Page 4 of Unmasked Anarchy (Fallen Sons MC #3)

G age watches the door as if Kael might turn, charging back in to start a fight neither of them would win.

He rests his gun on the windowsill, muzzle up, like it’s nothing more than a toy.

The nurse lingered only long enough to murmur something about bringing a doctor back, then she disappears.

Gage watches her go, then turns to me, staring down.

“What happened?”

I shake my head, not wanting to go into this.

What if he had something to do with it? The thought isn’t something new.

It’s something that has haunted my mind every single time I become conscious.

Gage is the president of an MC, and that MC is in a lot of dangerous business right now.

Would he use me to get himself out of something? To set someone up?

I don’t know.

“Bullshit,” he hisses, leaning down and taking my chin firmly in his hand. “Don’t lie to me, Sabie. You know it won’t go well.”

Sabie.

He is the only person in the world who calls me that.

I swallow, but his grip doesn’t loosen on my chin.

“Who did this?” he asks again, low now, almost gentle.

I try to swallow, but my throat closes around the word, and for a second I can’t breathe. I close my eyes, taking a painful breath.

“I don’t know,” I say, and it’s technically true. I never saw a face.

Gage’s gaze drags over my face. “Who stands to gain?” he growls.

I look past him at the TV on the high bracket. “Take your pick,” I mutter.

“Benny wants me dead, but he doesn’t have the balls. Raul?” Gage ticks them off with the steady, deliberate movements of someone who has already considered killing all of them himself.

He’s made his shortlist. I know that look, but he can’t quite figure out who was to blame. Of course, the attack was a way of getting to him. It always is.

“You weren’t the mark,” he mutters. “You were just bait.”

My body shivers. “They left me for dead.”

Gage’s mouth presses tight, his eyes flashing with rage. “Not dead enough.”

I flinch away from the memory. Even though it’s weak, it’s there. The feeling of the blade digging into my flesh, the sounds it made, the way I dragged my body from that ditch. They thought I was dead. They wanted me never to return. But I did.

What does that mean for the club?

Gage’s hand hovers above my wrist, not touching, he’s never been good with comfort. Instead, he turns and begins to pace, his boots thudding as his eyes narrow, his mind racing. He stops at the window and cracks it open, exhaling.

“It was a message,” he says, not to me, but to the street below. “They want me to know they are willing to do anything. Including killin’ my old lady.”

The nurse’s voice returns, coming through the open doorway. “Doctor will be right in. Please, sir, if you could wait in the hall.”

Gage ignores her as if she isn’t even here. “Did you see the car?” he asks me.

I shake my head and tell him the things I did see.

“Sir,” the nurse tries again.

Gage turns and looks at her. “That’s my wife. You want me to leave, best you call security because I’m not goin' anywhere.”

Her eyes widen and she nods just as a doctor steps in the room.

His eyes fall on Gage, and he straightens his back, walking over to me.

Most people don’t like club members, especially doctors and police officers.

It’s safe to say they generally don’t get along, unless of course they are on the MC’s payroll.

“Hi Sable, it’s good to see you awake. How are you feeling?”

“Like I had my insides cut out,” I mutter.

He nods, his eyes moving to Gage once more. “The police are going to want to ask some questions when you’re up for it.”

“Nobody asks her nothin’ unless I am here.”

I swallow and look at the doctor. “What he said.”

The doctor’s jaw muscles jump. “I’ll make note. You were in a bad way; we have you on heavy doses of antibiotics because your insides were exposed for a lot longer than you should even be able to survive. It is quite impressive you are still here ...”

“I’m not ready to go yet,” I murmur. “It’ll take more than that to take me out.”

I say it lightly, but inside, the fear is gripping my heart like a vice.

They finish up checking me out and then give me some pain medication through my IV before leaving.

It works quickly, and my body melts into the bed as I watch Gage walk over to me, leaning down and pressing his lips to mine.

I wish it was a kiss like something out of a movie, a perfect moment, the kind that was supposed to prove you still belonged to someone.

But it isn’t. Instead, it’s the kiss of a man who owns me, and nothing more.

Yet I still want him so desperately. When his mouth is on mine, when his cock is inside me, I want to clutch him and bring him closer, never letting him go, basking in his scent and the feeling of him.

