always known she was right, but he couldn’t accept it.
“Have a conversation with Steele, Absinthe. You both need to talk about this or you’re never going to put it to rest.” Scarlet kept the arm he held so loosely—but that was his lifeline—very still, but she raised the water bottle with her other hand. She took a deep breath. “You know what happened to those girls wasn’t your fault. You were as much a prisoner as they were. You tried to make their lives easier. That was all you were doing, Absinthe. You know I’m not lying to you and I wouldn’t. If for one minute I thought you were to blame, I’d tell you, but you weren’t.”
He shook his head and started to take his hand away. She turned hers up and caught his, her fingers threading through his. “Absinthe.”
There it was. That voice. The one that took away the worst demons a man like him could have. Sweeping them out of his mind.
“I’m with you because I love you. I want to be with you. You have to believe in me, but even more than that, you have to believe in yourself. I really can’t save you if you’re not willing to save yourself. It won’t be easy to change the way you think about all of this, but you’re smart. Use your mind, not your emotions. Think with your brain when these things creep into your head. Come to me and we’ll talk about it. And you have to find a way to forgive the others. They were doing exactly what they were taught to do. What they needed to do to survive. You’re part of their pack, their unit, and they can’t lose one member or they all go down.”
She was right. His woman was right. He’d hit the jackpot when he’d walked into that library. He brought her hand up to his mouth, kissing her knuckles.
“I’m so tired, Scarlet. My head is killing me. I need to lay it down tonight. I know I owe you so many more explanations and apologies. But I have to sleep. I just want to hold you.”
“Fireplace is off.”
“I want you warm.”
“I can be warm with you next to me and a ton of blankets. We’ll figure things out together, Absinthe, but I’m protecting you until we do.”
He framed her face with both hands. More and more he was finding love was an overwhelming emotion. “You really are the most intelligent woman on the planet.”
“I know. Just kiss me. I think that’s the only thing that’s going to get you out of the trouble you’re always going to be getting into.”
He kissed her.
SEVENTEEN
“They’re going to dry that chicken out,” Mechanic observed, frowning. “Why the hell do they have someone on the barbecue that doesn’t know what he’s doing?”
Alena bumped him with her hip. “Did you try the potato salad? I tried to rescue it for you, but I was a little afraid that even I couldn’t make it better.”
“You can make rat poison palatable,” Transporter said, his eyes on the large group of bikers enjoying the sun setting over the river.
The members of the Venomous club wore their colors openly as they partied right in the middle of Diamondback territory on the banks of the river. It was either very foolhardy or they were deliberately taunting the larger club in a defiant gesture to come after them.
“If the Diamondbacks start a war with them, the Feds will blame the larger club,” Czar observed. “The Venomous club can plead innocence. They weren’t doing anything to provoke the Diamondbacks. They’re clearly willing to sacrifice a few of their members to achieve larger gains. Those higher up know what they’re doing, but the ones here don’t have a clue they’re in harm’s way. They think their brothers are looking out for them.”
“They joined the wrong fuckin’ club,” Reaper said.
Savage shrugged. “Goes to show, men like that find one another. There’s the one they call Jacko. He’s the manager of the day shift at the Gypsy Club. He’s in the bright red tee with his vest open. Has some woman doing him while he’s eating. Nice guy, just shoved her on her ass and laughed when she fell.” His voice dripped with ice.
Beside him, Destroyer was utterly still, but the temperature around him seemed to drop by several degrees.
“It’s going to be dark in the club when you go in with Savage, Destroyer,” Czar said. “How’s your night vision?”
There was instant silence. The