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He was back.
The man who had made my life a living hell for two years was back in town.
“Where did you get that picture from?” I demanded.
Monk’s arms tightened around me, and he held me close.
“Rebel took it last night. I was just as shocked as you were when Rebel sent it to me.” Barracuda laid his clenched fist on the table. “After he took that picture, Rebel watched Rain come outside where they kissed and then went back in the house.”
My stomach rolled at the thought of kissing Allan. “They’re together?” I gasped.
Barracuda shrugged. “So it would seem. This is the first time Rebel has seen him there, but they were pretty comfortable with each other.”
“He has to be the one who’s been trying to hurt me. He had vowed if he ever got the chance, he would kill me.” Allan’s threatening words from years past rolled through my head. The man didn’t have a nice or sweet bone in his body, but he had managed to get me under his spell in no time.
When I had been racking my brain to figure out who was trying to hurt me, his name had popped into my mind, but I didn’t think the man was dumb enough to ever come back to Sacramento, let alone California.
Barracuda had wanted to kill him, but I insisted that he let him live. Allan was a horrible person, and I didn’t want Barracuda to sink to his level. I obviously was a complete fool back then, and even when Allan deserved to die, I had spared him. For a while, I had thought that Barracuda had actually killed him and just told me he hadn’t because Allan did stay away.
Until now.
“Well, we don’t know for certain, but I would bet my left nut that he’s the one who gave you those pills and the one who loosened the lug nuts on your tire.” Barracuda sat back in his chair.
“But how did he get those pills to me?” I asked. “I looked at all of the videos from that night. He was not in the club.”
Monk rubbed his hand up and down my arm. “He’s got Rain doing his dirty work, Birdie. I’m sure she is the one who brought the pills into the clubhouse and then grabbed them from your desk while you were overdosing right before her.”
Up until now, I hadn’t hated Rain. Sure, I wanted to fire her and just get her out of the club, but I didn’t hate her.
I did now.
“So, what are we going to do about it?” I asked.
Monk shook his head. “We aren’t doing anything. The club is going to handle this, and you are going to stay here.”
I reared back and looked up at Monk. “Did you really just tell me I’m going to rest while you handle this?” Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen. I thought Allan was gone before, and now I was going to make sure that he was.
Barracuda chuckled. “I thought you had figured out that you can’t tell Mitzy what to do, brother.”
Monk folded his arms over his chest and gritted his teeth. “I guess I just got sick of standing over your bed after you almost died.” He leaned toward me. “Or did you forget overdosing and then totaling your car?”
I rolled my eyes. “It’s not like I’m going to go by myself and take care of Allan. You guys are going to catch him or whatever, and then I want to have a word with him.”
“A word with him?” Monk seethed. “You can tell me what you want to say to him, and I’ll make sure he gets the message before I rip his head off and shove it up his ass. I’ll make sure of it.”
“I’m coming with you, Monk, and you know you can try to stop me, but it won’t work.” I stepped toward him, and I pointed a finger into his chest. “Don’t cage me in.”
“It’s not caging you in. I’m keeping you safe.”
“I’m gonna head out and let you two figure this out.” Barracuda stood and grabbed his keys off the table.
“When are you going over to Allan’s?” I asked. I kept my eyes on Monk, but my question was for Barracuda. I knew he would tell me the truth.
“Uh, we need to figure a few things out, but we better do something soon before he decides to pack up and leave.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m still alive. He’s not going anywhere. The man is a piece of shit, but when he set his mind to something, nothing stopped him until the job was done.” Living with him for two years had shown me that.
“You are not going to do anything, Mitzy,” Monk vowed.
I awkwardly folded my good arm over my bad arm. Instead of looking intimidating, I looked like I was trying to land a plane. “Keep saying that, and things are going to change real quick between us, Monk.”
Allan had been the last person to tell me what I was and wasn’t going to do. No one else would ever treat me that way again.
“You mean keep caring about you and not want to see you get hurt?” Monk roared. “Excuse me for caring about you, Mitzy.” He grabbed his gun and pushed it into my hand. “Here, take my gun, and why don’t you march over to his place with guns blazing. You are one of the smartest people I know, but you are so stuck on the idea that no one can tell you what to do that you’ll cut off your own arm just to spite me.”
“If that’s what you think about me, then maybe you should leave,” I hissed. “No one tells me what I’m going or not going to do.”
Barracuda raised his hands in the air. “I’m out of here. You two figure this shit out on your own. You’re both in the wrong, by the way.” Barracuda slipped out the back door, and I listened to his bike roar to life.
“Why don’t you follow him back to the clubhouse?” I spat. “You’re not welcome here anymore, Monk.”
Monk closed his eyes and clenched his lips together.
“I’m serious, Monk. If you think you’re going to tell me what to do, then you can leave.” I wasn’t going to bend on this. I couldn’t.
Monk grabbed keys off the counter and stormed out the back door.
I couldn’t listen to him leave.
I had really thought he was different.
I was suppose to be his Birdie and he was my biker.
Tears clouded my eyes, and a sob ripped through my lips.
I wasn’t going to be a caged bird.
Not again.
*
