Page 86 of Love is Blind

“I’m sorry to interrupt.”

Birdie’s eyebrows nearly shoot to her hairline at the sound of Bianca’s voice.

“Oh, good God, you again?”

Instead of snatching her hand away from me like I expect her to, Birdie throws her leg over the bike and plants her boots on the ground.

“You know I’m a nice person, and I try to give people the benefit of the doubt—”

I cut her off, giving her hand another squeeze.

“Birdie—”

“No, you’re done doing this shit alone,” she snaps. Turning, but not meeting Bianca’s gaze, she releases my hand. “Can’t you just leave him be and let him grieve in peace?”

“Birdie, you got it wrong,” Shady interferes.

Anger slices through me and my control slips. He does not get to fucking speak. I lunge for him, grabbing him by his kutte.

“Ghost! Stop!” Bianca shouts, but I tune her out and slam him against the brick wall of the clubhouse.

“I told you to let it go,” I sneer.

In the back of my head I don’t believe for a second Bianca being here has anything to do with him digging into King’s past. He was holding her hand, looking at her in a way a man looks at a woman when he thinks she’s the missing piece.

The way I look at Birdie.

Engines blare and the rest of the of the club rolls through the gates. In ten seconds one of them is going to pull me off of him and my chance to get my shot in will be gone. My first rears back, but before it can connect with Shady’s face, Biana shouts.

“It’s your dad!”

My fist stills but my other hand tightens around the leather.

“What about his dad?” Birdie shouts.

“I found him unresponsive at the house,” she replies. “I called 9-1-1 and as soon as the ambulance took him away, I came here to tell you.”

Birdie says something to her, but I can’t make it out. Everything is muffled, even Mav’s voice as he calls out to me. Adrenaline and rage pulse through my veins as my gaze fixes on Shady. The static in my ears clear just in time to hear him say, “One shot. Make it count.”

Then my fist collides with his jaw.

~*~

My father diedbefore I got to the hospital—they said it was a heart attack. I sat with him until the funeral director picked up his body, then I left the hospital with Birdie. I didn’t feel his death.

Not like a son should feel the loss of his father, but then again, we didn’t have that kind of relationship.

And now there’s no chance to fix that.

I lift my head and watch as Maverick makes the sign of the cross. He lays a hand on my father’s coffin then turns and makes his way toward me.

“You good?” he asks, glancing at my bruised knuckles.

When I got back from the hospital that night, Maverick was waiting for me in the chapel. He asked what had happened between me and his brother and when I told him he didn’t look too surprised. Shady had a penchant taste for leftovers. Then Maverick shared that his brother had taken off. He didn’t know where he went or when he would be back, just that he was gone.

I didn’t give a fuck.

He could run, but he couldn’t hide. Hand to God it wasn’t about Bianca—it was about respect. About loyalty and honor. The fucking patch on our backs and the oath we took. Shady didn’t have any regard for brotherhood and its high time someone teaches him a lesson.

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