Page 8 of Blade
“Everything okay?” I asked.
“We just buzzed in a car with the delivery,” Gator spoke up.
“What delivery?” I was a little confused. Maybe I should’ve had more coffee.
“From Venom,” Raptor stated.
The car pulled up to the clubhouse and we waited for the dust to settle for a moment. It was hard to see in the vehicle with the sun in my eyes. The driver climbed out and I grinned.
“Good God, it’s like a damn sauna here. How do you guys voluntarily live in this shit?” Squirrel asked as he rested an arm on the top of the car.
We all chuckled at him.
“I ask myself that damn near every day up until winter,” I replied.
“You get used to it,” Phoenix chimed in.
“Well, I brought you something for safe-keeping, then I’m heading back to livable temperatures. You couldn’t pay me to live here. Never, ever, ever.” He walked around the car and opened the passenger door.
“Never say never,” Raptor added with a laugh.
Squirrel reached a hand into the car. He helped a woman to her feet. Her blonde hair glowed in the early morning sun.
I squinted and tried to shade my eyes. She stepped around the door and faced us with a nervous smile.
My knees almost gave out.
Eliska.
It was as if she’d been conjured out of my dreams. Her pretty cornflower blue eyes locked on mine as Squirrel got her suitcase out of the trunk. My heart stuttered.
No, no, no, no, no.
She couldn’t be there. Even years later, I wasn’t strong enough to stay away from her. But after everything she’d been through, she needed someone who would be soft and kind with her. She deserved that.
And that wasn’t me. I wasn’t kind. I wasn’t soft. I was full of hate and sickness. I’d beenconditionednot to feel. I’d been manipulated and groomed to inflict pain and Ienjoyedit.
The only person I truly had love or a soft spot for was Sage. She was like the little sister I’d never had. Because of what I’d allowed to happen to her, I promised myself I would always be there for her. Always protect her.
Eliska wasn’t like a sister.
At all.
Eliska would get hurt by me and that would destroy me in ways that Luis never could.
It was why I’d truly left Iowa for good. Because three years ago, when she’d shown up on our doorstep there, I was mesmerized. For once in my life, I had a soft spot for a woman other than Sage. For once in my life, Iwantedto be a good man who knew how to be gentle and sweet with a woman. Yet that was impossible. It was too late for that, and I wouldn’t even know where to begin.
Masking my dismay with anger, I practically snarled. “Why is she here?”
Squirrel snapped his gaze to mine as did the rest of my brothers. Their expressions told me I was acting out of character—but I knew that. I simply couldn’t help myself.
Eliska initially looked frightened, but I watched as she noticeably straightened her spine and lifted her chin. Her eyes narrowed on me. The little dove had acquired some backbone.
Good. She’d need it.
“You need to calm down,” Raptor quietly demanded as he looked up from his phone. I didn’t know what was wrong with me. I was normally a jokester and in a good mood.
Maybe it had to do with the fact that I’d recently dispersed the man responsible for what had happened to her and then there she was. Maybe it was the fact that I found myself torn because if I could’ve ended that piece of shit, Zeke, before he fucked up her life and mind, I would’ve. Yet, if that had happened, I would never have known she existed.