Page 53 of Silver Fox Daddies

But I don’t know…there’s something I just can’t shake about them, like the universe is pulling me toward them.

I fight the oncoming wind, tears sliding down my face diagonally from the impact. A bird arches above with a wingspan similar to the stuffed golden eagle back in the clubhouse. Anxiety gurgles in my stomach. Why didn’t I think this through?

I’m in adesert.That means there’s bird of prey, coyotes, tarantulas and everything…

But running away is best. I’ll get myself home.

But it won’t be to my father’s house.

I’ll go back to my college dorm. Sleep it off. I can’t stay at the clubhouse any longer. I could have lost my life. I was almostraped.

I ruined Mom’s dress too.

Not to mention the fact that me staying there was getting Diesel, Bishop, and Cash in trouble—not only with their president, but with their club too. I don’t want to be the one responsible for causing disputes. I’d hate for Cash to not earn his badge because of me, or even worse, for one of them to lose their life because I was distracting them.

It’s best that I’m out of the way.

I just…don’t know where to go from here.

Slowing my jog, I take out my phone—thank god I managed to grab it before leaving the building. I go to call Natasha. I’m gonna have a lot of explaining to do, but if she can give me a lift, I’ll be one anxiety lighter.

I tap the phone on. Nothing. Navigating to the side button, I press it down with my thumb, mustering what little strength I have left to switch the thing on. A factory reset—I don’t care at this point. I just need to call someone.

But it’s dead. I catch a blurred reflection of myself in the black reflection. My hair blows all over the place, belonging to the wind. Pocketing the phone, I stop for a moment and ponder my next steps.

That’s when a hand reaches out and closes around my wrist, yanking me back. I gasp, expecting a man in a skull jacket to have me at gunpoint.

It’s Diesel.

The tension leaves my bones the second I set my eyes on him.

“How did you?—?”

“No questions. We need to finish what we started.”

Diesel throwsme into the tattoo parlor, locking the door behind us.

Cash and Bishop emerge from the darkness.

“An intervention?” I place a hand on my hip and scoff. “Seriously?”

“You can’t run away.” Diesel’s lips form into a straight line. He looks pissed off.

It’s the first time he’s spoken to me properly after capturing me out in the desert. He fireman-carried me all the way back in silence, showing no signs of struggling.

“I had to run away. It’s the best decision for all of us.”

“I agree, it’s best if you’re away, but free-running out into the desert will get you killed. You need to go back to the city.” Diesel hesitates. “But that doesn’t mean we want to stop seeing you altogether.” Pieces of iron-gray hair fall around his face, disheveled from the wind. He looks good like this. Less intimidating.

I fold my arms over my chest, digesting his words.

“Don’t listen to Gigi,” Bishop says. “She’s jealous.”

I turn away, not wanting to think too much about Bishop’s sexual history. The thought brings uneasiness to my chest.

“I don’t think you quite understand the effect you have on us,” says Cash.

I narrow my eyes. “What is that supposed to mean?”