Page 28 of Living Without

She shook her head and kept shaking it.

No, no, no, no. She wouldn’t. She couldn’t. “Shh,” I demanded. “You listen to me, Kelsey Rye. Do not do anything stupid, please. I’m begging you. Hold on with me for a little while longer… If they don’t come, we fight together. We try our best to get out of here, and if it fails… if we don’t make it, we gotogether. Do you understand me?Together, Kelsey. You are not alone.”

She would not die alone. She’d never feel alone again.

It was her main fear. Despite her isolation, she hated being alone, and when the other women came through that door, they never wanted anything to do with her. Afraid they’d be the next Kelsey and be kept for the men’s plaything.

I wouldn’t let her be alone again.

We had to stick together in every way.

If we didn’t get out of there soon, if my family didn’t find me, then we’d fight… We’d fight until they took our lives.

* * * *

SAXON

The following day

My head thumped. My eyes felt like they had dirt in them, and my body was starting to fail me. I hadn’t slept in forty-eight hours. Hell, it was probably more than that actually, but the previous day was spent organising shit for our American visitor, and then with the fires at the strip clubs, everyone was running low on everything.

So as I stood in the baggage claim area, leaning my head back against the pole with my eyes closed, I also tried to tune out the two idiots next to me. Dallas and Melissa.

“What do you mean I wouldn’t understand?” Melissa snapped.

“You’re a woman. You don’t get men’s business.”

“Riding a Harley is men’s business? You’re a dickwad. You know that, right? All I asked is why you enjoy riding so much. You could have just answered normally instead of saying, ‘Women don’t get men’s business.’ God, have you even got laid lately with that attitude?”

“Yes.”

Melissa grunted. “Yeah, I’m sure you have.” A pause—Dallas probably raised a brow at her. She growled. “Do you even know how to have a conversation with the opposite sex?”

“Don’t need to.”

“You don’t need to? What about when you’re with a woman? Do you talk to them, treat them nice, or do you give off this I-don’t-give-a-fuck attitude?”

“All they want is my cock. They don’t care if I talk or not.”

“Oh. My. God. What about when you want to settle down with one woman, have kids? Would you really treat your woman like this? Like, women are lower than me?” I snorted when her voice dipped low to take on Dallas’s. “They cry, they bleed out of their vaginas, which makes them weak. They don’t get what men want.”

“Simple, I’ll never settle down.”

She let out a frustrated hiss. “I really want to beat you upside the head right now.”

“Why?” Dallas asked, the confusion clear in his voice.

“Why? Why? You annoy the fuck out of me.Womenare not weaker thanmen.”

Dallas grunted. “If you say so.”

“You stupid, arrogant mother… Holy crap, he is way better in person than the photo Mason sent me.”

Opening my eyes, I searched to where Melissa was looking and landed on a dude who was huge. His bulk told me he worked out. His loose tee told me he wasn’t one to flaunt that shit, but women still took notice like Melissa was.

As he strode towards us, he sent a chin lift to acknowledge he knew we were the ones to meet up with him. Instead of hanging onto his bag, he flung it over his shoulder so he could grip his long dark hair in both hands and tie it up in a bun. Glancing out the corner of my eyes, I noticed Dallas had stepped up behind Melissa and crossed his arms over his chest. A sure sign of claimin’ a woman. If I was in the right mood, I would have smiled. I didn’t. Instead, I straightened and held out my hand for Gypsy.

“Vicious,” I offered. He took it and shook my hand.

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