“Hunt,” I whispered, “please.”
Hunter’s eyes were black as night as he looked down at me. “He started this, and I’m settling it. It doesn’t have anything to do with you, Skye. He’s been pushing me for a while—”
Miles cut him off with more cruel laughs. “I wanna see the so-calledSavage. I wanna know why you get to have all these fucking privileges when your brothers are still working their asses off to have just a quarter of the reward you’re given. What the fuck makes you so worthy? If you ever knew where I came from or what I endured, boy, you’d be fucking shitting yourself!”
What the hell was wrong with this guy?
Why was he trying to rile Hunter up?
Ignoring Miles, I tugged at Hunter’s arm. “Forget what he’s saying. Come inside with me. Be with me. I’m here now.”
“You gonna make her your whore?” Miles continued to press, triggering Hunter. “Because if you do, everyone else gets fucking dibs—”
“No one fucking touches her,” Hunter gritted out, looking at him now with fire in his eyes. “No one!”
“Says who?”
“Says me!”
“Your word has no sway among us,” Miles went on. “You start to matter when you climb those ranks, and you ain’t anywhere near the top, are you, you violent little shit? So, when I say that whore is ours to touch, that’s the way it is—”
“Shut up,” Hunter retorted, veins popping out of his neck now.“Shut the fuck up, Miles.”
“You’re going to tell me, the club’s Road Captain, to shut the fuck up?” Miles rebutted, his voice oozing with condescension. “Is that how you speak to a patched member that outranks you?”
Hunter’s face twisted with conflict. “You’ve been pushing me!”
“Answer me, is that how you speak to your Road Captain?!”
“No,” Hunter snarled, fisting his hands now as he continued to stay rooted in front of me, his body shuddering as he slowly came undone.
“Be calm,” I whispered to him, noticing that his body was answering to my words, the anger present but controlled. “They’re just words, okay? His words can’t hurt you.”
“You think the enemy’s gonna care when they’re pushing you?” Miles raged on, interrupting my soothing.
“No,” Hunter pushed out.
“Look at me,” I pleaded now, settling a hand to his face. “Look at me, Hunt. He’s just pushing you—”
“And what of yourwhore?” Miles screamed now. “You gonna keep her as yourwhore,or you gonna do something about her?”
Hunter shook. “Stop calling her that—”
“I’ll call her whatever the fuck I want! Now answer me, boy. Are you gonna keep her as yourwhore, or are you gonna do something about her?”
“I’m going to do something about her,” Hunter seethed, glaring back at him.
“What are you gonna do? How are you going to protect her?” Miles sounded like he was nearing, which made me press my front further against Hunter’s to keep him still. My heart rattled in my chest, concerned and afraid of what was happening. “Because you know she won’t have our protection once she runs back to that fucker!”
“I’ll keep her safe!”
“Keep her safe as yourwhoreor yourold lady?!”
“My old lady!”
“Are you saying she’s your old lady?”
“She is.”