Page 68 of Crush's Fall

“If Trip doesn’t,” Siren began, “I will.”

Bullet huffed out a breath, glaring at Trip, then at Siren. “Why does he need to become one of us? Isn’t it enough that he’s family?”

Siren leaned forward and met Bullet’s stare. “He saved the life of my woman,my mate. He had no obligationorresponsibility to stick his neck out for us,for her, but he did it anyway. He fought at our side in the war when he had no responsibility to do that. Hell, he told us HDMC’s plans against us before he even knew anything about us. So, no, it isn’t enough that he’sfamily. He’s fucking already one of us, Bull.”

“Sorry, brother,” Trip said, quietly, and Axle could see he didn’t like that he was going against Bullet’s wishes, but Trip knew it was the right thing to do. “Siren’s right.”

Bullet’s jaw hardened as his eyes shifted down.

“You need to let your reservations about him go,” Axle told Bullet.

Bullet’s eyes didn’t move from the table, but he growled, “Respect, Pres, but don’t fucking tell me what I need to do with my reservations.”

Pike huffed out a breath. “I fucking quit.” He stood and started yanking at the edge of hisSergeant at Armspatch. “Being SA, I quit.”

Axle rolled his eyes, before he glared at Pike. “No, you don’t.”

“Yes, I do,” Pike insisted.

“Well, I don’t fucking accept. Sit the fuck down.”

Pike plopped back in his seat and crossed his arms over his chest. “I barely keep Dragon from killing Trip. Now, you expect me to keep Bullet from killing Lucifer? I’m only one fucking man, Ax.”

Axle chuckled and shook his head. “Bullet isn’t going to kill Lucifer. He’s too scared of Crush.”

“Fuck.” Dragon shook his head. “Aren’t we all?”

“So, let’s vote. Are we letting Lucifer prospect?”

Even with Bullet’s reservations and grudge against Lucifer, the vote was unanimous.

“When are we letting him know?” Skull asked.

Axle shook his head. “I think we need to give Bullet some time to get used to it, but soon.”

The Next Day… Halo

As Halo laid on the floor of his kitchen, blood seeping from the cut on her cheek and her body aching all over, she knew Patrick had just sealed his fate. She couldn’t hide this from her sisters. She had tried, but she knew they saw the swollen eyes, the healing cuts, and how she would try to hide the limp as she walked.Damn shifter sight.She also knew they were just waiting for her go ahead to really make Patrick’s life a living hell… or non-living as it might turn out if she knew her president at all. Factor in Nails’s bloodlust, and there was no way that they would allow him a quick or easy death.

He had spent the last thirty minutes ranting and raving about whatever the fuck, while dragging her around by her hair and beating the hell out of her. She tried to fight back, but with the hold he had on her hair, she wasn’t able to do much. At some point, she managed to grab onto his junk and squeeze for all she was worth, which is how she got the gash on her cheek. He backhanded her with his right hand, the hand he always wore his class ring on. That was when the pain really began.

As soon as she was on the floor, he had done his best to make sure no part of her went untouched. She couldn’t even think of the number of possible bruises or injuries. There wasn’t time for that. She needed to get out of there before he killed her.

Taking a deep breath, and immediately regretting it when her ribs protested, she started to climb to her feet. When he reached down and took a hold of her bicep to help her, she yanked her arm out of his grasp. “Don’t touch me.”

“Come on, babe,” he cooed, regret in his voice. She knew that voice. It was the one he used to reel her back in. It wasn’t going to work this time. “Don’t be like that. I didn’t… I didn’t mean to hurt you. I just… You know I don’t like it when men hit on you.”

Finally on her feet, she flipped him the bird as she made her way over to the countertop next to the back door.One step at a time, Halo.

“Halo! If you would justblah blah blah”She stopped listening as she reached into her purse and palmed the handle of the knife Crush had given her as a birthday present the day she turned eighteen. Halo had taken it everywhere with her for the last three years since she got it. Too bad it had been in her purse and out of her reach when she needed it.

She pulled it out and kept it in her hand as she slid her purse onto her shoulder, ignoring the way her body ached with the movement. There would be time to feel the pain, but now wasn’t that time. Now was the time to get out of the house alive and back to her sisters. Once she reached the compound, she would be safe, and hell would begin for Patrick.

When she reached for the knob of the back door, Patrick headed for her. She held the knife up, pointy end pointed at him, and ordered, “Don’t.”

He stopped in his tracks and put his hands up. Not taking her eyes from him, she left the house and made her way around to the front. Without her bike, she didn’t have a choice but to walk the three blocks back to the compound.

It wasn’t the longest and toughest three blocks of her life. She had plenty of time to think about all the ways she could have stopped it from happening and all the ways she could have trained harder to ready herself to fight back harder. Halfway to the compound, she let out a shallow sigh, hearing Crush’s voice in her head.

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