Page 152 of Psycho

I narrowed my eyes on him. “What?”

“I’m sorry, brother. But I can’t let you kill three high school students. There would be an investigation, and it would no doubt lead to the club.”

I didn’t show any reaction to his words, even if everything in me wanted to lose control.

“Would you let them live if it wasEmmythey took?”

Rage entered his eyes, and his grip on my shoulder tightened. “Emmy is different, and you know it. She’s my—”

“Lainey is mine!” I roared out.

I wasn’t a man who made many mistakes in his life, but I realized now, I had made a big one.

I left Lainey alone instead of claiming her as mine.

I waited too fucking long, and now all of these fuckers thought they could just take her from me?

Dominic didn’t react to my outburst, but I noticed Kai stepping in closer to his dad.

Dominic held out his hand for his son to stop.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to imply Lainey is less important. I didn’t know it had gotten that serious with the girl.”

Which meant he had known I’d taken Lainey when I had done it. He had left it alone.

I turned and took in each of the boys' faces. One of them had wet their pants.

“Would you kill them if they took Emmy?” I asked, feeling calmer than I did moments before.

“Yes,” Dominic answered without hesitation.

The boys shook.

“Micah, you just can’t kill them when they’re still in California… and in school.”

I looked at him. He shot me one back filled with meaning.

“Fine,” I said, pulling out the blade I had tucked inside my boots.

They cried when the silver of the blade caught onto the reflection of the lights nearby.

“Fuck, man. We’re sorry. We’re so fucking sorry. We won’t ever go near Lainey—”

The boy gasped for breath when I pulled my foot back and kicked his chest.

His two friends tried to help him up. “Don’t you ever utter her name, you hear me? You don’t even fucking deserve to think it, let alone say it out loud to me.”

The boy frantically nodded.

“I’ll let you live,” I said, bringing the blade up to my lips and tasting the silver. So much blood of men I’d killed and tortured had touched this blade.

It was also the very one I used to tear apart the fabric of the shirt Lainey wore—twice now. It seemed fitting that I used it for what I was about to do.

I nodded to the three of the club brothers around.

“Hold ’em down.”

Their cries grew louder.

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