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Sometimes I hated the life.

The MC.

The hierarchy.

I got it, that the structure was required to make it all work. For them to be able to pull off what they did, there was strict organization and an even stricter code. And there was always a small amount of fear from the rest of the Crows when it came to my brother.

But Trevan was family.

Silas’s best friend. My best friend.

My heart and my soul.

“I’ll do it soon. As soon as we ensure the threat is truly erased.” Disquiet darkened his features, his tone foreboding. “Need you to be prepared that it might get ugly.”

I knew what he meant. The insinuation of where this might go.

Agony pinched my brow. I couldn’t imagine my brother being so vile.

“He wouldn’t.”

Trevan swallowed. “I pray it doesn’t come to that, but I’ll take whatever punishment I’m given.”

Grief nearly cut me in two, and I wanted to shrink, to scream. To run to Silas and shout that he had no right.

Trevan set his palm on my cheek. The touch emphatic. “But I will always stand for you. Forevermore. I won’t regret one second I get to spend with you.”

“You and me,” I told him.

“You and me.”

We held each other that way for the longest time, Trevan getting closer and closer.

His breaths turned shallow as his hands began to roam.

“Are you sore?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“Fuck, Lena⁠—”

I knew he was about to apologize, so I cut him off. “But I like it. I like the feel of you marked on me.”

His groan turned greedy, and his fingers sank into my ass cheeks. “Every step you take today, you’re gonna think of me. About what I did to you. The ways that I had you.”

“I would have already been thinking about you, anyway.” I tried to play it light.

He shifted and brushed his fingertips between my thighs, not quite touching me there, but so close that I instantly started to ache.

“But now you know exactly what that means.” His tone stroked over me like a brand.

I bit down on my bottom lip, and one side of it tweaked up in a smirk as I gripped onto his strong shoulders. “I guess I do, but it bears repeating.”

“That so?”

I gave a dramatic nod. “I might have forgotten.”

His chuckle was raw.