Page 38 of Havoc

“You’re insufferable.” She shakes her head, lifting the camera again. “Now, look happy this time.”

“I thought you were supposed to be taking random strangers’ pictures?”

“I will when you stop being so pretty.”

Her comment has a smile stretching my face, and her camera clicks a second later.

“Got you.” She grins, lowering the camera again.

“That’s not fair.”

She shrugs. “Then don’t make it so easy to use your ego against you.”

I open my mouth to say something, but my thought cuts off at the rumble of motorcycles rolling down the Strip. Turning, I spot the glare of sunlight against chrome first. Until they get a little closer and I take in their cuts.

“Is that your club?”

Aimee’s question snaps me into focus because it would be bad if this were my club. But this is so much worse.

“No.” I swallow hard, seeing Titan lead the pack of Iron Sinners.

“Do you know them?”

“Come here.” I grab Aimee’s elbow and move us so I’m blocking her from their view. “Stay like that.”

The chorus of engines gets louder as the Iron Sinners roll past us. But I don’t dare turn around. Even when I know they won’t miss my cut in this thin crowd. I stand still, blocking Aimee from view until the sound of motorcycles starts to quiet.

Only then do I realize I’ve pinned her against a wall. That my body surrounds hers. That I’d be the shield for this girl in any situation, but that she deserves so much more. She deserves a man who wouldn’t bring this trouble on her in the first place.

Maybe the Marines will be enough to cut those ties.

Maybe I can be that man someday.

Aimee stretches her neck to look up at me. “You say I worry too much. But you’re one to talk, Levi. How bad could your world possibly be?”

“Bad.”

Aimee hums, narrowing her beautiful eyes at me. “Good thing you’re getting out then.”

If only it were that simple.

12

Havoc

I didn’t sleep lastnight. Instead, I stared up at the ceiling, counting the hours until daylight.

Chaos tried to convince me to join the party when I got back to the clubhouse with Aimee, but I could barely force a smile, much less pretend for an entire night that everything was okay.

I walked Aimee to my room and waited quietly in the hallway until I heard that familiar sound of furniture dragging across the carpet. She doesn’t realize I’ve figured out that she’s barricading the door to sleep at night, but I saw grooves from the dresser to the door.

Now it makes sense.

Of course Aimee doesn’t feel safe at the clubhouse after the Iron Sinners held her hostage not once, but twice. Yet here I am, forcing her to stay in a past-due attempt to protect her.

It’s something I consider all night. Replaying our time together. Sifting through every second from the moment I met Aimee until she disappeared. I think about the near run-ins with my club and with the Iron Sinners. I think about her messages after I shipped out.

Last, I think about the months after she was gone. I run through every detail Steel and Ghost said.