Page 206 of His Virgin Romance Series

“Is there?” Devon asked. “Like what?”

“Hitting a powerful member of the group.”

“You’re assuming Walter Black is powerful…”

“I know that the persona that he’s been cultivating is meant to represent power,” I said. “Maybe he himself is only a pawn, but you hit him, you send a message to the entire group.”

“What makes you think that Godwin won’t retaliate?”

“Oh, he definitely will… if he cares enough about his men and his reputation,” I said. “But he won’t retaliate with open battle.”

“How can you be sure?” Devon asked.

“Because I know the man,” I said. “I heard my father talk about him for years and years. Godwin doesn’t like taking heavy losses. He only engages in a fight when he knows he can win. The turf war was a shock to him. He was sure he would be the victor, and when he lost his son, his business, and half his men, it soured him. He’ll be more calculating this time. He’ll work in the shadows to achieve what he wants rather than risk another loss. Which is why he sent in this Walter Black in the first place. Why do you think I haven’t acted before now? It’s because that is exactly what Godwin wants me to do. I’ll be damned if I play into his hands.”

“Of course not because this whole fucking this is just about your ego and his, right?” Devon asked, and his tone was harsh and angry.

I knew the anger was misplaced, but I decided to be the bigger man for Abby’s sake. “I’m not going to deny that I have ulterior motives here,” I said. “But that’s not my only concern.”

“Oh no?” Devon asked. “And what is your other concern?”

I pursed my lips together and stayed silent. Devon was really starting to piss me off now, and I knew the only way I was going to prevent myself from knocking his lights out was to try and remain separate from the fight he was obviously angling for.

“You want to know what I think?” Devon asked when I didn’t say anything.

Bones sat up a little. “Come on, man,” he said, lowering his voice a little. “Shut this down; what’s the point in fighting amongst ourselves?”

Devon completely ignored him and continued, “I think that you want to prolong this wait. I think you don’t want to go looking for Walter Black because then this whole stakeout thing we’ve got going here would be over.”

“Why would I want to prolong it?” I demanded.

“Because you want to keep my sister here,” Devon said without missing a beat.

I felt my eyes bulge and the vein in my forehead pop with anger. I resisted the urge to ball my hands into fists. I had to resist the need to rise to his bait. I didn’t want to fight Devon because as much as I hated to admit it, Bones was right. Fighting amongst ourselves wouldn’t solve anything.

“That is—”

I was cut off by the sound of a door. A few seconds later, I heard Abby come down the stairs. After last night, we had gone into our separate rooms, and I’d spent the whole night trying to figure out what she was doing in her room. The guys had returned around four in the morning, and everyone had slept in. When I’d gone to the kitchen this morning, I noticed that Abby had come down for her breakfast, but I had probably just missed her.

This was the first time we were coming face to face since we’d slept together, and I had hoped no one else would be around.

“Hi,” she said as she stepped into the living room.

“Hi, Abby,” Bones nodded, jumping at the chance to defuse the tension between Devon and me. “How was your night?”

I could barely look at her, but a part of me really, really wanted to.

“It was fine,” she replied, after a short pause that seemed to speak volumes. “How was yours?”

“Amazing,” Bones replied. “We drove twenty miles and found this great little bar… great drinks, good music, and smoking hot women.”

I glanced at Abby, and I saw her smirk at the last part. She did look a little less animated than usual, however, and I wondered if she regretted losing her virginity to me the previous night. When I turned my face away from hers, I noticed that Devon’s eyes were trained on me.

“Hey, maybe you should join us the next time,” Bones suggested.

Abby smiled distractedly. “Seriously?”

“Why not?”

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