Page 8 of Unmasked Anarchy
And yet, he’s here.
Why?
“Why did you come back?”
“Curiosity, a need to protect, I don’t honestly know.”
Knowing he even feels the slightest need to protect me warms something in my heart.A feeling I haven’t felt in a very long time.Guilt quickly follows.The horrible truth is that Iaman old lady, which means even talking to Kael is a problem that could explode, costing us both our lives.
He knows that, though.
He studies my face with some hesitation, as if he isn’t quite sure just how loyal I am.I stare at his hands, his tattooed knuckles and the rings on his fingers.
He’s beautiful.Mysteriously so.
"Who do you think did it?"he asks, simply."You said you didn't see a face.But you've got to have a guess.Old ladies know far more about club business than we think they do.”
I swallow, hesitating.Kael isn't like Gage.He will see through my lies because he is studying me in a way Gage never has.His eyes are sharp, piercing, as if they can unravel every secret I’ve ever tried to hide.There’s an intensity in his gaze, a quiet understanding that makes me feel exposed, vulnerable.He is looking at me with a depth that tells me he can see straight into my soul, reading the unspoken fears and doubts that linger there.
The problem is, I don’t think it’s a wise idea to give him club business.The Fallen Sons MC operates in shadows, their dealings wrapped in layers of secrecy and loyalty.Sharing anything with Kael feels like stepping into dangerous territory, a risk that could unravel everything.Yet, there’s something about him that draws me in, a magnetic pull that makes me want to trust him despite the risks.But trust is a luxury I can’t afford, not when the stakes are this high.
"I don’t have a guess," I say, because it’s all I am willing to give right now."It was a job.Nothing personal.The kind of thing you send when you want to send a message and don’t care who dies to do it.”
He grunts."What’s your club goin’ to do about it?"
I snort.
A joke, maybe.Or maybe he knows, even before I do, that Gage isn’t going to move heaven and earth for a wife who crawled her way back to the road with her insides hanging out.The club will be far more focused on who did it and how to stop them than they will about any kind of revenge for me.
"Gage isn’t worried, not about me, anyway,” I force out, crossing my hands over my middle."He isn’t wired that way.He thinks it’s noise, someone trying to rattle the cage—his focus will be on stopping that and nothing more."
Kael rubs his jaw, and I notice old bruises on his knuckles.Another day as a biker, I suppose."That why you looked so spooked when he walked in?You think it was him?"
My chest tightens, but the question is honest, not cruel.For a second, I wish I was the sort of woman who could just lie to both men, keep each one in the dark, stay safe forever.But I’m not.The weight of the truth presses down on me, a constant reminder of the tangled web I’m caught in.I’ve never been good at deception, never mastered the art of weaving stories to protect myself.
"No.If he wanted me dead, he'd do it himself."
The room is thin with silence.Kael leans back, his face twisting with something I can’t read, maybe disgust, maybe pity.
"So, this ain’t about you at all," he says after a minute."You’re just collateral."
I want to laugh.Of course I am.Aren’t we all?
I don’t respond.
"Maybe you don’t know the full story, Sable," he says, low."Maybe you should try to remember more.You see a ring, a sleeve, gloves.You hear two voices.You get stabbed and left for dead in a place where someone would eventually find you, not a spot where no one would ever look."
His words claw their way inside.I feel my heart try to punch through my chest.I shake my head, but flashes come anyway.I clench my eyes shut, forcing them down, not wanting to remember a single moment of that horror again.
I can’t keep this conversation going.
It’s too risky.Too dangerous.
“Look, Kael—” I bite down a groan, shifting to prop myself up on my good side.“—you really shouldn’t be here.”Every hiss of pain in my gut reminds me exactly whose name is inked over Gage’s heart—claimed and branded—and what he’s capable of if he ever thinks he’s been slighted.
Kael leans closer, dropping his voice to a low rumble.“I’m not scared of your old man, darlin’, or his security outside.I came back for a reason.”Something in his face softens for a breath before hardening again.“You nearly died.You think I’m just gonna pretend I didn’t see what I saw?”
I choke on a laugh.“I think if you want to keep breathing you should piss off while you still can.”
