“Yeah, speak fast,” I growl into the phone, annoyed. I need to get Hayden home safe. There’s not a doubt in my mind that Charlie’s accident has everything to do with Blade and his motherfucking club. I’ve been taking my time, waiting for Skull to meet with his contacts, but I’m done. I have to contain this shit before it touches Hayden.

“Victor Torasani is heading your way brother. Word came down about an hour ago.”

“What’s changed?” I ask Skull. Alarm bells are going off. The Torasani are settled in New York. They are notoriously private, but Victor has been labeled as a recluse. He’s rarely seen. For him to be coming here…

“Haven’t found out. Still researching, just wanted to give you a heads up. You’re too far away for me to get men to you quickly, so Diesel is stepping in. You should have some backup within a few hours. I can have people at your side tomorrow afternoon, but you’re just a few hours from Diesel. His men are already cutting through Cherokee. They’ll be there before the Torasani’s touch down.”

“Get word to have them meet me at my woman’s.”

“Your woman?” he asks, shock thick in his voice, but maybe not as much shock as I’m feeling right now. Fuck.

“I…Fuck…”

“Beast, brother, what’s going on?” Skull prompts.

I rub the back of my neck in frustration. Shit. Am I claiming Hayden? Why the fuck would she even want to saddle herself with me? She just ran away from me earlier. Hell, she’s hiding in the restroom from me now.

“It’s complicated,” I hedge.

“Christo,” Skull mutters. “Pistol’s hermana.” His comment annoys the fuck out of me.

“She’s a good woman, Skull. She’s…special,” I mutter.

“Is she yours?” he asks, and just the thought of it makes my heart stall. Mine?

“She doesn’t need to be saddled with someone like me,” I growl, looking over my shoulder at the bathroom door.

Skull lets out with a stream of Spanish. I don’t know what all of it means, but the majority of it is cursing and it’s all directed at me. I start to respond, but there’s a woman that comes into my line of sight. She turns the knob to the bathroom door and it opens… What the fuck? I thought Hayden was in there.

“I got to go, brother. Just get a hold of Diesel’s men and tell them where I’ll be,” I tell Skull, hanging up before he can respond. I store my phone back in my pocket and go to the bathroom. I try the door, but it’s locked. I pound on it. “Hayden! Hayden! Open this fucking door!”

“There’s no Hayden in here,” comes the scared voice through the door.

Motherfucker. I stomp off. Where did she go? How fucking long has she been gone? Fear is grabbing a hold of me and I don’t know what to do with it. I can’t calm myself and think methodically like I need to. All I can grasp is that Hayden is missing, and I have to find her. I have to.

Panic makes it hard to think logically. I’ve tried to think of where Hayden might have disappeared to. Women shop, so I figured the gift shop. She’s not there. I even made myself go to the chapel, because I thought she might be there praying for Charlie. She wasn’t and stepping in there wasn’t the best feeling I ever had. The last time I stepped foot in a chapel it was to pray that God somehow turn back time and bring my daughter back to me. They say that he can do miracles—that he can bring the dead back to life. If he could do that, then why couldn’t he have saved Annabelle? She was innocent. She deserved to live. Dani tried to tell me that God has a plan that we can’t understand. Some mumbo-jumbo about how for her it was so her and Crusher could rescue their son.

I like her, so I didn’t tell her she’s full of shit. There’s no plan. There’s no rhyme and definitely no fucking reason. If God exists, he’s a twisted motherfucker who is getting his kicks out of destroying me. Maybe I deserve that. Annabelle didn’t. Hayden and Maggie don’t, and I’m not waiting for God to destroy who I care about, this time.

The cafeteria is my next stop. It’s completely empty, and by this time, I’m ready to fucking scream. I look around the room feeling helpless and one step away from throwing something through the damn window. That’s when I see her. She’s outside by the door, but within sight of the window. She’s standing with the preacher, holding onto him for dear life. At first, I can feel nothing but jealousy. I’m ready to march out there and rip her away from him. Then I look beyond them to see Blade standing there. He’s bent over, screaming at Hayden and way too close to her. I let out a roar that echoes through the hospital. It sounds as if it is ripped out from the pits of Hell and maybe it is. I’ve spent enough time there. It’s time to end this motherfucker. It’s time to make sure Hayden and Maggie are safe.

I don’t remember walking from the cafeteria to the door. I don’t remember taking my eyes off Hayden. But one minute, I’m standing, looking through the window, and the next, I’m outside.

“What’s going on here?” I hear the preacher ask.

I make sure I answer for him. “I’m going to kill you, motherfucker,” I bellow.

Blade’s face jerks up, and I can see his eyes are swollen, before I reach him however, he pulls out a gun. There’s screams from the people around us that had been sitting at the tables. My first instinct is to ignore the gun and charge. I may die, but I’d end Blade first. Then the fucker does something that I don’t expect. He turns the gun on Hayden.

“Take another step, and I’ll end the bitch and just be done with it,” Blade warns. There’s that fucking fear taking over yet again. I’m starting to resent Hayden for bringing this feeling back into my life. I stop, holding my hands up, like a fucking pussy.

“You try it and you’re a dead man,” I tell him, which is a ridiculous threat. The truth is he’s a dead man walking right now. The minute I get the opportunity, he is done.

“You’ve become attached to my leftovers. You ain’t going to do shit, if you think it will hurt her. Maybe I should just shoot the fucking cunt now so you can watch her bleed out,” Blade sneers, and I do my best to keep the image he describes from forming in my head. It doesn’t work. “The Blaze is just like everyone rumored, little boys who get led around by their dicks by a bunch of pussies. Pathetic really.”

“Not as pathetic as a man who gets his dick hard by hurting innocent women.”

“There’s nothing innocent about Hayden. She was innocent when she came to my bed, but so fucking eager. I’m sure you’ve enjoyed that by now, though. Hayden always was quick to spread her legs. Hell, Beast, ol’ buddy, I bought her one day and had my dick in her a week later.”

He’s taunting me, his barbs are hitting me right where he wants them to. I do my best not to let it show that they hit. I think I manage to keep my face stoic—barely. I hear Hayden’s hurt-filled gasp from behind me, and I ignore it too. I keep my eyes trained on the shit-sack in front of me, and I focus my mind on envisioning me choking the life from him with my hands.

“I’m going to enjoy killing you,” I tell him, truthfully. Then the strangest look comes on his face. He’s looking over my shoulder through the glass behind me. I try to look too, but I’m afraid to take my eyes off the gun.

“Not today, Beast. But soon, I’ll show you exactly who will survive our showdown. Enjoy my scraps while you can. Soon, every hole she has will be used by my men, and some she doesn’t even have yet. Maybe I’ll let you live long enough to see just how much she likes it,” he taunts, backing away.

I yell out a war cry at him, and charge. Common sense is gone. I’ve had it with this fucker. He fires his gun and for a second I lose my breath, thinking he shot Hayden. Then I feel the bullet hit my leg and it buckle under me. I hear Hayden scream. My eyes go to her, and I see the Pastor trying to hold her away from me. My face jerks back around to Blade who is laughing before he runs, getting away from me.

He won’t be able to hide though. There won’t be a rock he can crawl under.

He’s a dead man.