Page 110 of 12 Months of Mayhem

“Search his vehicle before you let him leave,” the cop next to me ordered. He grabbed my arm, pulling me away, but I dug my feet in, my pulse racing and my mind screaming at me to do something. Anything.

I couldn’t leave like this.

I wouldn’t be able to warn him.

I won’t be able to protect him.

He couldn’t go back to the club’s camp.

Dime would be waiting for him.

Swallowing hard, I looked up at the cop holding me. “Can I just grab my phone out of his truck? I’m gonna need it to call my dad.”

He hesitated but nodded, giving me a gentle shove toward the vehicle. “Hurry up.”

I walked over, unable to look at Mason, as I pulled the truck door open and reached a shaky hand into my bag. My chest tightened as I slipped the bag of weed out and carefully eased it under the driver’s seat before crawling out again.

I wanted to be sick.

To throw up and tell Mason I was sorry.

Surely, he’d just do a few hours in lock up, and by then, I could have been waiting to tell him why I did it. He’d understand. He would know it was for his protection.

Dragging my feet, I walked over to the patrol car, the officer holding the rear door open for me. The other cops were already on Mason’s truck, digging around as he watched on.

“Got something!” one called, just as the car door was slammed in my face.

Mason’s head snapped toward me, his eyes wide in disbelief as they descended on him, the bag of weed in hand.

Tears dripped down onto my cheeks as I buried my face in my hands, unable to watch them cuff him and haul him away.

All I could do was repeat to myself internally…

“I am doing the right thing.”

“This is keeping him alive.”

“He will understand.”

And hopefully, I’d just protected everything we’d built together.

Not destroyed it.

“Because I saw the man who killed your father.”

The look on Mason’s face was something I couldn’t explain. All I knew was that I instantly wanted to take it back. I wanted to erase that pain in his eyes.

But I couldn’t.

There was no going back now.

It was all coming out…

No more secrets.

No more lies.

“And before he pulled the trigger, I heard him say he was coming after you next.”