Page 41 of Crush's Fall

Crush was sitting on the floor near the bar. She looked pissed, but her face was paler than usual. He didn’t like that. His gaze met hers, and he asked, “You good?”

“I’d be better if I was with my club.”

As Lucifer nodded, Slice blurted, “Who the fuck are you?”

Lucifer grinned as he yanked his gun out of his holster and aimed at the man’s head. “I’m her man, and you fucked up.” Then he pulled the trigger.

After taking him out, he turned and quickly dispatched the other two before they could pull their wits together to do anything about it.

Then he went to work on untying the girls, Crush first. Once Crush was freed, he gave her his gun and went for Pixie’s ropes.

“You good, Pix?” Lucifer rubbed Pixie’s wrists to help her circulation.

“Yeah, just fucking pissed,” she gritted out and stood. “Bunch of fucking assholes.”

“I agree,” Lucifer said, and chuckled.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here. I only have my bike, but we’ll figure it out.”

Crush bent down to one of the guards and yanked a set of keys from the dead prick’s pocket. “I’ll take his.”

Lucifer shrugged, took his gun back, and led the women down the hallway to the rear door. He carefully opened it and stepped out, gun up and ready. No one.

He lowered his gun and waved the girls out. He was approaching his bike when the sound of a large pack of bikes roared into the lot and around the building. When the Howlers and the Claws stopped and killed their engines, Lucifer loudly said, “Well, it’s so nice of you to join us. I see Kisy won.” He looked over at Kisy on the back of Pinky’s bike and winked at her.

When Pike stormed toward them and wrapped Pixie up in his arms, Lucifer looked away and gave them their moment. His eyes landed on Crush, heading for Ginger and her bike. Lucifer jogged over and took her hand. He yanked her around and met her gaze. Looking into the eyes he loved so much, he stated, “We need to talk, and we need to do it now.”

“Later,” she said.

“No. Now,” he turned and started for his bike, pulling her along with him.

He couldn’t keep doing it. The push and pull had been fun for a while, but he was done wasting time. They needed to make a go of it, or she needed to let him go. And she didn’t have long to decide because he wasn’t going to keep going through this.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Crush

AsLuciferdraggedheraway, she glanced around and noticed that Kisy had a Tiger’s Claw prospect cut on. She had a moment of curiosity about how that went down, but she wasn’t against it. Kisy had proven herself to be worth her salt. She had already put Crush’s and Pixie’s safety above her own. Crush had no doubt that the woman would make a good member of the Tiger’s Claw MC.

Those thoughts were brief, because her attention shifted back to Lucifer as he climbed on his bike and demanded she get on behind him. Looking into his dark brown eyes, she knew he wasn’t going to put up with her fighting him on it. He meant business, and now wasn’t the time for their bickering.

Without a word, she climbed on and wrapped her arms around his waist. Seconds later, they were riding out of the parking lot.

Lucifer’s body was stiff as hell the entire ride to the compound. It made sense. She knew he was at his end with the bullshit. She could almost guess the exact words that would come out of his mouth when they had their talk.

After they arrived at the clubhouse and dismounted his bike, he grabbed her hand and started pulling her across the street and around the side of the strip mall, heading straight for her apartment.

She felt panic rise in her at the thought of him in her private space, but again, she knew he wouldn’t put up with her fighting him on it today. Resigned to having the conversation she didn’t want to have, she let him lead her up the stairs to her apartment door.

“Open it,” he ordered in a low tone. He didn’t sound angry, just determined.

Crush took a deep breath and punched the code into the keypad to unlock the door. As soon as the lock released, Lucifer was opening the door and dragging her inside.

“You can stop dragging me now,” she protested. “I haven’t fought you for a second.”

“Only because I didn’t give you a chance to,” he replied, but let go of her hand. Standing in the middle of her open living space, he turned to face her. His eyes bore into hers as his chest suddenly heaved with his hard breaths. “Either we’re doing this, or you need to cut me loose.”

“We’re facing a war, Lucy. We can’t have this conversation now.”

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