I pulled her to me and held her gently, cradling the back of her head, my other arm around her neck. “I know, baby, and I’m here. They won’t fucking get away with this.”
She broke down into tears.
6
Sam
The sound of Reina crying fucking tore my soul apart. She’d never cried like this—not in front of me. Shealwaysprided herself on being strong and resilient.
I knew this shit was fucking her up inside. My blood was boiling in my veins. I wanted to slaughter every fucking member of the Angels of Hell, and not just in the charter that had done this to her, but literallyeveryfucking member.
She hadn’t deserved this. And the fact that she had suffered because of River and Adelaide’s son just pissed me off more. Why did they choose her? Why not take Adelaide?
Why her? That was the goddamn question I couldn’t get out of my fucking head.
I gently led Reina back into her room, kicking the door shut behind us. She was a fucking mess, gut-wrenching sobs tearing from her throat. I cradled the back of her head, wishing I could do something to ease her pain. Fuck, I wanted toerasethat pain. She didn’t deserve this bullshit. It wasn’t goddamn fair to her.
And even worse than all of that? I knew she had to feel like this club was failing her, turning their backs on her. They hadn’t even bothered to tell her they were working on finding who did this. They didn’t tell heranything.
I knew without a doubt that Reina thought she was alone and on her own. And I wanted to fucking bash River’s face in for that shit because Iknewhe wouldn’t have hidden a goddamn thing from Adelaide if she’d been on the receiving end of this kind of brutality. In fact, if it were Adelaide, no one in this club would be resting until River had his revenge.
Fuck, they hadn’t even toldme. I hadn’t found out untiltoday. And while I knew they were probably respecting her wishes for no one to know, I was the mother fucking VP. Ineededto know shit like this.
And River, of all fucking people, knew how I felt about her. As my best friend, he should have fucking told me despite what in the hell she wanted. If he had, she wouldn’t be feeling like this. Because I’d have taken care of thisweeksago, with or without my president’s blessing.
I couldn’t even begin to imagine the horror Reina was fucking living with. In most clubs, a marked woman was a dead woman because most of the time, the only safety shemightbe able to find was within the club that had marked her.
Which was why most women were killed, especially if they knew too much.
Most clubs couldn’t chance the woman would run her mouth for protection, for safety.
But I knew Reina wasn’t like that, just as River and Joey knew.
I just wished I had fucking known sooner what in the hell was going on. I would have ridden my ass down to the Sons of Hell’s clubhouse and fixed all this shit before it got like this. She wouldn’t be feeling like this if I’d fucking known. But now it had festered; the internal wound and fear had become inflamed and infected, leaving her to drown and die inside.
Needing to ease her mind for a bit, at least to show her that I wasn’t turning my back on her, I gripped her chin, tilted her head back, and slanted my lips across hers. She moaned softly, her tears still sliding down her cheeks, coming down to mingle with our lips.
I licked at the seam of her wet lips, tasting her salty tears on my tongue. I then opened my eyes, running them over her pale face. Her eyes were still closed. She was still hiding from me, and I fucking hated it. I needed her to know that I was with her no matter what. Shit was changing, and she wasn’t doing this shit alone. Not anymore. Not ever again.
“Reina, baby, look at me,” I pleaded in a rough whisper.
She slowly opened her glassy eyes, locking them on mine. “I’m sorry this club failed you, baby girl.” Her lips trembled again, breaking my fucking heart. “I’m sorry thatIfailed you. I won’t fucking fail you again.”
She shook her head, but I silenced her with another kiss. She flinched when my arm brushed her back. With every bit of my restraint, I kept myself from leading her to bed. Her back would still be too sore. If she got as cut up as I thought she had, she would need at least another month to fully recover and for the pain to mostly recede.
“Let me see your back,” I coaxed.
She stepped back from me, fear sparking in her pretty eyes. I reached out and grabbed her arms, holding her still. She wanted to run, but I wasn’t going to let her. Ineededto see the damage. I couldn’t keep trying to picture it in my mind. I needed to know how bad it was because what they did to her, I was going to do to them tenfold.
You didn’t fuck with my baby girl and live to tell the goddamn story of it.
They thought they were fucking with River.
Nah; they were fucking withme, and I was the deadliest monster of them all.
“Reina, baby, I love you.” She sucked in a sharp breath of air, her eyes widening in response to my words. I knew they were the last things she’d been expecting to hear, but I knew they were true. And I didn’t want to go another day without her knowing that. Sheneededto know that she was the center of my entire fucking universe. I’d burn this world to the ground for her. I’d kill for her, slaughter for her. I’d go to goddamn war over this woman. “I know I made a shit ton of mistakes in the past, but I won’t ever be making those again,” I swore. “And I’m not pushing you away just because you’re a marked woman.” More tears slid down her cheeks. “Just let me see them, baby girl.”
She stared at me for a good minute. I waited patiently. I knew she’d give in. Normally, she always eventually gave in for me, and right now, I was using that shit to my advantage.