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The need to protect her bulldozes throughBreanna is not an option My hand flicks out to seize the paper "I change my mind--"

She’s faster than rabs a pencil and stabs holes into the code--taking out the letters and numbers that are supposed to contain the answers It’s like her ?" I de at the letters and numbers in suchbeyond her thoughts

"Breanna!" I shout, but she rips out the last number and then slides the paper she mutilated over the bylaws My world stills, but Breanna tears another piece of paper froins to write

A slow pulse forh the bylaws and the first word is a na comes to a head--it’s my mother’s name It’s Layla

The first code, the one that caused me to forbid Breanna to continue, said to consider this our warning shot

"Razor," Breanna says as if she’s attee "Look at me"

I can’t I can focus only on my mother’s name In the detective’s file, that code was the first and the one containing --the second one

"Razor," she says again "You don’t know for sure what it er reverberates between my muscles and bones The Riot killedknew Everyone but ht train My fists ball atthe hell out of someone

Breanna’s voice calls behindtunnel She sure as shit is shouting, but there’s a vibration infor years and I’m seconds away fro , but I don’t hear any words Just a loud buzz, juston et My hand slams into the screen door and I’, but his face falls He plants his feet and tosses out his arms in an attempt to slowon ets louder, Oz and Chevy are in uys from the board are at a s shit Enjoying the fact that they’ve tried to play withLoud shouts It’s nearlances up and, like Chevy, they stare atcrazy Pigpen’s on thefast to the left, hismy father

He tosses down his beer and has the nerve to act like he’s concerned

"You can’t hit a brother! You can’t hit a brother!" It’s Oz and Chevy They’re tacklingme of a club rule Fuck the club because the club has fuckedtheround, I look ht in the eye "The Riot killed her The Riot fucking murdered my mother!"

It’s silence A stillness that causes a cold chill to slither down one andtheir fingers into my arms as if to hold all three of us up

"All those years" A wave of hurt crashes into me "I blamed myself I carried her death like a cross, and this club, this family, let me slowly die because I wasn’t worthy of the truth"

"Who told you?" Anger replaces my father’s shock "Did you visit the detective?"

Oz and Chevy release ard me like I’m capable of that type of betrayal "That’s what you think of h!" Cyrus expects compliance "This isn’t the time or the place"

"There’s never a ti this now!"

Cyrus steps in front of randfather but the badass biker I’ve seen take irl home or I have soht is nonnegotiable"

His eyes sway to beyond ot about Breanna On the front porch steps, Emily has an arned to Emily’s protection have created a barrier at the bottom of the steps I abandoned her, just like I prolare back at my father "There was a code in the detective’s file Two of them I took pictures"

There’s a ured it out

"I never talked to the detective again Doing it would have made life easier, but I’m loyal" I shove the words like a knife into his heart "Nice to knohat everyone thinks of irl, Eli captures h force that I stop because I’ exhausted to throw a punch "What?"