“What happened? Did he break up with you?” she asks.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” The shortness of my reply should signal that I mean it, but she keeps going.
“Why won’t you talk to me about it?” she asks, sounding irritated.
I stare at her dumbfounded. The nerve of her. How is she making this about her? “It’s none of your business,” I say sternly. I’m sick of people manipulating me and being fake.
Her mouth slams shut and her eyes widen.
I ignore her and peek out the front door. The MC truck is waiting outside, in the closest parking space. Mel walks past me, straight to the driver’s side. Annoyance flares. What if it’s Axle? Would she go there even though we broke up yesterday? I don’t trust her, so I swiftly walk to the truck. When I open the door, Viper smiles at me.
“Nice to meet you,” he says to Mel.
“You too,” she says, batting her eyelashes.
I snort. Viper puts the car in drive, and we pull out. My eyes are on my car as we go.
“Axle said it is working fine now, so you can drive it home after your shift tonight,” Viper says, like he knows what I’m thinking.
“Hmmm... I bet he’s the one who broke my car.”
No response. I whip around to glare at Viper. When Axle learned about the sexual assault claim against my boss, my carsuddenlystopped working. “I can’t believe him!” I hiss.
Viper chuckles.
My eyes narrow. “It isn’t funny!”
He shrugs. “It’s his way of trying to protect you.”
“Protect me?” I huff. “You mean manipulate me?”
When we pull up outside my house, Viper turns to me. “He really loves you.”
I roll my eyes. I don’t think any of the men would know what love is if it hit them in the face.
“I never thought any of us would have an ol’ lady, let alone Axle. But I’ve never seen him so torn up. It was my fault too. I shouldn’t have been a dick and goaded him, but after he spent time with you, whenever I mentioned the bet to him, he always got defensive and was short with me.”
The fight within me dwindles, leaving only a deep sense of exhaustion. I release a long, weary sigh. “It’s not your fault,” I whisper, though the words feel heavy as sorrow threatens to engulf me entirely. “He broke me, Viper, and it hurts all the way to my soul, knowing I can’t trust him or be around him anymore.” Pain tinges every word as my tears fall.
Viper leans over, puts his arm around me, rubs my back. I’m grateful for his compassion.
Nineteen
War of Guilt
Axle
I’ve askedViper to tell Elena her car is fixed, because I know she won’t answer my call. I sense the stares of the other men as I walk straight to the bar, grab a full bottle of whiskey, twist off the cap, and take a gulp. The burn of the liquor matches my burning rage. I do it once more, then sit down. “Can you grab me a beer?” I ask Rage, who’s behind the bar, giving me a cautious look.
“Uh, sure,” he says. He grabs a beer for me and puts it in front of me.
I take a swig, craving the numbness brought by alcohol. I rub my eye and wonder how everything got so fucked up. I had one fucking job... one job... win the bet... don’t make it personal. Noooo, not greedy me. I’m always searching for the next high, so I gave in to temptation. I had to fucking taste her... then I was a goner. I messed up one of the best things in my life. I chuckle. I’m good at fucking things up... no, I’m a master of fucking things up. All we had is gone, and I’m the one to blame.
After ten beers, the pain has lessened but I still feel like shit. Memories of the pain in Elena’s eyes and the sob. I groan. That fucking sound of her crying. It guts me. And to think I did that to her? I cracked her smile... I was the one who broke her.
The men are talking around me, but I hear nothing they say. I stare off into space, thinking about Elena. Those seductive eyes, that rockin’ body... She was nice to me—not that I deserved it. It’s hard to find someone as genuine as she is. She’s rare. She didn’t care about the cut; she wanted to get to know me... and no woman has cared to get to know me before.
I peer down at my phone, press the home button. No messages or phone calls. What did I expect?
