I move my laptop and snuggle up next to him. “You’re going for three nights, right?”
He nods. “Yeah. Prospects are staying behind to keep an eye on things. Anything you need, tell them.”
“Okay,” I reply. “We’ll be fine.”
His arms tighten around me. “You better be. You know I love you and will do anything to protect you, right?”
“I know,” I reply. “I trust you.”
His grip becomes almost painful.
“Tracker.”
“Sorry,” he says, easing up. “I just want to hold you until I have to go. Why don’t you tell me all about your new book?”
I tell him about it, then answer all his questions.
When he leaves, his kiss is slow and gentle.
Lingering.
But when he leaves, I’m left with a bad feeling.
* * *
TRACKER
The women are fine.
Lana is fine.
Nothing is going to happen.
I repeat these three sentences over and over again. Did we make a mistake with this plan? What aren’t we seeing?
If something happens to Lana . . .
I’ll never forgive myself.
Sin is watching the surveillance cameras. We’re inside a hotel, said we were stopping for the night. Talon is staying close to the clubhouse and is ready in case anything happens.
Now, we wait.
When we see a figure walking into Vinnie’s room, and into the bathroom where we found Allie dead, we’re confused. What is he doing? Just checking out the scene of the crime? But then he speaks, and what he says is more evidence than we ever thought we’d get.
“I’m so fuckin’ sorry, Allie,” he says, crouching down on his knees and touching the floor. “I loved you, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hit you that hard. I was so angry.”
He exhales deeply. “You were mine. I’d rather you be dead than let anyone else have you.”
Fuck.
Looks like we found our killer.
* * *
LANA
The morning after Tracker leaves, I wake up to yelling. Throwing the sheets off me, I open the door and run out of the room, Evie at my feet. It takes me a few seconds to process the scene in front of me. Arrow has Blade pinned against the wall by his neck. He’s surrounded by all the other men in the MC. Tracker, Sin, Trace, Rake, Irish, Ronan, and Vinnie. They’re all watching with avid interest, through narrowed eyes or with arms crossed over their chests.
Arrow rears back and punches Blade in the face.
I whimper, as blood starts to drip.
Why are they doing this?
How could they just stand there and watch?
Tracker sees me and snaps his head to the door. “Inside, Lana. Now.”
I listen to him. I know from his tone he isn’t fucking around. I step back into the door, bumping into a tired-looking Faye and a confused-looking Anna.
“Why is Arrow beating the shit out of Blade?” she gasps. “What the fuck happened?”
I have no answers.
Faye grabs our arms and pulls us into the kitchen.
“Sit,” she commands. “We’ll wait until they come inside.”
Sin walks in first. Scans the room, then pulls his wife by his side. “We need to talk.”
Clearly.
“We set up cameras in here. We saw Blade going into Vinnie’s bathroom, staring at where Allie’s body was found. He was mumbling shit over and over, how sorry he was.”
“What the fuck?” Faye gasps. “Blade?”
Sin explains what happened. Apparently Blade and Allie were sleeping together. He said he loved her. When he saw her on the back of one of the Kings of Hell members’ bikes, he lost it. Allie had snuck into the clubhouse to get something. She and Blade got into it. He hit her over the head and tried to frame Vinnie, by leaving her on his bathroom floor. Apparently back in the day, Vinnie had a small thing for Allie, so it might have looked suspicious if the men didn’t trust Vinnie and Vinnie was with them at the time of Allie’s death. Blade had locked the door and closed it, locking her in from the outside.
We all listen with wide eyes and shocked expressions.
“What’s going to happen to him?” I ask, trying to process everything.
“We’re handling it,” Sin grunts. “You all stay out of it, you hear me?”
I swallow.
Blade?
How many times did he drive me around, keep me company, or have a laugh with me?
Countless times.
Surely they wouldn’t . . . kill him, would they?
Anna is blinking profusely, as if trying to sort out her thoughts. I look at Faye, whose eyes are on her husband.
I don’t like this.
I hear yelling from outside.
I block it out.
I go back into our room and bury myself under the covers. I slide my earbuds in, letting the music soothe, trying to push out the vision of Blade, someone I trusted, being punished for his crimes.
* * *
I wake up held in strong arms.
Tracker pulls my earbuds out and turns me to look at him. “Sin said he told you everything.”
I nod. “What happened to him?”
He cringes. “Babe—”
“Shit, Tracker.” I breathe. “He really killed her?”
He nods. “He confessed.”
“Everyone trusted him,” I say quietly.
“I know,” he replies, a look of devastation flashing through his eyes. “I trusted him to protect you, over and over again. He also said he was with Allie when she beat you inside your house. He was there, Lana. I’ll never forgive that, ever. And he paid for what he did, or in your case, didn’t do.”