Page 41 of Ride Long
Gasket’s expression turned positively demonic. “Where ishe?”
“On the roof withChaser.”
“Shit.”
His expression didn’t change as much as I thought it would as he yanked me inside and closed the door behindus.
“You know, don’t you?” I asked, my heart beating at a thousand miles perhour.
He grunted as he dressed—a T-shirt he picked up off the floor and a pair of jeans—finally putting his big feet into hisboots.
“Gasket.”
He sighed sharply and looked at me. “You think you can rule Fortitude, but it isn’t for you,Sloane.”
“You don’t know that. It’s been a long time since we knew one another. I’m not the child you helped sneak out of the compoundanymore.”
“No, you’re not. But if you think you can get away with staging a coup without your father knowing it’s coming, you’re in for a rude awakening. My guess is he’ll be waiting for you long before you work up the nerve tostrike.”
I slammed my palm down on his shoulder, forcing him to face me. “Heknows?”
“He suspects, which for you is not a good fucking thing right now. Those suspicions could turn into something else veryeasily.”
Why hadn’t they, then? My mind worked overtime, dwelling on Harley up on the roof and what Marini did or did not know. If he suspected, then why wasn’t he acting? Suspicions were usually enough for him to pull the trigger. It could only mean onething.
“He’s got something planned for me,” I said, my eyes widening. This was the false sense of security I’d feared all along. I thought I was winning, but in reality, I was the one beingmanipulated.
“This is not the time, Sloane.” Gasket moved aroundme.
“It neveris!”
“Stay here,” he ordered. “We’ll talk about this anothertime.”
“Gasket.”
He shook his head. “I’m not askin’,girl.”
I took a step toward the door, but his glare was enough to put me in place. He’d never looked at me like that before—like he wanted to show me what real discipline was. I wasn’t his daughter, but he sure as hell thought Iwas.
Gritting my teeth, I stayed put. With one last warning glare, Gasket slammed the door closed and left me alone in the safety of hisroom.
I didn’t want a bunch of men running off to my rescue, but here they were doing justthat.
