“You honestly think he’s gonna let you have your own place?” I remove my arm from my head and stare at Harlow. “You’ve been around just as long as I have. Shit, Cruz demanded I stay with him. You think that after all these years, now that my brother has you, he’s going to let you just walk away?” She shakes her head. “You know this life Casey. It’s not new to you, at all. He loves you and you love him. Yeah, there’s shit you gotta deal with, but that doesn’t change anything. My brother is bossy, overbearing, stubborn and possessive, but he has a good heart. He won’t let you leave this time.”

“I don’t want him to hate me.” I sound so pathetic I want to kick my own ass, but there is so much truth to my words.

“He doesn’t. He’ll work through his shit just like he does everything else. You believe in him, right?” I nod. “Then trust that he will take care of you no matter what. He won’t make the same mistake twice.”

“God… I want one of these men.” Bella sighs and I can’t stop the small smirk that plays on my lips.

 G.T.

Four fucking hours now and this damn party is still in full swing. I called Buzz over two hours ago hoping to relieve Angel a bit. Now, I’m just getting fucking pissed this guy is wasting my time. If there weren’t a fucking shit ton of people spread throughout the house, we would have gone right in. But here we are waiting in the fucking trees for the asshole to leave. If he’s smart, he’ll stay, but I’m banking on him not.

Pops comes over and sits next to me. We sit in silence waiting.

Three hours later, we are all getting fucking antsy as shit, mostly hungry and really fucking temperamental. Rhys has to walk off several times to get himself together.

“There he is.” I whisper and the guys’ eyes snap to the blue four door that Jace just got into. Each one pissed and ready for blood.

“Let him move. Once he gets to a clearing, take him.” Pops says with authority. After Jace gets in his car, he turns off the driveway. The guys hop on their bikes and I climb in the cage. We take off, but the bikes stay far enough back because of the roar and we don’t need him seeing us quite yet.

My body is pulsating and my good hand is fisted so tight I’m sure my knuckles are white. I want this fucker. Now. No one messes with Ravage and no one fucking messes with my girl.

Pops gives the go ahead signal. “Go!” I bark at Tug, who pulls ahead gunning for the car. We’re lucky the fucker took the back roads, clean up should go pretty easy.

Tug moves the cage swiftly, pulling up alongside of the car. Jace looks over and I wave my gun saying hello. His eyes widen and he attempts to pull ahead of us. Tug is smarter though and maneuvers the cage close enough not to hit, but instead Jace veers off the road, the dirt of the ditch stopping his car.

Tug stops and I jump out quickly running to Jace’s door and yank it open. His body is hunched over the steering wheel and his moans do nothing to stop my anger. This fucker will pay for putting his hands on Angel. “Get out!” I bark, yanking his shirt and pulling him out of the car. My brothers park their bikes and join me on the side of the road.

“Need to move him into the woods for a few.” Dagger says. “And make it quick. It’s quiet but not for long.” His words piss me off. I’d love nothing more than to take my time ripping this asshole to shreds.

“Get up!” I kick him with my boot and he grunts, but doesn’t get up. I nod to Rhys and Dagger to pick the asshole up by his arms and move him further into the darkness. I punch him hard sending his head flying to the side. I hear a faint laugh coming from Jace’s lips. “What the fuck are you laughing about?” I punch again his head snapping back.

“You’re a stupid bunch of fucking idiots.” He says spitting blood out of his mouth. Dagger and Rhys pull on his arms tight, almost yanking them out of the socket.

“What the fuck did you just say?” I lift my leg kicking him hard in the ribs.

“Paine was right. You all are a bunch of fucking sheep, following each other around. Where do you think he is right now? Burning down your clubhouse or fucking your girls?” He laughs. This time I don’t stop each punch as I feel his bones break under my knuckles.

“Stop!” Pops barks and it takes every ounce of willpower to do so. “How the fuck do you know Paine?”

“He’s going to destroy every single one of you assholes. So, go ahead and kill me, I don’t fucking care. I did my part.”

My body shudders and my breathing is rapid. I pull away from them and grab my phone dialing Angel.

On the second ring, my mind believes the worst and I yell for her to pick up the damn phone. On the fourth ring, she finally does. “G.T.?” her voice is soft.

“Baby. Are you girls okay? What’s going on there?”

“We’re fine. Just fell asleep. Are you okay?” Her voice picks up as if the fog from sleep lifted.

“Good. I’ll be back in about an hour. Alright?”

“Alright. Love you.” She says.

“Love you too. Go to sleep Angel.” She hangs up the phone quickly and my breath catches imagining something happening to her. I pull the phone away from my ear and quickly dial Buzz.

“Bolt that fucking door. You and Breaker inside with the girls keep them in the same room. No one leaves. Got it?”

“Got it.”

Jace is hanging from Dagger and Rhys. I want to kill him. End this. But now that he knows Paine, Pops will not allow it. We’ll need to find out what the fucking connection is. Shit.

I look at Pops. “Son, he’s gotta come with us.” He digs in his pocket grabbing his phone. “Gotta call the clubhouse see if what this asshole said is right?” He walks off.

Becs steps forward. “You wanna do this or you want me?” I simply nod at him. “Tug, get the tape. Dagger and Rhys, make sure he doesn’t move, doesn’t talk. Search him and the car, then light the car up.”

I nod standing there. None of this is turning out like I fucking wanted. Pops comes up. “You tell the girls nothing. We’ll take him to the old warehouse and see what we can get out of him.” He sighs. “I know you want to end him. You will when the timing is right.” I nod, knowing the brothers wouldn’t take that pleasure away from me. “Clubhouse is fine. Brothers from Clayton are there and have everything under control. Everyone is on guard and nothing out of the ordinary. He’s feeding us a line of shit. But the fact he even knows about Paine says something and we need to figure it out.”

“He has to stay away from Angel.” The words escape my mouth without thinking, caught up in my worry.

“You think we’d let that fucker anywhere near the compound?”

“Nah. I know.” He lifts his chin and moves to the guys.

The ride back with the fucker in the back of the cage is daunting. Tug and I do not speak. The fact that we are driving this asshole back to Angel’s apartment is not lost to me, but he will be leaving as soon as they drop, me, Cruz and Becs off.

As I walk into the apartment, Angel gasps and runs into my body. I catch her and squeeze her tight. She begins patting my body frantically and under other circumstances, I’d have some smart comment, but now is not the time. “Are you okay?” She says breathlessly.

“Yeah babe. I’m good. Have a seat we gotta talk.” She moves away sitting next to Princess on the couch, Bella next to her. “Breaker you need to ride with Tug.” He nods and heads off. “Buzz you’re with us, but we’re all riding home together.” He crosses his arms over his chest.

“What’s going on, G.T.?” Princess asks grabbing Angel’s hand. I kneel down in front of Angel and look her in her lost eyes. “

“Club business. You done packing?”

“Yeah. Pretty much everything but a few things that mean nothing. Buzz loaded the car.”

I pat her leg. “Alright. We gotta get home now.”

“Okay.” She whispers.