Page 11 of All's Fair in Love & Wrath

Wrath rises to the surface from out of nowhere, and I have the sudden urge to burn the world to the ground to findout who hurt her. When Noose speaks up, causing her to jerk away slightly, her arms wrapping around herself, I want to spin his useless fucking head off his shoulders. My brother. For a woman who hasn’t said a single word to me directly.

“You know ’em? We won’t hurt you, but we need to find them.”

Her eyes finally look up again, peeking through her long eyelashes, but they aren’t to meet my own, like I’m internally begging her to. They quickly scan the length of the diner and then fall back downward again. “I-I, I don’t know. I shouldn’t have said anything. I’m sorry, I don’t know anything,” she stutters.

I don’t know what comes over me, but every cell in my body is screaming at me to fix this, to comfort her, to protect her. I reach out slowly, resting my fingers over the back of her hand. I’ve touched more women than I can count, and it has all felt incredible, but this touch right here, as innocent as it is? I can’t explain it. Nothing compares. My heart pounds ruthlessly against my ribcage as pain lances through my veins. I’ve been tortured, stabbed, shot, and beaten, but I’ve never felt this kind of pain before. It’s something foreign, but I don’t want to fight against it; the opposite, actually, I want more of it.

Her eyes flick up from the spot of contact to meet my own, and I swear to the Devil himself, all the air in the building evaporates. I need to get her alone. I need to know everything about her, to tell her she’s going to be okay, to find out why she’s so clearly terrified of bikers and the name Kingsnakes.

“Why don’t you take a break, huh? Head to the restroom. I’ll knock twice, and then you’ll let me in, okay?” I realize I probably sound like a fucking lunatic and quickly follow it up with reassurance. “I won’t hurt you, have never hurt a woman in my life, but you know something, and I can tell you’re scared. They hurt someone close to us. Our brother. Ineedyouto tell me what you know. Nod once if you understand, sweetheart.” The pet name rolls off my tongue effortlessly. I could have called her by the name written on her tag, but that doesn’t feel right.

She holds my stare for what feels like minutes, and I wish it could be all fucking day. I track her body movements, and even though it’s minute, I can visibly see her relax slightly as her eyes hold mine hostage.Good girl. Eyes on me. Everything’s going to be okay. Then, before I’m ready for her to, she nods once and then quickly retreats, her head down, arms still wrapped tightly around her waist. It’s not until she’s out of my sight completely that I can take a full breath of air into my lungs.

Holy shit, what just happened? My body doesn’t feel like my own, my head fucking dizzy. I rap my fingers on the tabletop several times, trying to get my shit together. “I’ll be right back, boys.”

Noose snorts in response, and I glare at him, daring him to fuck with me right now.

“How about I go?” Malice suggests, and I’d rather slit his throat right here at the table than let him go in there with her. But I play it off with a chuckle. “Absolutely the fuck not. No offense, Mal, but you’re probably one of the reasons she looks terrified. You look like Death himself.”

Malice’s face scrunches up, his hand running through his wild blond hair. “I do not. Whatever. Just get the information. I want to get the fuck out of here if we aren’t bringing bodies back with us today.”

Easiest yes I’ve ever given. I nod at them, standing and adjusting my leather cut, heading toward the bathroom, hoping like hell she listened and is in there.

When I reach the bathroom, I take a deep breath and then rap the back of my knuckles twice against the door. It feels like torture waiting, but finally, the door cracks open, aflash of white-blond hair swishing as she quickly steps back, putting the length of the small single bathroom between us.

Her hands are wrapped tightly around herself, like she’s doing her best to be as small as possible. Too bad for her, she’s all I fucking see.

“Please, don’t hurt me. I’ve been—just, please.”

Pain pierces my chest at her words, followed by a strong desire to protect. I have the strongest urge to wrap her in my arms, but I know that’s fucking insane. She’s clearly terrified, and I need to do something. Everything inside me is boiling over and screaming at me to react. Protect. Comfort. Fix. Holy fuck, what’s the protocol here?

“You have my word. I’ll never hurt you. You look terrified, sweetheart, and like you could use a hug. I promise I’m not here to hurt you. Can I hug you?” I ask softly, holding out my hands in her direction in offering. Who the fuck offers to hug a goddamn stranger? She doesn’t know me from the next biker who’s rolled through here, and I’ve somehow convinced her to meet me alone in a bathroom, for fuck’s sake. But dammit, I want to comfort this girl more than I’ve wanted anything in a long-ass time.

She has a second where she looks like she’s considering it, and then she turns me down. Shaking her head from side to side.

“I—I don’t kn?—”

“Hey, it’s okay, it’s okay. That’s okay with me. I love physical touch, and when I’m feeling out of sorts, that’s all I want. I just wanted to offer it. Oxytocin and all that,” I tease to lessen some of the tension. My eyes flick down to her name tag, taking it in again before shaking my head. “Carrie?” A beat of silence passes between us while I wait on bated breath.Come on, baby, look up at me. Let me see those pretty blues. “Not your real name, is it?”

Her eyes finally flick up to me, and I swear there’s a hint of a small smile, nodding her head slightly. I can work with this. She’s so fucking beautiful it physically hurts. That pain in my chest gnawing at me from the inside out returns. I run my fist against my ribs again in an attempt to ease some of the ache. I need to get my fucking head in the game. We came all this way to hunt down information on the MC that called for the death of our brother. That’s why I’m here, not for taking care of her. My body rebels against the thought, my stomach twisting into knots.

“Alright, sweetheart, what can you tell me about the Kingsnakes?”

The woman in front of me looks so battered, and she gnaws on her bottom lip before pulling her shoulders back and talking.Thatta girl. “Their territory is Autumn Bay, and they don’t leave it often. The club used to be great, took care of the town and its people.” She pauses, swallowing roughly. “Before thismonstercame back from prison. He killed my—he killed the president and his wife, took over the club, named himself the new president, and has been doing everything he can to destroy and dismantle everything the Kingsnakes used to be.” It’s not lost on me that she used the word territory and seems to have a lot of insider knowledge about how this guy took over, not to mention her little word slipup. She’s connected somehow, and I hope to fuck she’s not some biker’s old lady.

“What’s his name?”

She really meets my eyes then, her face pleading with me, eyes welling with unshed tears, a look of true fear filling her pretty features.What the fuck did he do to her?

“Cain.”

Cain is going to die a slow, painful death.

“How ironic. That new president sent a man to kill his own blood brother,our brother, Rolo.”

“I’m sorry for your loss,” she whispers.

“How do you know all this?”