Page 12 of Sawyer

Wasn’t it two hours ago that I swore I’d never go back there? Yes, it was.

Sawyer

“This place?” Rumor leans over the steering wheel of his black Cadillac Escalade. His sunglasses are perched on his nose, and his lips are pursed as he leers at the bouncer standing at the door to Haven.

“Yeah.” He didn’t even give me a moment to go home and prepare. The only mental preparation I got was the twenty-minute drive into the slums. “Fuck, that’s Roger.” I point at the large man standing at the door. “He has a twin, also named Roger, who watches the backdoor.”

Neither of them has any morals.

“Terrible names. Roger squared, both betas.” Rumor dismisses the man who once held my head under bathwater all because Tomi thought I didn’t hand over all my cash for the night. I can tell it’s him by the scar along his chin—a scar I gave him.

At the time, I wasn’t anything more than a teenager fresh out of the public school system. I didn’t have anywhere to go other than to the gamma union, and I didn’t want to do that. Naïve and proud, independent determination led me here.

“Let’s go.” Rumor gets out of the SUV and slams the door. He isn’t a gentleman and doesn’t open my door for me. He walks to the front bumper, where he stares at the door to the club.

I’m not sure what he expected this part of town to look like. Puddles line the streets, some cobblestone, and it’s a guess whether those puddles are from rain, urine, or blood—possibly all three. There isn’t much space on the street for a car to pass through, let alone park, and that’s why the SUV sits on the broken sidewalk. Above, nosy people peer down at the fancy car and the people emerging from it.

They’ll watch, that’s all. If anything goes down, they’ll back away so they won’t have to see anything. You can’t report what you didn’t see to the delta force. Down here, it’s every man for himself.

Blowing out a shaky breath, I slide out of the SUV. The worst already happened today, which was this delta discovering my darkest secret. I’m not foolish enough to think he won’t use it against me, and curiosity burns through me at what will happen with that talk.

For now, I’ll lean on him and his authority to get through this.

The door clicks shut, and I step up to Rumor. Together, we cross to the other side of the road, where Roger stands. His black tank stretches across his broad chest, tears threatening to end the scrap of fabric for good.

“Hey, Lotus. I thought that was you.” A white, toothy smile stretches across Roger’s face. “Look at you, dressed all fancy-like. Lookin’ like an uptown girl.” His chuckle is a warning. He gave the same one before he tried to drown me.

He looks like a big ole teddy bear, but he’s more like a polar bear in disguise, ready to rip you to shreds.

Rumor glances back at me, no doubt curious about the name I gave myself all those years ago. A small smile tugs at the corners of his lips, one I promptly ignore.

“Roger,” I say, using my very best professional voice, which I reserve for live broadcasts and critical headlines. “We’re here to—”

He cuts me off almost immediately. “I don’t think so, Lotus.” Just like that, everything about the big guy changes. His arms drop, and his muscles tense. His dark features tighten, and his eyes turn cold and assessing. They roam over my body, and it’s the same look he wore the last time he hurt me—the time I swore it would be the last.

And it was.

“Roger, is it?” Rumor steps up to the beta as he slowly removes his sunglasses and tucks them into his T-shirt.

Deltas are a strange breed—similar to an alpha in size, but not quite as large—yet it’s their insanity that makes up for any lack of strength there is between the designations.

They also hide their crazy very well, until it’s too late.

Although Roger is a beta and bigger than Rumor, there is no guess who would win in a fight.

Rumor.

Roger picks up on this almost immediately, yet he doesn’t back down, even though he should. Rumor wouldn’t just destroy him, he would kill him and have the authority not to give a reason.

Am I basing all of that on just what I have heard about deltas? Yes, I am.

As I step close to the two men, however, tension thickening in the air, I don’t fear Rumor, not even when he smiles at Roger with malice.

“What’s it to you?” the bouncer asks, choosing a thug response.

“Lotus and I will walk through that door and talk to your boss.” Rumor’s arms rest at his sides, and his body relaxes while Roger cracks his knuckles.

To an outside observer, they’d think Roger was the bigger threat here. Nerves flutter in my stomach. I’m not a virgin regarding bar fights or club fights, but that doesn’t mean I relish them. They terrify me every single time. The men who come in here aren’t the best Terra has to offer.

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