“Can we talk?” he asked.
I couldn’t do this. Even now, he had power over me. His voice slipped under my skin sparking the embers of my feelings burning just beneath the surface.
“Yes. Tomorrow.” I tried to walk past him, but he stepped away from the wall, blocking my path.
My heart slammed around in my chest, breaking against my ribs. He took a step closer, and I retreated until my back rested against the brick wall. Heat bloomed in my core, and I tried to swallow past the lump rising into my throat.
“Don’t be a dick, Cruz.” Levi grabbed my hand to pull me with her.
He roped an arm around my waist. His rough fingertips on my skin sent electrical pulses through me. “I just want to talk to her,” he said to Levi. “I’m not here to cause trouble.”
“You are trouble.” Levi snorted. “Hellers aren’t supposed to look for trouble.”
A devilish smile curled his lips. “I didn’t have to look. I knew she was here.” He cocked a brow and leaned closer to me, and his breath teased my lips. “And I knew you were getting into trouble.”
“Don’t do this,” I whispered as he caged me in with his arms.
“Just talk to me. Give me five minutes. He doesn’t have to know.”
I narrowed my gaze at him. “Yes, he does. I’m not going to lie to him.”
“Micki, I’m not asking you to lie.” He turned his devastatingly wicked smile to Levi. “Give me five minutes alone with her.”
Levi shifted her gaze to me. The girl was fierce. She wasn’t going to leave me alone with Cruz unless I asked her to. I could give him five minutes, or I could fight with him. Fighting with him would get me into more trouble.
I was seriously sick. My body pulsed with his nearness, almost as if I could feel him like a drug slipping through my veins. I’d scratched and clawed my way into him, and he’d done the same to me. We’d poisoned each other with our toxic version of love. And I was still an addict.
Tears burned in the back of my eyes. Ryatt was kind and funny. He deserved better than me. When it came to Cruz, I’d betrayed logic because my heart was stupid.
“Five minutes,” I whispered.
“I’ll order our drinks.” Levi left us in the corridor, but we weren’t alone. The girl a few feet over had her cell phone pressed to one ear as she tried to hear her phone call over the heavy beats of the club. People filled the corridor, going in and out of the restrooms.
But Cruz was all I could see.
“I warned him not to touch you,” he said.
“You don’t get to dictate who I touch or who touches me. You taught me that lesson.” Heat swirled in my belly as I stared into his eyes. A lie poised on my lips. I’d lie because I was afraid of the truth. “We’re done, Cruz.”
“Nah. I don’t think we are.” His palm slid along my ribs. “Have you fucked him?”
I sucked in a sharp breath. “Not your business.”
“Tonight, at the MC, your new boyfriend said the same thing to me.” His lips brushed along my jaw. “I must have more in common with Dozer than our aversion to F-words like family and fidelity.”
Fidelity?My heart stuttered, and a flare of fear streaked along my spine. “Cruz?” The whispered word was a plea for him to take it back. To tell me he didn’t cheat. “Did you lie?” Because a small piece of me washoping he told the truth, that maybe we’d find a way to fix this.
The rest of me wanted to let go and have something safe and real with Ryatt.
“I’ve lied about a lot of things, Micki. I haven’t lied about fucking around on you. I haven’t. I won’t.” His breath ghosted across the sensitive, sweat-dampened flesh where my jaw met my neck. “What do I need to do?”
“Give me some time.”
“Because you want him?”
“I want time to figure out how I feel. It doesn’t hurt to be with him.”
“And it does to be with me?”
