Page 40 of Pain

She was too intent on whatever she thought she needed to say to stop herself.

I let go of her and stepped back, hardening my will against her. I’d warned her, and she hadn’t listened. I wasn’t going to take responsibility for whatever she was about to say—or the consequences.

She knew the risks.

“If you have something to say, Mandy, say it,” I snapped. “But remember your place. I’ve already warned you once. I’m not going to give you another warning.”

She tipped her chin up and stared me down for several long moments before her gaze snapped over to Saraya again. I didn’t have to look to know what she was seeing. The girl was clearly naked and clearly in my bed, looking like she’d been up half the night with her legs spread and my cock buried inside her. There was no covering up what we’d done.

But if Mandy was going to try to give me trouble for taking a girl to my bed, she was going to find herself outside of the clubhouse, with the door locked behind her.

When she looked at me again, the tears were leaking out of her eyes, her expression angry. “I almost lost my man yesterday, Knight, and if he’d died, it would have been over her. Some girl who showed up one day and didn’t have any claim on the club, but who you brought home anyhow. A girl who doesn’t even belong here. And I just want to know. Does this actually have anything to do with honor? Are you actually saving a girl from a fate worse than death? Or...” She bit her lip and paused, finally—maybe—realizing that she was going too far and should stop now before she said anything she couldn’t take back.

Then she went ahead and said it anyhow.

“Because as far as I can see, this isn’t about honor at all. This is about you wanting to hurt Devil in any way you can. You’ve got his girl, and now you’re fucking her, and you’re not even thinking about what that might do to the rest of us.”

CHAPTER 18

SARAYA

I was so shocked at her words—and the hateful look she’d thrown my way right before them—that for a long, slow moment, I couldn’t get my brain to kick in and give me any orders for what to do next.

Then her words started to process, and my brain started working again.

That bitch—that bitch!—was actually claiming that it was my fault that Gemini had been shot. She’d asked straight out whether Knight was just sleeping with me to fuck Devil’s girlfriend, and in doing so, had made me sound like I mattered less than fucking dirt—or the shoes that picked it up.

That bitch.

I already had my T-shirt and underwear on again, courtesy of the quick and subtle dressing I’d started to do the moment Knight dragged Mandy into the room, and though I didn’t want to do this only half-clothed, I also didn’t want to take enough time to find the pajama pants that this very girl had loaned me.

Hell, yesterday she’d been offering her pajama pants and clothes, all pleased thankfulness that I’d helped her with her fucking boyfriend, and now she was coming in here and acting like I was nothing better than a piece of meat to be passed around and messed with?

Bitch.

I threw the blankets to the side and jumped out of bed, not caring what she thought of the fact that I was only half-clothed. After all, she obviously already knew that I’d slept with Knight and then spent the rest of the night in his bed.

It wasn’t like she could think any less of me than she already did when I proved her right on that point.

I stalked toward her, furious at her words and even more furious at the thought that I’d considered her to be a friend, and my face must have been truly alarming because she backed up several steps, trying to avoid me.

It didn’t matter. She might have been backing up as quickly as she could have and have several inches on me, but I didn’t give one single fuck.

I shoved her back against the wall the moment I could reach her.

“What did you just say?” I hissed. “Because unless I’m missing something, I’m pretty sure you just called me a slut. Or maybe you said I didn’t have any choice in anything and was just a piece of meat to be passed around and taken advantage of. Is that it?” I shoved her again, getting angrier with each word. “Which is it, Mandy? Because I want to know exactly what I’m kicking your ass for when I kick your ass.”

Mandy had been looking like she wanted to back down, but at my words, her face turned furious, and she flew at me, all nails and teeth and screeches.

She hit me like a ton of bricks, right in my stomach, and we went to the floor, kicking and biting and scratching for all we were worth. I squirmed and struggled, avoiding punch after punch from Mandy and holding my breath against her weight on my stomach. Shit the girl was heavy. If I was 5’3”, she had to be 5’7”, and I was betting she weighed at least 30 pounds more than I did.

She was also scrappy and mad. Not exactly the kind of girl you want to find sitting on your stomach.

What she didn’t know—couldn’t know—was that Dutch, Devil’s one-time best friend and my one-time ally in the Steeds, had been teaching me how to wrestle. He’d known what was going on with Devil and though he hadn’t been able to do anything about it, he’d vowed to at least make sure I made it out of every encounter alive.

No, I’d never been able to use any of the moves he taught me. Devil or one of his boys had always hit me in the face first, and I’d ended up cowering in a ball, just trying to protect my head. It didn’t exactly make for a situation where I could use the things Dutch and I had worked so hard on.

But that didn’t mean I didn’t remember how to do them. Dutch had made me practice and practice against him until my body had learned to move without my brain having to tell it what to do.