Page 25 of Cinder (MC Fables #2)
E lla
I wake up the next morning with the heavy weight of guilt sitting on my chest.
Because Lars is wrong.
What happened with Stone yesterday did affect me. Just not in the way he thinks.
It fills me with guilt.
Gut wrenching guilt.
And all last night I wrestled with it. Tossing and turning, my dreams fractured.
Because I remember what Viktor said to me.
I have a man on the inside.
And it’s haunted me all night.
I need to tell Lars.
But how do I tell him without raising his suspicions?
Because until Lucretia is out of our brother’s reach, I’m not risking her safety. No matter how much I want to confide in Lars.
A new wave of guilt washes over me, because I know the inside man is probably a Knight.
When Viktor first mentioned it, I thought it was someone on the periphery.
Someone on the staff. A girlfriend. An acquaintance.
A face that is meant to be inside the clubhouse, but not privy to club business.
But after what happened to Stone yesterday, I don’t think that that’s the case at all.
If what Lars said is true, I think Viktor’s man is one of the Knights.
I could be wrong.
But what if I’m not?
They could be riding into another ambush.
Something doesn’t feel right, and I wrestle with saying something until my stomach is tied up with knots.
But I know what I have to do.
I get ready for work quickly and catch an earlier bus into St. Boniface and arrive at the clubhouse just in time to see a few of the Knights descending the stairwell leading down to the underground garage.
Figuring Lars will already be at his bike, I follow them down the stony stairwell .
The underground garage is an old slipway, but it’s been modernized into a sleek garage.
When I walk in, it’s chaotic with the bark of Harley engines and men yelling at each other over the commotion.
Standing on tiptoe, I look for Lars, and when I find him, I hurry through the medley of bikes, ignoring the wolf whistles and comments as I weave in and out of the bikers getting ready to leave.
Lars is sitting on his bike checking his phone when I reach him.
“Ella…” He looks surprised. As if he’s wondering what I’m doing here, and I start to feel self-conscious. But then he smiles, and my stomach flutters. “Miss me already?”
Tell him.
Tell him everything.
But if I do, Luca will harm Lucretia.
“I just wanted to say… I guess I just wanted to say, be careful.”
His beautiful eyes roam over my face. Then he smiles, and it’s so damn handsome something warm and exciting spreads through my chest.
He pulls me closer by the waistband of my shorts. “Gotta say I wasn’t expecting a sendoff.” His hand runs up the back of my thigh. “But I’m sure damn happy to get one.”
Fully aware of his warm touch on my leg, I have to remind myself of why I am here .
It’s not to say goodbye. It’s to make sure he knows his suspicions are right, so he comes back alive. But I can’t let it come across as suspicious.
So if that means I have to let him caress my thigh then so be it.
“What happened yesterday. It stayed with me all night. What if you were ambushed because someone you trust tipped them off?” I frown. I know how crazy this sounds coming from me. And I know it looks suspicious. But I can’t let him leave knowing what I know.
He frowns. “Do you know something?”
“I had a nightmare.”
His brow lifts. “You had a nightmare?”
“I don’t have a good feeling about this.”
“Your concern is touching, Little Cinder.” He gives me that self-assured grin of his that is sexy as fuck. “Nothing is gonna happen to me. I’m like a cat with nine lives. And I still got three of them left.”
“Hearing you’ve already used six of them isn’t as reassuring as you think it is.”
His eyes gleam in the dim light of the underground garage. “Ain’t nothing gonna happen to me, sweetheart. I can see trouble coming long before it gets here.”
The thunderous bark of six Harleys gets louder as the bikers start to leave .
Without warning, Lars wraps his hand around the nape of my neck and pulls me down for a kiss.
A deep, smoldering kiss.
A deep, smoldering kiss that makes my toes curls and my skin tingle.
When he lets me go, he looks pleased with himself. “I hope there is more of that when I get back.”
And without another word, he roars off after his brothers.
But as I watch him disappear into the early morning sunlight, guilt and fear gnaw at my gut.
Because Lars is wrong.
He can’t see trouble in front of him.
Because if he could, he’d see that I’m right under his nose.