“Dating or fucking?” Because I’d hated seeing them together at the track. He hadn’t just kissed her. He’d consumed her. I’d hated it because he kissed her like he owned her, and she submitted like she was his.
And I wanted her to be mine.
“It’s her choice,” Cruz said. “Always. I’m taking whatever she’ll give me.” He grabbed a quilt from the stack, kicked off his boots, and sat in the recliner again. “What do you think about the room at the MC?”
“I don’t know.” I stood. “I can’t bring my troubles there.”
Cruz chuckled and reclined the chair. “Kings won’t fuck with the Hellers. If they fuck with you, they fuck with all of us.”
I headed toward the stairs to go use the restroom, still confused by the shift in the conversation.
“And Ryatt?”
I paused and turned toward him. “Yeah?”
“You’ll be my prospect, not Romeo’s.”
“Why?” Why would Cruz get involved? I figured he’d tip off the Kings, give them my location or worse, hand me over, and remove me from the situation.
“Because we both got something with McKelle. We’re not putting Romeo or any other Heller between us. It’s the only way you’re getting the patch. The only way you get my vote.”
While I’d been gone to take a leak, Cruz had stripped out of his shirt and jeans. He’d made himself comfortable, as if he belonged in her space. Maybe he did. Maybe we both did.
Fully inked and full of fuck-off attitude, he reclined in the chair. His hair hung to his shoulders. Some of the guys at the MC were scarred and scary as fuck. And then there was Romeo. He’d always gotten girls. They liked a pretty boy. When we were kids, our dick of a foster dad would call him Michelle instead of Michael because of his effeminate features.
Cruz wasn’t pretty or rugged, but I could understand why McKelle found him appealing. He was fit with a lean but muscular torso and had flat, toned eight-pack abs.
The dude was ripped and good looking. His attitude wasn’t conceited or arrogant when it was truth. The guy had appeal. If I wasn’t working at hating him,if he wasn’t an asshole, I might actually like him.
His chest lifted with a deep breath in, and then his lips pulled into a smile. “You’re staring.”
“Fuck you,” I snapped.
He mumbled something that sounded a lot likeeventually.
“What was that?” I asked.
“Get some sleep,” he said and tossed a pillow at me. “On the floor.”
I grabbed a quilt, snapped off the light, and used my foot to move the pillow onto the rug, closer to the couch.
I lay on the floor and thought about what he’d said about McKelle and about the MC. Romeo coming back into my life had been the best thing to happen to me until McKelle. But this situation was about to get messy. We were both going to be with her. Dating her. Kissing her. Eventually fucking her. I’d never been good at sharing anything, mostly because I never had anything of value.
I wouldn’t have to be jealous because she’d be mine, too. Maybe it would all go to hell, but that was my life. Nothing good ever lasted. And it always sucked when it ended.
Would this be any different?
Cruz breathed deep and heavy, but I wasn’t hearing McKelle’s soft snoring anymore. I turned my head toward the couch.
Moonlight gave just enough glow to see she was awake. She smiled with her sleepy eyes locked on mine. “How did you get the floor?” she whispered.
“I didn’t want to wake you.”
“I’m not sleeping.” She scooted back.
I climbed from the floor and stretched out next to her. Adjusting the quilt, I covered us. We’d been in thisposition before, but never with her ex snoring across the room.
“I heard you talking to Cruz.”
