Page 126 of Joker

Shadow shoves him. “Shut the fuck up.”

Cain’s biting the inside of his cheek like he’s trying not to laugh too, which is almost worse.

And Logan?

Logan leans back in his chair with the look of a man who just watched exactly the kind of train wreck he hoped for.

“That,” he says, pointing at me, “was the most romantic threat of bodily harm I’ve ever heard.”

I stare at all of them.

Slowly. Flatly. One by one.

“You’re all gonna die.”

That just makes Blaze laugh harder.

Shadow shakes his head, still grinning despite himself. “Brother, you are so fucking gone.”

Yeah.

That part’s not up for debate anymore. I don’t bother denying it. Because there’s no point.

Not after that call. Not after the look on Raven’s face this morning. Not after the way Lexi stuck herself to my side at breakfast like I’d always been there. Not after hearing another man, even her father, talk about her like she was anything less than what she is and feeling every violent instinct in me rise up to tear his throat out.

No.

There’s no denying it now. I’m in too deep to pretend otherwise.

And the worst part?

I don’t want out.

I push off Logan’s desk and head for the door before one of these assholes says something else I’ll have to physically respond to.

Logan calls after me just before I hit the hall. “Joker.”

I stop and glance back. His expression’s different now. Still amused around the edges, but steadier underneath it. More serious. “You mean what you said?”

That one doesn’t need clarification.

He’s not asking if I meant the threat. He knows I did. He’s asking if I meant the rest of it.

The old lady part. The permanence. The claim. The weight.

I hold his gaze for exactly one second before answering. “Every word.”

And then I walk out.

Because Raven’s outside.

And her father wants to hear her voice. And I’ve got exactly one thought burning low and hard in my chest as I head for the door.

Mine.

I know I have to tell him before I actually decide to do it.

That’s how I know it’s real.