Page 41 of Bear

“What happened?”

“I dumped his body in the Appalachians and made sure no one would ever find him again. He was alone when I caught up to him. Police didn’t even so much as look in my direction. But it ate me up all the same.”

Jupiter exhales and her shoulders sag. She leans against my chest. “How did you get past it?”

A cold laugh slips free of me. “I joined the Navy SEALs.”

“Really?”

“Yep. The Taliban were threatening our safety—mine, Charlotte’s, America’s. I finally had an enemy to funnel my rage toward, but it didn’t make a lick of difference. I still saw his face with every shot I fired from my rifle. I saw my father reflected back at me every time I looked in the mirror, and then we got hit by an IED. I got taken.”

“By the enemy?”

“Well, they sure as shit weren’t friendly.” I scoff. “It was clear they weren’t prepared for hostages. The idiots tied my hands with rope behind my back. They interrogated me, beat me, hollered the same questions at me for hours, but I don’t know what the hell they were saying. I gave them nothing and they gave me scars because of it. But it was in those moments, when they’d beat me with canes, barbed wire or knotted ropes, that I finally found a little peace for all of the shit I’d done. The absence of the rage I’d carried for years had left me numb. I didn’t care if I lived or died. It seems I haven’t cared about much since until I saw you tonight with that panic in your eyes, and I saw that cocksucker on the ground, and the blood at his temple, and I couldn’t live with the fact that you might not be able to deal with what you’d done and that you’d be consumed with this rage for the rest of your days too.”

Tears spill over her long, black lashes and roll down her cheeks. “I killed a man, Tennessee. Maybe I deserve to live with that.”

“Maybe the world is better off. I know Uprising sure is, and your brother is too.”

“My brother?”

“We know, Tink.”

“What?”

“He’s been moving drugs through the cars that come into your shop.”

“Oh my God.” She sits up and holds out her hand. “Give me your phone. I have to warn him.”

“The club already has him.”

“No. No. You have to stop them.” Jupiter shoots to her feet. “You don’t understand. Chaos will kill him. Ruin will kill him.”

“No one’s killing him. The club’s not thrilled with him, but we’re not about to kill your brother.”

“Will you take me to him?”

“No.”

“Bear,” she demands. For a moment, I’m thrown, because she never calls me by my road name.Ever. “Please? Please take me to him.”

“I can’t. Prez’s orders.”

“Oh, fuck Prez.”

“You wanna end up just like your brother? Then say that again around Chaos,” I snap and take a deep breath, remembering she’s been through a lot tonight. The Taliban really could have saved themselves the trouble and just had Jupiter torture me. “We ain’t going nowhere until I know you’re safe. So, I suggest you sit your ass down and get comfortable.”

She glares at me. “Promise me they won’t kill him.”

“They’re not gonna kill him. They’re pissed off. And I’m not a patched member of Uprising, I don’t have sway here like I did with my own charter, but I would vouch for his ass. I think Ruin and Sterling already did.”

She narrows her eyes suspiciously. “Why? Why would you do that? You hardly know him. You hardly know me.”

“Because as much as you’ve been a pain in my ass since the day we met, you’re also the one person I feel okay around.”

Her face crumples. Her anger disappears with it. She lets out a long, slow exhalation. “Me too.” The words are so quiet, I’m not sure I heard her right, but the vulnerability is back in her gaze and it’s tearing at my insides. “Are you gonna let me see my brother?”

“No, Tink. Not until Prez gives the order. Are you gonna keep giving me shit about it?”

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