He stares at me. “I won’t know until I get to that point.”
His head falls, and I know he’s contemplating the moves he’s going to make already. He’s smart.
“Fine,” he agrees after a few minutes.
“They’re going to ask questions when you disappear.”
“No one said anything when Carson did the same.”
“That was expected. This won’t be.”
“That’s exactly why it has to be me.”
My shoulders fall because he understands. He knows there might be a chance I’m right. Serenity didn’t have a big brother who protected her. She’s the equivalent of Mila without me.
“If I go, I’m going dark.”
His eyes drop to my jaw, and he smirks. He knows it pisses me off when he goes rogue. I like to be in on every detail.
“Do we have a deal?”
I have no choice but to trust him. “Deal.”
He grabs his cut from the back of his chair and walks out of the Trough without another word.
I turn and shrug at Wolfe. When I get back to the bar, he already has another drink waiting for me.
“That didn’t look like it went too well,” he says.
“He at least heard me out.”
“Sometimes that’s all you can do. You apologized; the rest is up to him.”
I glance at my watch. It’s getting late.
“Shelly says Mila’s asleep. Go on, drink up. I’ll give you a ride home. Just relax, brother. Everything is okay.”
“One more and then I need to get home.”
Wolfe gives me that proud dad smile. It reminds me of my own father. Damn I miss him.
I wonder if that is how Mila is feeling right now. Is she lying in her little bed missing Serenity?
“On second thought, I think I better get for home.”
He waves Prospect over to us. “Take over for a bit. I’ll be right back.”
Prospect nods. “No worries, Wolfe. I got this.”
“I’ll get him home,” Cub interrupts, coming to stand by my side. “What the fuck did you say to Carver? He just messaged me that he’s going dark.”
“I apologized, and he said he didn’t know if he could stay in a club where he didn’t have confidence in his president.” I shrug. I’m not really lying, because it’s the truth. Carver will absolutely leave the day he stops trusting me. We discussed it before he arrived in Cheyenne. He’d been a nomad up until that day. Trust is a hard line for him, and I know he’s questioning me right now. Rightfully so, but I really hope I can earn back his faith. “He said he needed time to think about things.”
The two men look at each other somberly, but they don’t question it. Carver is known for going dark from time to time.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Serenity