Page 76 of Gatsby's Starlet
I didn’t look at him, didn’t need to, just stood there and let it settle instead of reacting, because reacting fast got people killed, and I already had enough sitting in front of me whether I wanted it to or not.
I’d let her in.
Let her get close.
And somewhere in the middle of that, she’d been playing me.
I dragged a hand over my mouth, breathed out slow, and locked it down, because that part didn’t get to stay, not right now, not when there was something bigger sitting in front of me.
“We need to find out what those bastards are up to,” I said, calm, like something hadn’t just shifted in a way that wasn’t going back.
“We will,” Devil said. “We’ve got a starting point.”
“No better time than now.”
“War room.” He was already reaching for his phone.
I turned and walked out without another word, my head already colder, cleaner, everything in place where it needed to be… except for one thing that wouldn’t settle.
She didn’t fight it, and that didn’t fit.
Didn’t line up with what I’d seen, but I pushed it down anyway, because the rest of it made too much sense.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
THE RIDE FELTlong,not because of distance but because every second stretched in a way that made it harder to breathe, the sound of the engine too loud beneath me and the wind biting against my skin as I sat there behind Kane with nowhere to go and nothing to hold onto except the reality settling in piece by piece.
I was in big trouble.
My hands stayed locked on his sides because I didn’t have a choice, my fingers curled tighter than they needed to be, not for balance but because letting go felt like falling into something worse, something I couldn’t see yet but already knew was waiting.
He didn’t speak.
Everything about him said the same thing without words.
This was happening.
The road shifted under us after a while, the smooth pavement giving way to something rougher, uneven, the bikekicking up small bursts of gravel as we turned onto the dirt road that stretched out, cutting through trees that swallowed the last of the light as we moved deeper into something that felt too far removed from everything I knew.
By the time the clubhouse came into view, my chest was already tight, my pulse uneven as I took in what I could see through the dim light, bikes scattered instead of lined, men moving in ways that screamed violence.
Kane slowed the bike before cutting the engine, the sudden quiet hitting harder than the ride had, and for a second I didn’t move, didn’t trust myself to, because stepping off meant I wasn’t ever going back.
“Off!” he practically snarled, not looking back.
I swallowed hard and got off, my legs unsteady for half a second when my feet hit the ground, the weight of everything catching up all at once as I pulled the helmet off and handed it back to him, my fingers brushing his for the briefest moment before I stepped away.
It didn’t give me distance.
Nothing here did.
Eyes were already on me.
I felt it before I fully saw it, the shift in attention, the way conversations dipped just slightly, not stopping but changing, like I’d become something to watch without anyone needing to say it out loud.
“You pissed me the fuck off,” he muttered, his voice furious as he took the helmet from me and hooked it onto the bike, his movements unhurried, controlled in a way that made it worse. “And I fuckin’ warned you.”
The way he said it made my stomach turn so hard I thought I double over.
