Zorro (Reapers MC #16) - Elizabeth Knox Page 0,20

drill sergeant in cadet training.

I’m being pulled back and my body is so fired up I’m ready to take a swing at the fucker who dared to even touch me, but the second I see his face, I calm the hell down.

“Everything alright with Syd’?” Zane asks curiously, looking from blondie bitch back to me.

I nod once. “Yeah, she’s fine. A little shaken up, but she’s . . . she’s doin’ that shit she does with her attitude when she wants everyone to think she’s perfectly fine.”

“The sass treatment, got it.” Zane looks back over to the blonde woman. “You’re Ruby’s friend, Portia, from Stonewall, right?”

Portia nods. “Yes, that’s me.”

Zane fakes a smile, and I know he’s seeing how pissed I am. “Well, welcome . . . Zorro, I expect you’ll let me know what the fuck happened in that house soon, yeah?”

“Yeah, Prez. You got it.”

“Hey, Grim, do me a favor and trade spots with Zorro. I need you downstairs in the bunker, and while you’re at it you can show Portia the way.”

Grim comes right on over and motions with his hand for Portia to follow him, and thank goodness he does, ‘cause I know I was three seconds from losing my head.

Chapter Nine

You are exactly, precisely, and perfectly what I waited for

~ Unknown

Ruby

Mid-January . . .

“Why are we going down to the bunker?” I question Zorro while Portia zooms past me with my brother. Zorro places a hand on my shoulder and looks at me with a bit of worry. Shiloh had started to take Sydney and I down, but I stayed up by the stairwell that leads down into it.

“‘Cause . . . we need to handle some club business and it’s the safest spot for everyone.”

So, he plans on locking me up in some basement like a damsel in distress?

“I don’t want to go to the bunker.” I’m not lying to him. Hearing gunshots ring out when Portia and I were by Zane’s house scared me to death. Don’t even get me started on what happened with the guy in his house . . . the last thing I want to be right now is alone. I know I wouldn’t physically be alone, but what I mean is I don’t want to be without him. Zorro has this habit of making me feel incredibly safe and given today’s events, I only want to stick right by his side.

“Ruby, please, just go downstairs. I need to keep my head in the game. I can’t be worryin’ about you while I need to be doin’ club shit.”

“Get me vodka, please.” Cheyenne’s voice echoes through the club and I find myself looking over in her direction. She’s kneeling on the ground and Bull’s body is on the floor. Siren is running over to the bar and the reality of what’s happened today begins to fully sink in.

The club was attacked, by people who walked in like they were friends of ours. Hell, I swear one of them smiled at me on his way in. How do things like this happen?

Suddenly it’s becoming a bit harder to breathe as a crashing weight pushes down on my chest, but there’s nothing there. The muscles in my neck tighten as I attempt to breathe in and out slowly, but it only gets worse.

I inhale slowly through my nose and exhale through my mouth aimlessly trying to get a grip on my fear. It’s swarming around me and while it swarms it’s taking every bit of oxygen with it, making me feel like I can’t breathe. I know I can, but my anxiety doesn’t recognize there isn’t anything actually wrong. Instead it traps me inside a box and forces me to believe what it wants.

“Please don’t leave me. I j-just don’t want us to b-be separated.” My teeth chatter while my fear continues to take hold over me. I don’t know if I’ve ever been this afraid before, but to say I’m terrified is an understatement.

Zorro furrows his brows and steps closer into my space, pulls me into his arms and rubs my back in a slow, soothing manner. “Breathe, sweet girl. It’s all you have to do. Breathe.”

If it’s all I have to do right now, then why is it so damn hard? Why does it feel so impossible?

“You’re okay. You didn’t get hurt, you got to a safe place, and you got out. You are safe.” With every word Zorro speaks in a soothing manner, I know he’s trying to