Reign of Wrath (Dirty Broken Savages #3)(30)

“Ever since I left, really.” One side of his mouth quirks up in a little smile. “Even when I couldn’t really afford it.”

That fits with what I know about Gage, and I like the thought of it. He didn’t leave her behind when he left, and he kept trying to help her and support her, even before it was as easy as it was now. It just goes along with how much he cares about the people in his heart. How he’s willing to do anything he can for them.

“Have you ever tried to get her out of there?” I ask.

“Plenty of times,” he says. “Over the years, I’ve given her more than enough money that she could have left already and moved into some place much nicer. But that’s not how she is. She doesn’t even keep all the money. She spreads it around to the other tenants and helps them out. There are people she cares about there. People she’s helped as much as she helped me. She’s not going to leave them behind, and I can’t argue with her about it, because I get that.”

“Yeah,” I say softly. “I get it too.”

Gage reaches across the center console and rests his hand on my leg, squeezing a little. I can feel the warmth of his palm through my pants, and the gesture is possessive and affectionate at the same time.

Neither of us says anything, but he lets his hand linger there.

And in the end, that says a lot.





10





Knox





I drum my fingers on the steering wheel as I head back home from hunting down leads. It’s not too late yet, still early evening, and something like anxiety is jumping under my skin.

I’m anxious to get back home for some reason. I don’t know if River and Gage will be back yet, but I want to see River. I thought I was addicted to her before, but now it’s something bigger than that.

Not addiction.

Obsession.

Seeing that fucker feeling her up at the bar, seeing River so broken and fucked up… it made me see red. She was just slumped there, clearly going through some shit, and that fucker decided to take advantage of her. Like she didn’t even matter. Like she was just a piece of meat for him to paw at because he was horny or whatever.

Looking back on it, I wish I’d made him suffer more. He fucking deserved it. He deserved to have that shit drawn out so he could feel maybe even a fraction of the pain that River was in then. But at the time, I was too anxious to get back to River and make sure she was okay, so I took care of that asshole quick.

There’s that itch under my skin that means the beast inside me is pacing in its cage. I want to take more motherfuckers out. Burn the whole damn world down if it would make River feel better. Hunting down leads and shit is all well and good, but I want some action. I want to do something, bring her some heads on a platter if it’ll help.

But I know that part is going to come eventually. This is all part of a bigger plan, but there’s murder at the end of it, so I can live with that. As long as someone kills Julian, it’s okay.

I pull up to the house, and my mood brightens when I see Gage’s car in the driveway.

That means she’s here.

River is in the kitchen with the other three Kings. Priest is at the kitchen table with his chair pulled out so River can perch in his lap. She looks better than she did when we found her at that bar, although she still seems run down and tired.

But she’s not giving up. That’s the thing that always draws me back to her time and time again.

She never gives up.

Priest is running his hands over her sides while she sits there, clearly still needing to have her close after almost losing her. I get that, but he’s not the only one who almost lost her, so he can share her with the rest of us. I walk over and pluck her up from his lap, setting her on the counter like she weighs nothing.

Priest doesn’t argue, and I shoot him a little grin. “My turn now.”

River just snorts, rolling her eyes.

I step between her legs and bury my face in the silvery hair that cascades down the crook of her neck, inhaling her like some kind of druggie getting a fix. She smells like the floral shit she uses to wash her hair, and also that undercurrent of something sweet and indefinable that’s just… her.

She tilts her head to the side, letting me do whatever I want, and my cock jumps a little in my pants, getting hard. It used to be a fight to get her to accept this kind of affection and possessiveness, but now she’s welcoming it and relaxing into it, and that’s hot as fuck to me.

She slides a hand down my chest, not really heading anywhere, just touching me back, and I give a low, pleased rumble in my chest. The anxiety that was hopping under my skin is calming down now, and I feel my shoulders relaxing even as my cock decides that relaxing is for chumps.

“How did it go?” Gage asks, leaning against the kitchen island with his arms folded.

I pull back from River’s neck so I can speak to him but keep one hand at her waist, my fingers dipping under the hem of her shirt because I need to be touching her in some way.

“Got some good info,” I tell him. While the others were hunting for information about Julian, I went to see what happened in the aftermath of the shootout at the church. “Looks like all the cartel fuckers who pulled up on us are dead. They probably didn’t know what they were walking into and how many dangerous people would be at the church that day. They expected it to be a massacre, but…”