Page 75 of Injustice and Absolution

Determined to drag her out of there and show her thatIknow what’s good for her. Not that motherfucker.

“Woah, woah,” Draven takes hold of me, stopping my progress and turning me back toward my truck.

I lock eyes with him then Saxon. My chest heaves with unhinged hostility as they both look at me like I’m losing it.

And I fucking am.

“Do not go in there. You heard what she said, okay? She’s fine.”

“Yes,” I answer him. “I heard what she said, but she lied. The look in her eyes when that fucker came outside. She was scared of him.”

Draven sighs, offering me a tight half-smile. He thinks I’m acting irrational because of the feelings I’m harboring.

Saxon looks back and forth between the two of us, eyebrows furrowed like he’s having a hard time keeping up.

He doesn’t know my history with Delilah.

I’m going to need to tell him.

I’m going to need to tell everyone everything if I want their help with this. It’s not enough for me to order them to do so because I’m their leader.

I could do that easily.

But I need them to understand that the fear I just saw in her eyes was the same fear I saw the day she told me about her father.

It was the same anxiety I saw in them the day I carried her out of that trailer.

The same dread I saw in them every time a man she didn’t know entered the room after coming to live with us at the clubhouse.

And I need to tell them the truth, for Delilah. Because I owe her my honesty more than anything else. My lying and making excuses to push her away brought us here.

She may not be in immediate danger now, and I hope to God it stays that way until I can get her out of here. But I now know, without a shadow of a doubt, that Drew isn’t the man she thinks he is.

She can hate me for what I did to her, for how horribly I treated her, all she wants. I’ll gladly accept her contempt and bear the punishment for each and every one of my sins until the end of my days.

But I will figure out a way to make her see the truth about him, whether she wants to or not. I won’t allow her to subject herself to another man who will only bring her harm.

Like you did. You think you’re her savior? You’re the problem. The whole fucking reason she got caught in this prick’s net.

I seethe at my conscience as my heart continues to pound wildly in my chest.

All the while knowing truer words have never been spoken.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

DELILAH

My heart thumps at the same pace of a jackhammer as I walk back into the club. I can feel Drew’s presence behind me, but I don’t turn around. I can’t meet his stare until I can get control over my breathing.

The look on his face when he saw Royce with his hands on me was terrifying. The dangerous slant of his eyes and threatening curl of his lips was the same as the other night, when he fucked me on the stage after closing.

I haven’t even had a moment to process the concern cemented in Royce’s expression, let alone Drew’s disapproving appraisal when he speaks.

“Delilah, can I see you in my office, please?”

I press my palm to my stomach and take a deep breath, trying to stifle my rapidly beating heart rate. But his voice triggers my fear receptors, and I know it’s no use.

His tone is even, but his stare holds me captive as the lump in my throat threatens to choke me.

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