A Monster's Beauty (In the Arms of Monsters #3) - Sam Crescent Page 0,12
front of his vision eased and Dog slowly took his time to let go. “I don’t need you hugging the shit out of me.”
“You can be pissed all you want. You didn’t feel how fucked up that was. The crowd went crazy. I don’t know how we’re going to top that shit.”
Dog burst out laughing. “The cleaning crew is going to have a field day.”
Preacher left the ring and went to the changing room where his jacket was, left untouched. He pulled it on, not caring as his body started to ache and hurt just like the good old days. This was one of the reasons he had to stop fighting. He had a club that needed him and he had to admit to getting too old.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“I don’t want to talk about shit,” he said. All he really wanted was to forget.
“No, you want to kill stuff, which is fine with me. What I don’t want is your ass in jail.”
“I won’t be. I’m more careful than that. Why do you think I came here?” He grabbed his keys and was about to leave.
“I can kill him for you,” Dog said. “Strictly off the table. No change of money. No hands dealt. I can kill him, make it look like a drive-by or some shit. A guy like that has a lot of enemies. All it would take is the click of my fingers and he’d be dead. You could look at your girl without worry, without guilt. It would all be on me, no one else.”
Preacher looked back at his friend and nodded his head. “But I’d still know, and I’d have to be the one to look her in the eyes when she asks me what happened. I don’t want to lie to her. She’s been through enough already.”
“You know, this girl, she’s supposed to love you and only you, yet all I can see is a lot of fucking heartache. Do you want to tell me about that shit?”
“There’s nothing to tell.” He and Dog may be friends, but it didn’t mean they were close. He never made that kind of mistake.
After leaving the warehouse, he straddled his bike, and without looking back, he took off into the night, riding his bike. With each passing hour, his body started to hurt and ache. He recognized the signs and it was a fucking bitch of all pain.
Finally, seeing no other reason not to return home, he did so, letting himself in through the kitchen. It was there where he found Robin in a robe, her hair messed up, sipping some hot chocolate.
The moment she saw him, she was on her feet. “What happened?” She reached for his face as if to touch him, and he took her hands, kissing the tips of her fingers.
“It’s nothing.”
“Your face doesn’t look like nothing. What happened?” she asked, concern edged in her voice.
“I had to do what I had to do.” He didn’t let go of her hand. He stared into her eyes, wanting something, anything. The pain in his body only seemed to be getting worse. “I need to take a bath.”
He had to have some distance. Somewhere in this house was the bane of all of his problems, and Bishop was also out there. He had a couple of men on the case, and if Bishop even thought to leave town, the little prick was dead.
Bishop had stopped being a son to him some time ago, and he wasn’t ashamed to admit he had no feelings when it came to the kid. All he wanted to do was hurt him. To make him pay for what he did. Right now, he wasn’t in his right mind when it came to making decisions. Everything had been handed to him, and slowly, swiftly, it was all being taken away. Robin coming back into his life, her memories returning, then of course Reaper, and all the revelations afterward.
He entered his bedroom, removed his leather cut, took off his clothes, and threw them in a pile. He’d burn them as soon as he was washed.
Running himself a bath, he climbed into the tub and soaked his aching muscles. He heard the door open and knew she’d come to see him.
Opening his eyes, he saw she was she perched on the edge of the tub.
“You shouldn’t be in here.”
“You left so quickly. I wanted to make sure you’re okay.”