Page 9 of Word to the Wise

Making my way down the hall, my side starts to pulse again where Carter kicked me. I rub the raw bruise and hope it goes away quicker than it did the last time when he broke a rib.

I take a deep breath and remember how my face looked when I was staring in the mirror earlier. I’m already mentally planning how to hide the gashes with makeup, and I really shouldn’t be so good at this.

Never again.

Carter will never hurt me again.

I just hope I can find the strength to mean it this time.

3

Mason

I’m staring at theclosed bedroom door at the end of the hallway long after Reed disappears behind it. Sage is on the phone with Lyla, and he’s pacing in circles as he fills her in on what’s happening.

I barely hear anything over the white noise rattling, my hearing useless.

Carter Connors is a dead man.

There are very few things that truly set me off—a man putting his hands on a woman is one of them. Especially when that woman is Reed Jackson.

And for him to be the person she should have been able to trust above anyone else has my nightmares coming to life.

The bruises and cuts were one thing, but that wasn’t where she was hurting the worst. It was her fucking soul. Deep cuts the antiseptic can’t reach. Pain in places that will continue to haunt her.

Sage hangs up the phone with Lyla and stops at the opposite end of the kitchen island. “Lyla just got home, and she’s not feeling great. Plus, I need to head out to take care of some business.”

Club business—something I try to keep my nose out of.

It doesn’t bother me that Sage is a biker, but I don’t trust them in general, given my history with some guys back in Vegas. At least Sage seems to want more for his club than trafficking guns and drugs. Because if that wasn’t the case, I don’t know if we’d get along.

“That’s fine, I’ll be here,” I say, taking a sip of my beer and trying not to shatter it with my grip. “What do you know about this ex of hers? Assuming he is her ex now.”

“He fucking better be.”

My heart hammers just thinking about what the asshole did to Reed. How she tried to justify his actions when he deserves to have his dick chopped off and to be bled out for laying a hand on her.

Reed is a beam of sunshine, and he tried to dull that.

I’m not generally violent. Only when pushed to extremes. But I wish this Carter asshole had nine lives just so I could take every single one of them away in the most painful ways possible.

The fact that he’d hurt a woman—hiswoman—has me seeing red. This asshole deserves whatever hell is coming to him.

“How long do you think this shit’s been happening?” I ask.

“Probably longer than I want to think about.” Sage shakes his head. “I should have fucking noticed.”

“She hid it well.” Or maybe I’m not that observant, since I never suspected anything when I first met her. “Don’t blame yourself. You couldn’t have known. Especially if she wasn’t ready for you to.”

But the look in his eyes when his stare meets mine says that’s not going to happen, and I get it. I know what it’s like to fail someone you care about—especially a sister.

“Carter is a piece of shit.” Sage grinds his teeth. “The second I can get my hands on him, he’s going to make up for every mark he left on my sister.”

“Happy to help.” I shake my head.

“Thanks.” Sage nods. “I can’t believe she kept this to herself. Or that I didn’t see it. Even Lyla sensed something was off the last time Reed was in town. But I was just too fucking busy to notice.”

“And you think if you’d have asked, she would have just told you?” I take a sip of my beer. “She’s your sister, so I might not know her like you do, but you want my opinion?”