Page 112 of Silver Fox Daddies

“They must suspect us of something,” Bishop says as Lifesaver works on his burn wound. “They told me to?—”

“Stay out of trouble,” interjects Cash. “Yeah, they told me that too.”

“They suspect something—that’s it,” Diesel says. “But as far as they’re aware, we haven’t done anything. They don’t have any evidence.”

“You’re lucky it all got burned down with the house,” Lifesaver notes.

I sit twirling a glass of lemonade in my hands. Cash insisted that I needed something sweet and fizzy to restore my sugar levels, but after what happened yesterday, I’m not sure I’ll ever go back to the way I was.

“What about you, Melissa?” asks Lifesaver. “What did you tell the cops?”

“That I didn’t think my daddy had it in him to turn on me like that.” I stare at the glass. I also didn’t think I had it inmeto kill him.

Looking back, I know it was for the best that I was hanging on to consciousness by a thread in that basement. If I’d been fully conscious, lungs free of smoke, body full of oxygen, I would have thought too much and not gone through with the kill.

But that’s the thing when you’re in a situation like I was yesterday.

You don’t think. You just do.

If he made it out alive, things only would have gotten worse. For burning down his house and killing some of his members, he would’ve plotted to set the Venom Vultures clubhouse alight as revenge. Not just that, he would have stopped at nothing to take down Diesel, Cash, and Bishop, roping them up inside his torture chamber, performing all kinds of madness on them.

More lives would have been lost if he made it out of the fire.

He was hungry for power as it was. It was only going to get worse after the fire.

I stare into space as Lifesaver finishes up on Bishop’s leg. I wince every time I even glimpse the burn, getting secondhand pain from the sight alone.

“Third degree burn, unfortunately.”

Bishop looks up at the clubhouse doctor’s face. “Will it need amputating?”

“I don’t think so. You’ll have to visit the hospital for them to see if there’s any deep tissue or vessel damage. I don’t have theequipment to check that here at the clubhouse.” Lifesaver stands up, grabbing his hit kit to leave. “You’re all lucky.” He glances me. “Melissa, we salute you.”

I frown as he walks off, leaving the four of us alone. It’s the middle of the day, so the place is quiet, only a few people dotted about.

Even in the silence, I hear the roaring fire, see the ripples of orange. I’ve never heard anyone cry like Bishop and Cash did when they got caught in the blaze. I sit here now, unable to move, still hearing their agonizing screams. I fear it’s something I won’t ever stop hearing.

I still taste the pungent smoke on my tongue, feel it working its way into my lungs.

I catch Diesel staring into space and know he’s living it out again too.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t have been more help.” He bites his lip. “Last time I was involved in a fire, I lost two of my closest comrades.”

We bask in a tense silence for another beat.

And then the door bursts open.

“I don’t know whether to punish or fist-bump you three bastards.”

I turn around to see Grizzly strolling in.

“I heard what happened,” he continues. “Saw it with my own eyes, actually.”

“Saw what?” Bishops glances over his shoulder, stiff from his injuries.

“Jeez…” Grizzly looks at the dressing, clearly not expecting to find his road captain in this state. The burn stretches from his calf all the way down to his foot. “How does it feel?”

“That’s the problem. I don’t feel anything.”