Page 94 of Broken

Sumner grabs Shane and pulls him further away from us. He doesn’t know much about our ties to the MC, except Phoenix is related to someone there. He’s a smart man. He senses the tension and doesn’t want Shane to put his enormous foot in his mouth.

“What are you doing here?” Phoenix asks.

Nero would lose his shit if anyone else spoke to him in that tone. “We need to talk.”

Fortunately, it isn’t me he’s talking to. He’s talking to his brother, but it doesn’t settle my unease.

“You’ve been avoiding my calls.”

Phoenix bites down on his viper bites. It’s a sign he is about to say something he shouldn’t. He turns to me, feeling my eyes on him. I’ll back him up if he needs me.

“I’ve let it slide, but I’m done waiting.”

The door opens behind them and Calli steps in. She stops short when she sees the two bikers facing off with us. Or at least that is how it looks. Phoenix sees her and his eyes widen. A quiet ‘fuck’ from behind us means the others have seen her.

Nashville turns and eyes Calli, a smirk tilting his lip.

No fucking way.

“Okay,” Phoenix tells his brother. “We can take this someplace else.”

Shit. I didn’t want him to be forced into this, but I damn sure appreciate it. Calli is watching everyone with a frown on her face. Her eyes come to me, and I nod a silent reassurance that all is okay. Her lips twist, but she nods back.

“Hey pretty lady, you here to get a tattoo.”

I take a step forward at Nashville’s comment. Phoenix grabs my arm and holds me back. Nero watches his brother while giving a command to Nashville.

“Wait outside.”

Nashville is a flirt and means nothing by it, but Nero saw how we all reacted to his comment. There was even a shift from Sumner and Shane. Calli is a friend to them all. At his President’s order, he nods to us and leaves.

Calli takes a step back. My jaw flexes. I don’t like her being nervous. Nero turns back and I’m stunned to see his apologetic expression.

“Let’s go,” Phoenix says to his brother.

Phoenix heads for the door which Nashville propped open, not wanting to be out of reach if his President needs him. It’s insulting and pisses me off more than I already am.

Nero looks at me. “We’ll talk,” he says in a low voice.

My nod is terse. When he leaves, it feels like the oxygen in the room starts to flow again.

“What the fuck?”

“Leave it,” Sumner says in response to Shane’s comment. “Hey Calli,” he calls out and walks over to her. He sends a questioning look at me as he passes, but doesn’t stop.

He gives her a quick hug that has my fists clenching. It means nothing. The smile she gives him sets off an angry buzzing in my head. Like a swarm of bees.

“What are you doing here?” he asks. “Not that isn’t a treat to see ya.”

“I have an appointment?” she says, sounding unsure of it, like it’s a question.

“You do? You’re getting a tattoo?” Sumner looks happy to hear it.

“You said you were never gonna get one,” Shane pipes up, coming over to her. She also gives him a hug. “Why’d you change your mind?”

Sumner looks from her to me, and the grin that stretches across his mouth is borderline evil.

“What are you gonna get?” Shane asks her.

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