But he never lets me get there, never lets me close enough, instead he just leaves me dangling, desperate, wanting more even though I know I’ll never get it.

I wish he had some love left. Hell, I’m not sure there was ever any to begin with.

I can still hope, though, that maybe deep under the surface of every fight and fuck and morning after, there’s still some version of the teenager who wanted to save a broken girl.

But Gage has long since burned away any parts of himself that didn’t serve a purpose.

What’s left is nothing but a man I so desperately crave, and yet I know deep down will never love me the way I need.

He pulls back, staring at me with those black eyes, just a hint of brown glistening through.

“Puttin’ Reggie on the door, you won’t be here alone,” he says, low.

“Not until we know who came for you.” His hand finds my jaw again, fingers cold and rough against my cheek.

It should hurt, but I lean into it anyway, desperate for something that feels like home.

The painkillers roll through me in slow waves. I can feel my body trying to drift into oblivion. The hum of the hospital machines. If Reggie is here, that means Kael can’t come back.

Kael.

I can’t stop thinking about how he looked at me, how he didn’t look away, not once.

How his hands were gentle and his voice calm.

Stupid, but I want to see him again. I want to ask if he ever thought about leaving, and if he did, whether it felt better or worse than staying put.

I want more of that feeling of safety that lasted only the span of a heartbeat but still lingers, haunting me.

But Gage doesn’t let me go, and I fear he never will.

Not even when my muscles start to give way and my head gets heavy.

He won’t leave until he knows I’m deep into the abyss, lost in my own wild dreams. His fingers stay on my face, and as I drift deeper, I feel them roam over my skin.

It’s the only version of love he knows how to give, so for now, I let him have it.

For now.

But for how much longer?

~*~*~*~*~

A ROUGH FINGER TRAILS over my face, and I open my eyes, taking a moment to adjust my vision.

The room is dim, shadows dancing across the walls, and I see a man staring down at me.

His eyes are intense, scanning every inch of my face as if searching for something hidden beneath the surface.

My heart skips a beat, a flutter of anxiety mixed with curiosity.

I part my lips, licking them slowly, trying to ease the dryness that has settled in overnight.

I can feel the warmth of his presence, the subtle scent of leather and smoke clinging to him, a reminder of the world he comes from.

His gaze is unwavering, holding mine with a quiet intensity that makes it hard to look away.

Kael.

He came back.

“I didn’t think I would see you again,” I croak, rubbing my eyes to clear them.

“I didn’t think you were an old lady.”

I exhale, slowly. “I didn’t say anything, but honestly, I wasn’t really thinking about it ...”

“Fair,” he murmurs, pulling a chair over and sitting beside my bed, leaning forward, his elbows pressing into the mattress. “You know me bein’ here goes against everything I have ever been taught.”

And yet, he’s here.

Why?

“Why did you come back?”

“Curiosity, a need to protect, I don’t honestly know.”

Knowing he even feels the slightest need to protect me warms something in my heart. A feeling I haven’t felt in a very long time. Guilt quickly follows. The horrible truth is that I am an old lady, which means even talking to Kael is a problem that could explode, costing us both our lives.

He knows that, though.

He studies my face with some hesitation, as if he isn’t quite sure just how loyal I am. I stare at his hands, his tattooed knuckles and the rings on his fingers.

He’s beautiful. Mysteriously so.

"Who do you think did it?" he asks, simply. "You said you didn't see a face. But you've got to have a guess. Old ladies know far more about club business than we think they do.”

I swallow, hesitating. Kael isn't like Gage. He will see through my lies because he is studying me in a way Gage never has. His eyes are sharp, piercing, as if they can unravel every secret I’ve ever tried to hide.

There’s an intensity in his gaze, a quiet understanding that makes me feel exposed, vulnerable.

He is looking at me with a depth that tells me he can see straight into my soul, reading the unspoken fears and doubts that linger there.

The problem is, I don’t think it’s a wise idea to give him club business.

The Fallen Sons MC operates in shadows, their dealings wrapped in layers of secrecy and loyalty.

Sharing anything with Kael feels like stepping into dangerous territory, a risk that could unravel everything.

Yet, there’s something about him that draws me in, a magnetic pull that makes me want to trust him despite the risks.

But trust is a luxury I can’t afford, not when the stakes are this high.