Slamming the bathroom door, I march straight toward the chest of drawers and pull out a few items of clothing. I figure he’s had sex with her already, so I don’t know why I’m so angry. I’m fuming with jealousy and rage. I want to rip Ikea’s skin from her bones and then tape it to Frost’s dick. Jesus. I need to get ahold of myself. I throw on some jeans and a t-shirt just as my phone starts vibrating on the kitchen counter. I jog to it, catching the caller just in time.

“Hello?”

“Come up to the penthouse and don’t draw attention.”

“What? You want a three-way? I don’t know if you caught this but I’m sort of the jealous type of human, so—”

“—Shut the fuck up and get up here.”

I glare down at my phone and then flip it off before throwing my hair into a high bun and pulling open the front door. Chase is coming out just in time, too.

“You get a call from the bossy psycho too?” My door closes.

He shakes his head. “No, why? What’s up?”

“Huh.” I gape into the distance. “I don’t know but want to come with me?”

“Yeah, all right.” We head toward the elevators and I push on the “up” button. The silence is a little uncomfortable, this would be the first time it’s been this… well, awkward between Chase and me. The doors slide open and—“What the fuck are you two doing here?” Raze and Miles stand in the elevator, both glaring at me.

“Well, hello, devil face.” Miles grins and steps aside, gesturing for us to get in. We do, but my eyes continuously dart between the two of them.

“Raze, care to explain what the fuck is going on?”

He exhales. “Look, you shouldn’t have brought lover boy here.” He gestures to Chase.

Chase’s eyes go around all of us before narrowing. “Nah, I think it’s good I came.”

“Your choice, lover boy, but if you step out of line, I’ll be putting a bullet between your eyes. We clear?”

“Crystal.” Chase’s jaw clenches a few times, his eyes staying glued to the front of him.

“Sooo.” I toss my arms around. “Anyone wanna tell me what the fuck is going on?”

The elevator doors open behind me and Frost’s voice breaks through the awkward vibe. “Ikea is dead.”

My eyes close. Deep breaths, Ella. Deep. De—“Why the hell is she dead?” I snap, turning to face him. “And you better have a better fucking excuse than, ‘What can I say, I like blood,’ because I swear to God, Frost, I will kill you myself and you can watch as your own blood seeps through your flesh!”

“Jesus,” Chase whispers, walking into the penthouse slowly.

“Damn, if it wasn’t incest, I’d be turned on right now,” Miles adds.

“Mouth!” Raze snaps at me, walking into the apartment. Oh right, because I’m his pure little goodie good sister. God, why couldn’t I have sisters instead.

I rub the palm of my hand over my forehead and enter the penthouse. I didn’t even think to take in the landscape or the decor because thoughts were rushing through my head at 100mph. “Ok, so you killed her. Right. Um, so now what, huh?” My attention goes to Raze because he is the brains behind everything. The man is far too intelligent for someone who skins humans alive for a living.

“Where is she?” Raze bypasses us and heads straight for Frost. Frost gestures toward the stairs.

“Master bedroom—bathroom.”

I go toward Frost, his mouth hiding behind the palm of his hand. “You realize what you’ve done—right?”

He nods, then takes a seat on the lounge situated at the front of a massive TV hanging on the wall. Chase, who has been quiet, takes a seat on the other side of the room, in front of a gas fireplace. His head rests in his hands and he slowly rocks. My eyes go between Frost and him as I internally decide who I’m going to sit with and console. I choose Chase because Frost knew exactly what he was doing when he did it. Obviously, I have his back through whatever war this has just started, but for now…

“Hi.” I take a seat beside Chase on the cold fireplace hearth. It’s all made up of stones, mainly But it’s large enough to fill half a wall.

Chase stops, and then his eyes meet mine from behind his shoulder. “Hey.”

I tilt my head, my hand resting on his thigh. I catch movement out of the corner of my eye, but I ignore it. Right now, Chase needs me.

A laugh escapes him, and not a nice laugh, a laugh that is obviously masking deeper shit. “You know, I’m actually fine?”

“What?” I ask, genuinely confused. He looks like he’s about to lose his mind but he’s telling me he’s fine? Yeah, I’m not sure if I’m buying it.

“No, seriously, Ella.” He swallows then gazes in front of him, his eyes glassing over. “There was stuff you don’t know, shit no one knows that she had done. I knew I was…well, a victim for the most part.” He halts, his eyes finding Frost. “Thank you. You did something I had wanted to do for some time. Now I can walk the fuck out of here free.”

I cast a quick look to Frost, who is glaring at both of us. I swear to God this man is always staring at me like he wants me for dinner.

“It was my pleasure,” Frost replies. I could punch him. Smug bastard.

Chase scoffs, then stands from the fireplace. “Yeah, I guess it was.” He peers down at me, and I take this moment to get up too. His index finger hooks under my chin, his eyes searching mine. “If you need anything, you have my number, right?”

Frost sneers.

I nod. “Thank you.” I bring the palm of my hand up to the side of his face, lean up on my tippy toes, and then press my lips to his. Warm, inviting, familiar.

“Aye!” Frost snaps, and I pull back before there’s another murder on our hands.

“I’ll call you,” I confirm.

Chase goes to walk out of the penthouse but stops when he’s in the elevator, halting the doors with his hands. “Might see you at NYU.” His grin was the last thing I saw before the metal doors snapped closed.

“Motherfucker!” Frost bursts out, walking to the elevator.

“Leave it alone,” I whisper to Frost, then turn to face the stairs, sensing both Miles and Raze standing at the top. “What the fuck are we going to do now?”

“Well, first of all, you’re leaving,” Raze says, taking double steps. “And don’t fucking fight me on this. You need to get your ass to NYU where it’s supposed to be.” I open my mouth and then close it.

