Sacrifice by Caitlyn Dare
Sadie
Wes sinks against my leather seat and closes his eyes, letting out a weary sigh. Anger ripples through me from his confession. I’d suspected that things with his dad were bad, but I didn’t think… God. I can’t even imagine.
“Hey,” he says quietly, reaching over and sliding his hand along my knee. “I’m okay.”
I glance at him, smiling weakly. “I’m taking you to the compound, okay?” He nods and I add, “I think we should tell someone… about your dad.”
“Sadie, no.” Panic flares in his eyes, but I try to focus on the road. “I can handle—”
“I won’t stand around and do nothing, not when I…” I swallow the words, trapping them between pursed lips.
“When you what?”
“When I care about you.” My eyes flick to Wes again, and this time, I find him smiling. “What?”
“Nothing.” He grins. “Nothing at all.”
We ride the rest of the distance to the compound in silence. It isn’t awkward or uncomfortable, though. I can’t explain it, but I feel safe with Wes. I feel like I can just be. It’s weird, but I’m done questioning it.
Wes wasn’t wrong earlier, when he said that Rhett and Dane won’t like it. Rhett won’t. I’m not so sure about Dane, especially after last night, the things he said. But it’s too late to go back now. I want them.
I want them all.
And I’ll do whatever I can to keep them. Even if it means Rhett throws a massive tantrum.
The second we reach the compound, Wes sits a little straighter. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” he asks. “The last time I was here…”
“If you hadn’t come here to find them, I might not have—” I swallow the lump in my throat. “You saved me, Wes.” My hand covers his, and the air crackles between us.
“Sadie, I—”
Steel crunches and cranks and the gate starts to roll open, and I give a little shake of my head. “Later,” I say.
“Yeah.” Wes runs a hand down his face, letting out a low whistle as I drive inside and park in my usual spot outside the shop. “Whoa, this is quite the… operation.”
“Welcome to the inner sanctum of the Sinners MC.” A smirk plays on my lips.
“Gotta say, I never thought I’d see inside those gates, and now I’ve seen it twice in less than twenty-four hours.”
“Come on, let’s go find my dad.”
“Y-your dad?”
“Well yeah,” my brows bunch, “the guys came to talk to him.”
“Right.” He pales, and I smother a chuckle.
“Relax, he won’t bite. Much.” I wink and shoulder the door, climbing out of the truck.
Wes joins me and we head for the clubhouse, ignoring the curious stares of the few bikers milling around. The second we enter, Pacman’s head pokes up over the bar.
“Sadie, what is—I don’t know you.” He pins Wes with a hard look.
“Pacman, this is Wes. Wes, this is Pacman.”
“What’s up?” Wes gives him a small nod.
“And how exactly do the two of you—”
“Stand down, Pacman,” I groan. “Wes is good people. He helped me out with… some stuff. Is my dad around?”
“In his office, but I wouldn’t go down there if I were you.”
I motion for Wes to follow me as I cut across the room toward the hall leading to the club’s private rooms.
“Sadie,” Pacman yells after me. “Come on, he said—”
“Thanks for the heads up,” I say, waving him off.
Wes jogs up beside and whispers, “Perhaps we shouldn’t go in there yet.”
“We need to talk to them, now. Besides, you should probably hear whatever it is they have to say.”
“I should?” His brows furrow, and it makes him look so fucking adorable I fight the urge to push him up against the wall and kiss him the way I wanted to earlier.
Raised voices cut off that line of thought, and I steel myself for whatever we’re about to find on the other side of the door marked ‘Prez’s Office.’ I knock once before grabbing the handle and walking inside.
“Not now—Sadie Ray.” Dad gawks at me, running a hand over his beard. “Why am I not surprised?”
“Hi, Daddy.” I flash him a meek smile.
One of his thick brows lifts. “Well, now you’re here, you might as explain what the fuck you were doing sneaking out last night.” Anger radiates from every pore as he glares at me. But it isn’t just anger, it’s fear.
My eyes scan the room, landing on Rhett and Dane. Dane shoots me an easy smirk, probably not surprised that I couldn’t stay away. But Rhett… Rhett’s expression is as thunderous as my father’s.
Wes steps up behind me and Dane mutters, “Oh fuck,” under his breath.
“Stray,” Wes says coolly.
“You’re playing a dangerous game, princess,” Rhett seethes.
“We ran into a… complication,” I say, stepping further into the room. Wes follows, closing the door behind him.
“Will someone tell me what the fuck Grant Noble’s kid is doing standing in my office?”
“You didn’t tell him yet?” I ask Rhett and Dane. Rhett’s jaw clenches even harder.
“We hadn’t gotten to that part, Sadie, girl,” Dane soothes.
I’m hardly surprised my dad recognizes Wes. He makes it his business to know all the important players in Savage Falls. And Grant Noble has been a thorn in the club’s side for as long as I can remember.
“Wes is… a friend,” I explain.
