Page 76 of Raze

“Griller, keep your eyes open.” I tap the side of his face when I notice them starting to close.

Ruckus is pacing the floor furiously, not knowing what to do.

“Griller, you need to tell her,” I whisper, realizing that he hasn’t got much time left.

“Here, Alicia, take my place, I keep my hands supporting his head as I slide my knees out from under him and let her take over.

“Griller, you can’t give up.” She wipes away tears of her own, as his hand lifts up to touch her face but doesn’t quite make it.

“Here.” She grabs his hand and holds it to her cheek. “I’m right here. You just have to stay with me.” She manages a brave smile through her tears and it breaks my heart.

He goes to say something but all that comes out is more blood, this time it’s much darker and thicker, and when his one eye looks to me helplessly I understand what he wants and nod my head.

“He loves you, Alicia.” I place my hand over the one she has resting on his shoulder. “He has done since the day he first saw you and he was gonna tell you that later on the beach.” I force the words out through my tears and try not to break.

“What? Griller, you never said that.” She looks down at him and when she kisses the inside of his palm and he smiles I feel my heart split open.

“He wasn’t brave enough too.” I sob, wondering how a man who would take bullets to protect someone he barely knows could be too scared to admit his feelings.

“I don’t want you to die.” She shakes her head. “You can’t fucking die.”

I slide my hand up to her shoulder as she weeps to let her know I’m here for her.

“No!” Tears drip from her face onto his and when I look down his eye is still open, but the smile on his face is gone.

Ipractically skid through the gates of the club with the rest of the brothers behind me and adrenaline pumping the blood through my veins. I saw how mad Saul was when he left the fundraiser, so I sent Vike and Ruckus after him. I don’t know what's gone down since then, but when Vike called me from the yard to say there were bikes parked there that he didn’t recognize, all I could hear were screams and gunshots. I’ve focused the whole ride back here on the fact those screams sounded like they were coming from Peyton.

I practically throw my bike on the ground when I see the three unknown bikes and I rush into the clubhouse. My body freezes in the doorway when I see what’s in front of me.

“What happened?” I ask, seeing Saul leaning over his sister and comforting her as she holds Griller’s head on her lap.

“He’s dead.” She breaks out in more tears.

“And Saul’s taken a nasty hit, he’s gonna need to see a real doctor,” Vike explains, though right now Saul seems more concerned with holding his sister.

“Peyton.” I see my girl looking shaken up to hell, covered in blood but in one piece and I thank the heavens as I move toward her and wrap my arms around her real tight.

“You okay?” I inhale her hair and hold her for a few seconds, before pulling back and assessing her for any damage.

“I’m fine,” she manages through shaky lips.

“What happened?” I look over to Ruckus who still looks stunned and when he moves his eyes toward Peyton I can see there's something that needs to be said. Something I ain’t gonna like.

“This is all her fault.” A female voice comes from behind me and Trinity stares at her, looking smug despite all the sadness in the room.

“The Reapers came to get her because she belongs to them.” I go to laugh at her latest attempt to cause drama but then I notice how Peyton closes her eyes and takes a long deep breath, I get a sick feeling that it might be true.

“Tell me she’s makin’ that up.” I grip the top of my girl’s arms so tight I must be hurtin’ her.

“Peyton. Tell me that ain’t fuckin’ true.” I keep my eyes fixed on her, waiting for her to tell me that this bitch is lying.

“I don’t belong to them. I belong to you.” She shakes her head, but before the relief settles I hear Ruckus speak up.

“Her brother’s one of ‘em. I let him go.”

“You let him what?” Dev steps past me and gets in Ruckus’s face. Up till now, I’d forgotten that everyone is behind me. So much has happened in such a small amount of time it’s hard to keep up with anything.

“I didn’t know what to do.” Ruckus shakes his head. “She was begging me not to kill him and I know how much you think of her. You?—”

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