Page 22 of Shattered Pieces

“You’re stupidly in love with that girl.”

“Am not, I just really like her,” I chuckled as Marco sat down with three bags of chips, handing one to Lexi. She took it, giving him a small smile before opening it to pick at them.

“He talks about her in his sleep and everything,” Marco teased, giving me a small nudge. “Go on, tell her about the cameras.”

“You won’t make it home if you don’t shut up,” I warned, only making him grin.

“Sure, boss.”

Lexi filled me in on prison gossip for the rest of the visit, and as always, it was hard giving her that hug goodbye and leaving without her. I fucking hated her being stuck in this place.

“You really do love Donovan,” Marco stated once we were back outside on our bikes putting our helmets on.

“Don’t fucking start.”

“I mean it. You didn’t grab Lexi’s ass on the way out,” he observed, making me frown. I totally had, hadn’t I?

Marco gave me an amused grin before it vanished under the helmet, and I flipped him off then put my gloves on, getting ready to leave.

I wasn’t going to lie and say Rory didn’t mean anything to me, she did and I wanted her on my cock badly, but it wasn’t as extreme as he was making it out to be. I wasn’t going to marry the girl or anything.

Even if it would be worth it to piss off Skeeter.

We rode for an hour before stopping to stretch our legs, and I made sure to check in with my guys while I was at it. Hammer was handling a few issues for me, like breaking some asshole’s legs for thinking they could cut and run before their debt was paid, while Derek, Preston, and Dom handled a drug deal in Newhaven for me.

Faris and Bobby were keeping an eye on some of our fighters that were training today at the warehouse, and I didn’t want to leave them alone for too long.

They’d proven I couldn’t trust them when left alone, and Preston was lucky to have been allowed to go with his besties. I’d only allowed it because the three of them worked well together, and he’d been trying to prove himself ever since pissing me off last time at the party.

Everyone reported back, saying everything was fine, so I looked over at Marco.

“You heard from Ty?”

The guy was a stage five clinger, but he was growing on me fast. He really didn’t seem okay about being left behind today, but there was no way he was backpacking one of us on the bikes.

He was hanging out with Jensen and Lukas, so hopefully, he was occupied enough to not go and burn down a damn house or something.

“Yeah. He’s at my place,” he said as he put his phone on its holder.

“Why? I thought he was going to hang out with the guys? You gave him a key to your house?”

“They had a disagreement, so he left. He didn’t really have anywhere else to go. Told him he can crash at mine again if he wants since I have a spare room,” he shrugged, and I placed my hand over my heart.

“Are you leaving me for him? You’re breaking my heart, man.”

He laughed, shaking his head slightly and starting his bike before turning on his comms system so we could keep talking.

“He’ll never be you, Hunt. Doesn’t mean I can’t have a side piece, right?”

“You wound me,” I snorted, starting my bike too.

We didn’t have a problem on our ride until we were about an hour out of Ashburn Valley.

We’d just stopped to grab gas and stretch, barely being back on the road for two minutes before Marco cursed. “Shooter. I got hit.”

I glanced over to see him clutching his side, and from the way he was breathing, it hurt like hell.

I frantically looked around for the attacker, hearing Marco shout as my bike went down from under me and sent me skidding across the road. I braced for impact as I slid into a fence, managing to look up just as a van went past and a bullet narrowly missed my head.