“He’s right.” That came from Frost behind me. “You need to do the college thing, Ella.”

I spin around to face him. “What?” I don’t know why, but some twisted part inside of me thought that with Ikea dead, maybe Frost and I could have a better shot. Aside from all the bullshit that is constantly going on around us, there’s no doubt at all that we share something special. When we’re not going on massacres together.

He comes toward me, his eyes searching mine. His finger brushes over my cheek. “You need to do this, babe. As much as this whole back and forth thing gets my dick hard, you deserve this.”

I swallow past the lump that feels as though it has formed in my throat, then whisper, “You don’t know what I deserve.”

“What, me? You think you deserve me?” He laughs, tossing his head back. “Naww, baby. You don’t want this.”

“Why?” I choke out, ignoring how his words are like knives being stabbed through my belly.

“Because I’m incapable of having those feelings for anyone.” He smirks, then his obsolete grin turns to a small lazy smile. “Even you.”

I knew this before he had even said it, so why the hell was I so shocked.

“Come on, devil face.” Miles slips in behind me. “I’ll take you to your dorm.”

“Frost… if I walk out that door right now, I won’t be coming back. There will be no second chance and that would be it for us.”

“I know,” he replies, dropping down onto the sofa, his eyes coming up blank again. The moment we just had, whatever that was, was definitely gone now. It’s a mere shadow of the past, even if it did happen seconds ago. “Good thing there was no us.”

Ouch. I pull back from Miles’ grip. “I’ll take myself out, and don’t worry, I will be leaving this time.”

I watch as Ella walks out of the apartment for the final time, then tilt my head back, leaning on the edge of the sofa. “Fuck.”

“Well,” Miles mutters, and I can feel him walking closer to me without seeing him.

“Don’t start, man. I just want out of this fucking shit-show and on my fucking bike.” Sitting up, I shoot a look at Raze. “What’s the plan?”

Raze takes a seat beside me. “I’ll have to set it up as a break-in. I’ll call it in and organize it because that way, they’ll hand her operations over to me.”

“You sure about that?” I ask, an eyebrow cocked. “And I mean,” I look around, “you sure you want this? You and Millie, and all that. You wanna start a new path of this shit with her?”

Raze seems to think over what I say, but then shrugs. “She knew what she was getting herself into when she agreed to marry me.”

“Speaking of,” I lean forward to rest my elbows on my knees, “when is the big day?”

Raze sneers. “Oh, no, brother. We ain’t talking ‘bout weddings. I got out of the house for that reason alone.” He pauses and then smiles. “But it’s not for a couple of years.” His face turns serious, almost offended. “Millie wants to take things slow for a bit. Reckon she wants to take me for a test drive before she makes the purchase.”

Miles breaks out in laughter and I join him, shaking my head. “Damn, she hasn’t changed one bit.” Millie and I had a bit of a thing. Nothing like Ella and I, and I never touched her, but I would’ve and I ain’t ashamed to admit it. She was always beautiful, but when she dropped the fucking nun act and put on some eyeliner, she became a fucking vixen on a leash. But it was evident that she belonged to Raze, and hell, I would have fucked her once and gotten rid of her instantly. She doesn’t appeal to me the way Ella does.

“She won’t change, that’s part the problem but also part the reason why I want to marry her.”

Miles straightens his bow tie. “So, I’ll call in the cleaning squad? Or do you want to keep the corpse intact?”

“I’ll call in to The Operation to let Charles know what’s happening. The last thing I want is someone around here sniffing it up and running snitch.”

Miles nods. “Right, you do that, and I’ll take a look around to see if we can find anything.”

Miles disappears into one of the bedrooms. I glance toward Raze who is on his phone. “You know Ikea is in bed with Snake.”

Raze stops. His thumb halting over the screen of his phone. “Said who?”

I threw my arms over the top of the sofa. “Chase let it slip.”

“That fucker. I need words with him so try not to kill him.”

Throwing my Devils Own “Nevada” patch back on, I toss my leg over my bike and skid out from under the parking of the Beehive, turning onto the busy Las Vegas streets. I can’t hide the smugness on my face. I’m finally out of that fucking hell hole. I can’t wait to see my fucking brothers and get back to what matters to me—my club.

Parking my bike out front of the clubhouse, I blaze up a smoke and head inside. “Fuckers better not have had too much fun without me!”

“Ayyye!” Beast stands from the bar, with Hella, Hannibal, Racer—the new prospect who is pretty close to patching in—Flicker—one of the original patch members who hasn’t shipped out, and X—our newest patch member.

Racer nudges his head, a twinkle in his fucking eye. “Nice to have you back, bro. Shelby and Layla have been back for a bit, too.” I take a seat after a round of greetings.

“Oh, brother.” I grin, leaning back in my chair and nudge my head at Old Falla, ordering a beer. “You are way too fucking young to be dabbling in that pussy.”

“You think?” Racer flicks a toothpick around in his mouth. “I don’t know…”

“Brother, you are twenty-four years old, you were raised with a golden spoon in your mouth and wiped your ass with money. You’re a rich kid raised on the right side of the tracks, who just so happens to fit in here. Although—”I shoot a glare to Beast—“we have yet to talk about your special abilities, because everyone knows, Beast only lets in special recruits.”

Racer’s smile went full effect. Cheeky fucker. “It could be that I’m the guy experienced in vortex pussy.”

I laugh, throwing back my beer. “You’re all right, kid.” He is, he ain’t bad.

“Church?” Beast throws me a look that says I want to know everything, and he will, because my loyalty will always be with my club.

“Yep. Got a lot to fill you all in on.”