Page 69 of Crush's Fall

This wasn’t your fault or your doing. This isn’t the result of your choices. It’s the result of his choices.

An asshole was an asshole. His choices were his own. All she could do was stay away from him and let him take the consequences of his actions.

When she reached the clubhouse and stepped inside, all the strength she had left seeped out of her, and she collapsed on the floor, knife still in her hand.

Crush

Crush had just finished clearing out space in her dresser for Lucifer, sick of seeing his clothes stacked in piles in the corner, when her phone went off with a message from Axle, immediately followed by a message from Pinky. Hearing each of the two distinctive ringtones, Crush knew something bad had happened.

Cursing under her breath, she crossed the space and snagged her phone from the island. Checking Pinky’s message first, she was worried.

Pinky : Emergency. Clubhouse. Ours.

When she checked Axle’s message, pure rage filled her.

Axle : Halo collapsed in clubhouse. Bleeding and bruised.

Crush slipped her cut on her shoulders, grabbed her gun from the nightstand, and slipped it into the holster built into her cut, before she ran out of the apartment, headed for the clubhouse.

She had barely stepped through the door before she saw Halo’s prone body passed out on the floor. Shoving Howlers aside, she knelt down next to Halo and shook her shoulder. “Halo!”

From Halo’s other side, Pinky said, “Ranger and Siren are on their way. She woke up for a second and said the name Patrick. Isn’t that—”

“The motherfucker who drives the lifted truck? Yes,” she hissed and ran her hand gently over Halo’s dark brown hair. Crush was a bit relieved to know Siren and Ranger were on their way. Siren was an EMT, and Ranger had been in the special forces. Between the two of them, they were the best crisis medics a girl could ask for.

Halo was so small, barely over five feet, and skinny as shit, but that didn’t mean she was weak. The fact that she made it out alive meant she held her own, but Patrick was over six feet tall and had to be over two hundred pounds of muscle. Halo was only a human, after all. There was only so much she could do when faced with a much larger opponent, which is why Crush bought her the knife that was currently laying in Halo’s open hand.

Crush looked at the blade and didn’t see any blood. She suspected Halo didn’t use it.

“We’ll take care of him, Crush,” Dragon growled from over her.

“No, you fucking won’t,” Crush said and glared up at him.

“Crush—”

“No!” She straightened on her feet and pointed a finger in his face. “This isnotyour business.”

She heard Axle’s voice from behind her say, “Crush, be reasonable. Let us help.”

Crush whirled and glared at Axle. “This isnota Howler issue. This isnotyour business. We will handle it the waywedecide to.”

Axle gave a nod. “Yes, but we are offering backup.”

She let the growl roll up from her chest. “We don’t fuckingneedthe men to come in andsave us, Axle. This is Claw business, and youwillback the fuck off.”

After staring at her for a long moment, Axle gave a nod. “Just let us know if there’s something we can do to help.”

Crush took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself, looked back at Halo, and then back to Axle. “Will you take care of Halo?”

“Consider it done,” Axle promised.

She could tell by the understanding look in his silver eyes that Axle hadn’t taken any offense to her demands, and he was finally understanding it was time for him to stop butting in and taking over when it was Claw business. They had the talk more often than was probably necessary. She also knew it was taking a lot for him not to order his men to give Patrick the beating he deserved, but he didn’t need to worry. Patrick would get his beating… and he was going to get that beating from a bunch of women.

“Claws! Mount up!”

Axle

After watching Crush storm out of the clubhouse with the Claws in tow, Axle let out a sigh and pulled his phone from his pocket. He sent Dr. Gloria Janson an emergency message to let her know they needed her assistance as soon as possible. Siren and Ranger had enough medical training between them to keep Halo stable, but she needed a doctor.

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