“A friend? Since when did we start befriending the likes of—”
“Dad!” I hiss. “Before you jump to conclusions, if Wes hadn’t told Rhett and Dane what happened last night, things might have ended differently.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” His murderous gaze slides to the two guys sitting on the couch pushed up against the wall.
Dane lets out a low whistle. “She’s telling the truth, Prez. If it wasn’t for Pretty Boy here, we might never have…”
“So what you’re saying is I should be thanking him,”—his head whips in Wes’s direction—“and not you two?”
“Does it matter?” I throw up my hands in frustration. “You’re missing the point.”
“The point?” His eyes narrow right at me. “The point, dear daughter, is that if you’d have stayed in the compound, none of this would have ever happened.”
“Fine. I screwed up.” I let out an exasperated breath. “I can admit that. But the Reapers obviously—”
“Hold up,” Wes says. “The Reapers? As in, the Ridge View Reapers?”
“What do you know about the Reapers, Pretty Boy?” Dane asks.
“I know things got messy way back between the Sinners and the Reapers. It’s why my old man wants Mayor Nixon to come down harder on the club. So nothing like that happens again.”
“Take a seat, son.” Dad motions to a chair and Wes drops into it, and I stand there in the middle of the four men in my life.
God, when did shit get so complicated?
“Come on, Prez, you can’t be serious,” Rhett protests, levelling Wes with a cold look. “He’s an outsider.”
“Rhett,” I hiss, silently pleading with him to not do this. Not here. Not when we both know his problem with Wes is much bigger than the fact that he was Evan’s friend.
“Sadie made her choice when she brought him here.” My dad sinks back in his chair, steepling his fingers. “Why exactly did you bring him here?”
“Like I said, we ran into a complication.” My gaze lifts to Wes, but he shakes his head.
Not now.
Fine.
“But it can wait,” I add.
Dane throws me a curious look that says everything okay?
I nod.
It isn’t. I hate that we left Wes’s mom there with his piece of shit dad, but he’s right. Maybe now isn’t the time.
“For fuck’s sake, Sadie Ray, sit down. You’re making me nervous.” Dad’s expression softens.
“I’m okay, Dad.” I reassure him.
“Yeah?” He swallows hard, scrubbing his jaw, and I see the sheer relief there.
“What are you going to do with Justin?” I ask.
“I’m not sure you want to know the answer to that.” His eyes darken, and I see a flash of Razor Dalton push to the surface. Dad looks to the ceiling and lets out a strained breath. “We need concrete proof this is Darren’s doing. Once we have it, I can sit down with Nolan and Ritz.”
“Then what?”
A chill goes through the room as my dad shifts in his chair. “That motherfucker kidnapped my daughter. He put his hands on you. Darren is mine.”
“Nolan will never agree to that,” Rhett protests. “He might be a loose cannon, but Darren is his nephew. He’s family.”
“Nolan won’t want war, not now. Not while he’s on his death bed. We get confirmation that Darren was working this alone, and then I go to Nolan and Ritz.”
“And Evan?” Wes speaks up.
“Still loyal to that piece of shit, Pretty Boy?” Rhett practically growls the words.
“Relax, brother,” Dane says, throwing his arm in front of Rhett to keep him on the couch. “Noble has proved himself. Cut him some slack.”
“We’ll see,” Rhett snarls.
“Enough,” Dad barks. “You can keep this pissing contest outside of club business. Evan Henley has been dealt with. He knows things will go south pretty quickly for him if he runs his mouth.”
Wes nods, but I see a flash of anger in his eyes. Whatever tenuous friendship they had, it’s over.
I don’t doubt that, not one bit. If I did, I wouldn’t have brought Wes here.
“Rhett, I want you with me when I pay our friend a visit. Stray, check in with Jax and the girls, and keep Sadie Ray out of trouble.” His eyes finally settle on Wes. “And you… can we trust you?”
“I won’t breathe a word of it to anyone, I swear.”
“Why?”
“Because Sadie has been a friend, and that means something to me, sir.”
“You look so much like her, you know.”
Wes frowns, and I’m about to ask who he means when a knock on the door echoes through the room.
“Yeah?” Dad calls, and the door opens to reveal Pacman with a grim expression.
“We got company, Prez.”
“Friendly?”
“It’s Ritz.”
Rhett shoots upright, and my dad stands.
“He’s here alone,” Pacman adds. “Says he came to talk.”
“He knows,” Rhett spits. “That motherfucker knows what happened.”
Dread snakes through me, and I suppress a shudder.
“Get her out of here. Take her to your room,” Dad barks at Dane, “and stay there. Don’t move until one of us comes to get you.”
“Seriously, Dad, I’m not—”
“What about him?” Rhett flicks his head to Wes, glowering.
“Two pairs of eyes are better than one. You good with watching my daughter while I deal with this?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I am right here, you know,” I mutter, but no one pays me any attention.
“It could be a trap,” Rhett whispers, his stone mask already fixed in place.
Cold.
Cruel.
Untouchable.
“Let’s go find out.”
Neither of them look back as they storm out of the office to greet the VP of the Ridge View Reapers.
