Outlaw Revenge (Back Down Devil MC #1)(25)

“He’s here,” Emily said. “He knows everything.”

“What did you tell him?”

“Nothing, I swear.”

“Good.”

“But he’s smart. He’ll figure it out. He’ll know I lied. What if… I have to go.”

Emily took one step and Gaige was there to stop her.

“Like f*ck you’ll go. You’re staying.”

“No. You can’t tell me what to do.”

“You gave that up last night. I warned you.”

Gaige wasn’t afraid of Emily. Her eyes were deep and full of pain. She could try to act tough and angry, but it didn’t mean shit to him. When Emily slapped him across the face, Gaige didn’t move. When she attacked his chest with punches, he accepted them all.

Over and over, groaning as she attacked him, Gaige waited as long as he could. When she slapped him a second time, Gaige lifted Emily by the waist and tossed her to the bed. She cried out and bounced, then fought her way off the bed. She lunged at the door but Gaige was quicker. His arms wrapped around Emily and he lifted her. She kicked but he wasn’t letting her go.

“You’re not leaving,” Gaige said. “Not on my f*cking watch. You belong here. Tell me what else is going on.”

“Fuck you,” Emily said. “I won’t hurt anyone else.”

“I’ll stand like this all f*cking day.”

Emily came to a sudden stop. Her body went limp. She began to cry. Gaige walked her to a chair and sat her down.

“Are you done now?” he asked.

She looked at him. “I didn’t mean to hit you.”

“What else happened?”

“I’m hiding, Gaige,” Emily said.

“Hiding? What the f*ck does that mean?”

“That means there’s a reason why I keep to myself. I’m hiding from someone.”

“Who?”

“Someone who found me today.”

“Enough bullshit,” Gaige said. “Talk.”

“I was involved with a guy in northern California. Five years ago. He was third in line at the table.”

“You were with another club?” Gaige asked.

“I was with someone in a club. I had no real idea of all that came with it. But it was real. It was intense.”

Gaige crouched down and touched Emily’s waist. “Tell me everything right now.”

“He got into drugs. It went against the club, but he didn’t care. He had other guys involved, too. The drugs made money but the drugs he took made him into a monster.”

“He f*cking hurt you?”

Emily looked down.

“I’ll kill him,” Gaige said. “For you.”

“He’s a bad man,” Emily said. “One night when he came home I told him I was pregnant, so he wouldn’t hit me.”

“Pregnant?”

“I wasn’t though,” Emily said. “But it hit a nerve with him. He confessed to me he lost his mother, father, and baby brother in an accident when he was a kid. I think he thought me being pregnant would replace his little brother. I had to leave him though. I couldn’t take it. So I told him one night to get really high and celebrate and he did. When he passed out, I left. I went north and let him chase me. He threatened me, over and over, telling me he would kidnap me, let me have his baby, and then kill me. I pretended to slip up and made him believe I was going into Canada. That’s when I took a flight south to Los Angeles and then came here to Frelen.”

“Why here?” Gaige asked.

“Small, quiet, and near a beach.”

“And he f*cking found you?”

“He came into my office today.”

“Fuck,” Gaige said. “Did he hurt you?”

“No, but he has a woman.”

“Kidnapped?”

“Technically, no,” Emily said. “He called me and I set him up with the woman. Belle.”

“What the f*ck?”

“He used a fake name, Gaige. This was all a setup. To scare me.”

Gaige saw Emily’s lip quiver as tears came to her eyes again.

Fuck, she was beyond petrified of this *. That didn’t sit well with Gaige. He wouldn’t allow Emily to be in fear like this. Not because of some f*cking guy.

“What did he say to you when he saw you?” Gaige asked.

Emily shook her head.

“I don’t play games,” Gaige said. “If you don’t tell me, I can’t help you. If you don’t want my f*cking help, you know where the door is. I’ll have Blaine take you to your apartment.”

Emily wiped her cheeks.

Gaige closed his eyes and sighed. He wasn’t in the business of wasting time. It was sometimes best to just spill words instead of waiting.

“I want to help you,” Gaige whispered. “I want to protect you. I never want to see you in fear like this ever again. But I can’t…”

“He said he’s going to f*cking kill me,” Emily yelled. “Okay? Fucking kill me. And he looked at me with those eyes… those same eyes when he used to hurt me.”

Emily hurried to stand, kneeing Gaige in the face. He fell back to his ass and Emily gasped. Gaige touched his lip and looked at the blood on his finger. He licked his lip, tasting his own blood.