MasukLandon’s POVI didn’t know how long I’d been standing outside after Kasey ran. Minutes. Hours. Long enough for the sky to bruise from blue to that dull, dirty purple that came before night.I stayed where I was because if I went back inside, everything that had happened in the last three days would become real. The fight with Tyler. The vote. The looks from my men. The fucking disappointment from my old man. The disgust in my mother’s eyes. All of it.I could still see the way her shoulders had hitched with those silent sobs as she turned. The desperate scramble of her boots on the gravel as she ran. I’d watched until she was just a blur, then a shadow, then nothing.I’d done that. Every fucking tear was on me. I’d aimed for the heart and nailed it. I wanted her to hate me. Needed her to. If hatred was the fuel that got her the hell away from me, then I’d gladly be the villain. She was supposed to marry some rich doctor, live in a big house mansion with a green lawn, have kids who n
Wow. So much for a warm welcome.I opened my mouth, ready to snap back, ready to tell him exactly how thoroughly he’d ruined everything; my plans, my sleep, my sense of direction, my heart. A dozen sharp retorts crowded my tongue.None of them came out.My gaze snagged on the white bandage wrapped around his ear instead. It looked so wrong on him. Landon was supposed to be indestructible. Seeing proof that he wasn’t made my chest ache in a weird way. Why did I even care?He lied to me. Sold me out to the Antonellis like I was nothing. I should’ve been glad he’d fallen. I should’ve felt vindicated. So why did it still hurt for him?"I heard…" My voice came out thin and frayed. I cleared my throat and tried again. "I heard you got shot."A muscle ticked in his jaw. "Yeah. I got shot. If you’re here to see whether I’m still alive, you’re wasting your time. I am. Now get lost."He started to close the door.My hand shot out without thinking, slapping against the wood to stop it. "Wait."
"You, obviously," Tess said softly."And his brother," Maeve added. "Leo isn’t speaking to him. At all. And then there’s Tyler.""Tyler?" Did they fight? I mean, they had to seeing that Tyler knew about us now. Were the bruises on his knuckles from them fighting? Oh, God. What had I done?"Yeah. Word is Tyler’s done with him too. He cut him off completely. Reaper’s down his best friend." Maeve shook her head. "But the big one is the club. The vote happened this morning.""What vote?""To confirm him as the heir. The future president of the Club." She let out a low whistle. "It wasn’t even close. Ninety percent voted against him. They stripped him the title. He’s out." What? How could that even happen? Landon was the most hardworking member of the club. He’d bled for it, shown up every time, done everything right. He deserved to be the future president.So why would almost everyone vote against him?The question clawed at my chest and no matter how I turned it over in my mind, none of
I froze and looked away, fixing my gaze on the window. The sky outside was dull with clouds that looked like they might never break. It felt fitting somehow, like the world had decided to match the weight sitting in my chest."I know what happened between you," he said after a while.My shoulders tightened. What was I even supposed to say? Congratulations you found out I slept with your best friend? Or maybe, Sorry, I slept with your best friend? Neither felt like the right words. Hell, there were no right words."I failed you," he went on. "I let my best friend take advantage of you right under my nose.""He didn’t—" The words flew out of me on instinct before I could stop them. "It was consensual, Tyler. He might have lied to me, but he didn’t force me to do anything. I made the decisions to do whatever we did myself.""He took advantage," Tyler said gently. "He was the adult in the situation. He was supposed to know better.""I’m also an adult," I muttered, hating how small my voic
Kasey’s POV I had been lying on my bed for three days straight. Seventy-two hours of staring at the same pattern in the ceiling, the same fading poster on my wall, the same door that kept opening and closing with people who didn’t know what to do with me.Tyler had been sitting in the chair near my bed for a while now but hadn't said a word to me. This was the first time he’d come into my room since everything fell apart, and that alone told me how bad things really were.He finally stood up and stepped closer. "Move over," he said quietly. "You’re hogging the whole bed."I didn’t budge. I shifted my shoulder just enough to let him know I heard him, then kept scrolling on my phone.He didn’t go away. A heavy sigh gusted over me. "Fine. We’ll do this the hard way."A hand hooked under my shoulder and rolled me onto my back. I glared up at him. His face was drawn and there were shadows under his eyes. He looked older. He looked like shit."What do you want?""Thirty minutes," he said
His breath trembled like a man on the edge of snapping completely."Get up," he commanded. I didn’t move. Couldn't. My body was a goddamn wreck and I was shaking like a junkie in withdrawal."I said get the fuck up!" Tyler roared, his face twisted into something feral.With a groan that ripped from my gut, I pushed myself up slow, my palms slipping in the warm slick of my own blood. Every muscle screamed and the world was spinning like I'd been spun in a blender.I locked eyes with him—Tyler, my future VP, my ride-or-die brother since we were in diapers. The Iron Serpents MC's unbreakable enforcer. He stepped closer and aimed the gun at my face. "Why didn’t you tell me?" He demanded, his voice cracking like brittle glass under the rage. "Why didn’t you trust me enough to tell me what you were doing behind my fucking back? Sticking your dick in Kasey? My little sister, Landon? You fucked my goddamn baby sister!""I was scared," I said honestly. "Scared shitless of this exact moment.







