Page 52 of Savage King

“You talk to the other girls about where those three might be?”

Bonnie nodded, her blonde hair swishing, her eyes wide and pleading. “Janine, Maisey, and Charlene have been spending a lot of time together outside of the house, so the other girls haven’t heard or seen anything other than what they see and hear at work.”

“None of them mentioned the girls going to this casting thing? Where it is, who it’s with, what it’s for?”

“Only that they were all going for separate parts and it was a chance of a lifetime.”

“That could be anything in this town.”

“It isn’t like them to miss work and not call. I think something’s happened to them.”

“Fuck!” Odin barked, planting his hands on his hips, his expression fierce.

Skathi stood, her heart telling her to go to him, offer him comfort. But the hard look he sent her made her jerk to a stop. Ice formed in her veins.

Giving her a nearly imperceptible head shake, Odin made her heart drop into her stomach. He didn’t want her comfort. Didn’t want her—not in the moment. Not when he needed to be the tough MC leader. In that moment, he wasn’t Stellan Vikander, the man who made love to her, held her, teased her. He was Odin, the All Father, MC President.

A stranger.

“Church!” he bellowed, his gaze snapping to Fang.

“Trucker and Hound are out, Prez,” one of the prospects called from the bar, his expression concerned and a little unsure.

“You know where they fuck they are, Davey?”

The prospect at the bar—Davey—shook his head.

Odin turned to Fang and pointed at him with a commanding finger, his body vibrating with fury and tension.

What the hells was going on?

“Call Trucker and Hound, tell them to get their asses back here—I don’t care who the hell they’re fucking or what they’re doing, they need to get here now.”

“Trouble and Grimm?” Fang asked, shooting to his feet, his cell in his hand, his thumb already moving to dial.

“I’ll get ‘em. Trouble is on an errand for me and Grimm is all tangled up in shit with SP, it’ll take him a minute to get here.”

Pushing Bonnie aside and striding up to Skathi until there was only a foot between them, Odin took her face in his hands and held her in place, brushing a consolation kiss over her forehead.

“Sorry, baby, shit’s come up and I can’t take care of you the way I really want to right now. Raincheck?”

“Sure, but what’s—”

“Club business, Goddess,” he cut her off, his expression closing down so fast, Skathi’s head spun.

Okay…I guess that means it’s none of my business.Big surprise, he was cutting her out, leaving her hanging on the outside, waiting for something to come along a severe their connection completely. It was only a matter of time.

Hurt but refusing to show him how his words and lack of trust cut through her, she forced a smile.

“I’ll take Tessa and get out of your hair,” she offered, turning to throw a meaningful look at her friend who’d come to stand just beside her, her expression pinched and her eyes wary. Tessa could tell something was up, and she was there, having Skathi’s back as always.

Odin growled deep, his eyes flashing with predatory command. “No, you two stay. Grab a drink, chill out. This’ll take an hour or so, but after that we can get back to our evening.”

Swallowing the disappointment and the anger at his belief that she would just sit around, twiddling her thumbs after he pretty much told her she wasn’t good enough for a simple explanation, she patted him on the chest and took a step back.

“No. We’ll head out. Raincheck, right? I don’t want to distract you from club business. I know this is important to you.”

He gripped her hips and tried to pull her back to him. She dug in her heels.

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