Page 204 of Fangs
“Clare, are you okay?” I asked her.
She gave a slight nod, but her eyes were dull. I caught her hand and squeezed, and she finally seemed to focus on me. I knew she wasn’t working at the brothel anymore, so why was she still living there?
“Why don’t you move into the bunkhouse?” I asked her.
“I’m already enough of a burden,” she mumbled.
“You’re not a burden,” I said, my voice firm. “Plus, if you stayed here, Raven would be around here more.”
Sam gave me a sharp look, but I ignored him. I had a feeling I knew what arguments to use on Clarity—the same ones I knew would work on me. Sure enough, her cheeks reddened, and she averted her gaze. “I’m not asking her to stay with me.”
“I know,” I assured her. “But I doubt she’d stop coming even if you told her to. So why not move in here? You know Trey…” My voice cracked. “Trey would be so happy if you did.”
Her eyes filled with tears, but she blinked them away, chewing on her lip for a moment. “Okay.”
Sam sat up straight, and his eyes were wide when I glanced at him. “Okay?”
Clarity gave him a small smile. “Okay.”
“Let’s go pack up your stuff!” Jax leapt to his feet, beaming.
Clarity’s smile grew slightly at his excitement. “Alright, let’s do it.”
The two of them left, Jax chattering happily, and Sam turned to me as soon as the door shut behind them.
“How the hell did you do that?” he demanded. “We’ve been tryin’ to get Clarity to move in here foryears.”
I smirked. “Gotta know the right buttons to push.”
His eyes narrowed. “Youwouldknow. The two of you are both stubborn as fuck.”
I snorted, but my amusement swiftly died. “There’s somethin’ else that happened,” I said, and Sam’s face went serious at my tone. “You know how I told you I had a dream about Trey…a good dream?” He nodded. “I had another one… but it… it wasn’t actually Trey.”
“What do you mean?”
My voice grew progressively hoarser as I explained what had happened and how Trey had actually been Menace the entire time. I told him how my powers washed away his disguise and described his appearance to Sam, but he didn’t recognize him. By the time I finished explaining, his expression was furious, and I was crying.
“I wan—wanted it to be… to be him.”
“Of course you did,” he murmured, hugging me. “I would’ve, too.”
“I haven’t told Wolf anything about this,” I added. “I don’t even know if I should.”
“Me either,” he muttered, running a hand through his short hair. “I can’t believe he fuckin’ tied you up.”
“Yeah,” I agreed faintly, the hurt flooding back.
He laced his fingers with mine and squeezed. After a few seconds, I rested my head on his shoulder. As we sat in comfortable silence, it struck me that I would never be able to return to life before I had this crew—this family.
More importantly, I didn’t want to.
33
Boots on the small steps outside caught our attention. The door opened, and Sam and I glanced up just in time to see Wolf walk through the door. Before I could react, Sam leapt to his feet, eyes flashing.
My brother held up both hands, palms facing us. “I’m not here for trouble.”
Sam scoffed, positioning himself between my brother and where I sat frozen on the couch.
