Page 108 of Knight
That was exactly what I had to do, though. The only thing worse than the Serpents taking me out would be them hurting one of the guys I’d come to think of as family.
“I appreciate the offer, but it would seriously infringe on my sex life,” I said. “I’ve gotta find some joy while I can.”
They all laughed, as I’d intended.
“Seriously, though, I know how these guys work. They won’t be back right away. I’ve got some time to come up with a plan.”
I hadn’t been bullshitting Aiden about that. The Serpents wouldn’t come back for a little while. They’d let me heal. Let me think about my options, of which there were few to none.
They wanted me looking over my shoulder.
Wanted me jumping at shadows.
The dread of when they’d return would do half the work for them. I knew, because while I was a Serpent, they’d used the same tactics against a biker who went AWOL. He’d tried to leave for his girlfriend’s sake, and they’d made him regret it.
I hadn’t been part of the group that stalked him, harassed him, beat him, and then waited for him to break.
But I’d heard all about it from Puck. Had realized with asinking gut that I was stuck with the Serpents for life. That there would be no escape.
Little did I know that getting arrested and thrown in prison would actually be my best way out of the life.
At least until now.
Because I was the Serpents’ new prey. And they wouldn’t stop coming for me without a fight.
CHAPTER 23
AIDEN
The numbers blurredon the screen. I rubbed at my eyes, the beginning of a headache thumping at my temples.
I’d been sleeping too little lately—thanks to Knight feeling much better—and the research I was doing was mentally taxing. Tabs and fields and numbers and commonality factors to eliminate.
I rolled my head with a tired sigh.
“Having fun, huh?” Foley asked with a grin.
“You know it.” I pushed back my chair. “I’m going to take a break and hydrate. I have a headache that won’t quit.”
“Here.” He pulled a small bottle of Tylenol out of his jacket pocket and held it up. “I never leave home without it.”
“Thanks.” I took the bottle and popped the lid off to shake out two tablets. “You get a lot of headaches at work?”
“Not so much anymore,” he said. “The first few times I did longer surgeries, though?” He whistled low. “Maintaining that intense focus for six to eight to ten hours is no joke.”
I nodded. “You’re a real pro in there. I guess Dr. Rose has been a good mentor?”
“Yeah, she’s great,” he said. “She doesn’t have the ego of a lot of the big docs. It’s why I came here.”
I smiled tiredly. “Yeah, me too.”
“Plus, you’ve got family here, right?” Foley said, surprising me. I didn’t think he paid much attention to people. He was standoffish—sometimes even rude—but I’d discovered he was mostly just single-minded about surgery.
“A brother, yeah. But I wanted Baltimore or Cleveland.”
He snorted. “Yeah, who wouldn’t? You think you got the chops for those programs?”
My chest tightened. “You think I don’t?”
