Avery (The Phoenix Club Girl Diaries #3) - Addison Jane Page 0,56

Austin almost putting a bullet through the back of my skull.”

“I was getting ready to yell zig,” Repo commented with a shrug, a smirk on his face as they strolled out of the store beside me.

“I think I would have zagged,” Shake added with a frown.

Jesus Christ.

“So, he’s still breathing.”

“Unfortunately.”

“Anything come of that fun interaction?” Shake enquired.

“He’s got the girl. That’s a sure thing.”

“So, she’s still alive?”

My head bobbed, and the silence that followed from both of my brothers let me know we were all thinking the same thing.

Why?

A thought that had me fighting to keep walking instead of turning around and storming back in there to demand what the fuck a guy like him wanted with a teenage girl, though I could hazard a guess.

This bastard needed to die.

There would be no rotting in a jail cell for him.

Not on my fucking watch.

SHOTGUN

“He was just trying to scare me.”

“He was trying to scare me,” I corrected, strumming my fingers on the bar.

Avery rolled her eyes like it was no big deal, but the reality was—she was fucking lucky. Lucky she managed to keep her head straight, lucky Holly was in the right place, lucky Kid had been waiting with artillery no bastard wanted to mess with. But really, luck had nothing to do with it. This fucker had come for her.

No, not her.

Gage.

Would he have done something? Or was he just trying to scare her?

No, he was trying to fucking scare me. To let me know how close he could get to her, to my fucking son, and how easily he could take them from me. This was his warning. It might have even been more than that if Holly hadn’t appeared and stepped in to protect them. Which was the only reason I wasn’t kicking her the fuck out of my clubhouse right now, even though the hairs on my neck were still standing up in warning as I watched her cuddle close to Slate.

“I’m surprised she hasn’t dropped dead from your death glare,” Avery teased, following my gaze. It hadn’t taken the two of them long to crash together like a car accident. Holly being the sassy hot mess Slate often went for.

I bared my teeth, leaning into her as she sat up on the bar, her legs on either side of my body and her fingers in my hair. “She was in the right place today. That doesn’t change the fact that she’s put you in the wrong place before.” Silence greeted me, and I twisted my body, lifting my eyebrow. “Since when do you bite your tongue when you’ve got something to say?”

“I do pretty well at putting myself in the wrong place if you hadn’t already realized.”

“Don’t make excuses for her,” I argued. “She’s toxic.”

“She’s troubled.”

“Avery…” I growled, knowing she was only arguing because of loyalty. Not because she actually believed Holly had suddenly had a change of heart and gotten clean.

I had to keep my eyes on it.

There was something not right.

Something I wasn’t about to let touch Avery.

Sunday was the only night the club got to drink and spend time together because every other fucking night of the week, members and girls were rostered on rolling shifts at Empire or Dynasty. Sunday was the day we barbecued as a family and relaxed. Friends of the club often joined us. Other clubs too sometimes.

It was a time to hang out with the people we cared about. They deserved it. We deserved it.

Avery hadn’t moved from my side since we’d stepped back into the fucking clubhouse. Not to eat. Not to change Gage’s diaper. Not to help with dinner.

She stayed with me the whole time, and I didn’t give a fucking damn.

That SOS call today had fucked with my head. Not knowing what the fuck I was going to find when we showed up. Not knowing whether I was going to lose her.

Or Gage.

Or fucking both.

It was like feeling someone reach down my throat and take hold of my heart before trying to rip it clean from my body. The pain was nothing I’d ever experienced before. It was a different kind of heartache. A different kind of fear. The kind that let me know I would do fucking anything for them.

To protect them.

To keep them with me and in my life.

That ache in my chest I got when I thought about how I could ruin Gage, how I didn’t deserve to be his father, that was nothing compared to the pain I felt