucking joke?”
Neon paused, blue irises studying me for a moment before narrowing her eyes. A groan rolled over her lips. “Come on, Granite. You know I hate that place. It’s in the middle of fucking nowhere. I’ll be bored out of my mind.”
I chugged down the beer then placed the empty bottle down on the tray she was still holding. “You girls can paint your nails, braid each other’s hair, or do whatever the fuck it is girls do.”