“You haven’t,” I corrected. “You’ve hurt her feelings. When Maeve gives you her friendship, she also gives you her trust. Lucky for her, she’s got good people now who’d never throw that trust back in her face, so she’ll be fine. She’s got us to look after her.”
He jerked his chin down at Saskia. “Bringing her wasn’t about Maeve.”
“Obviously,” I drawled. “Because if you’d been thinking about Maeve, you’d know bringing Saskia here was an asshole move. Surely Aislynn filled you in on everything?”
The second I mentioned Aislynn, Pagan’s face blanked.
Rosie cleared her throat and tilted her chin toward Pagan. “Aislynn told me about you...” Her voice trailed off, then she said, “I don’t know if you remember me from the wedding. I’m Rosie Woods.”
His eyes scanned her, and he nodded. “Atlas’s sister.”
“Yeah. Ash will be here tonight, but you already knew that, and still, you broughther?” She nodded disdainfully at Saskia.
Pagan tilted his chin up and declared, “Ash and me were never official.”
I tipped my head back and sighed because it was suddenly becoming as clear why Ash ended things with Pagan, and I didn’t like it. Cheating was the biggest dick move you could make. Betrayals wrecked lives and also wrecked people’s ability to trust their own judgment.
My arm dropped from Rosie’s shoulders before I took a step forward. “What did you do to my sister?”
Pagan’s shoulders squared, and his head cocked as he sized me up. “Be very fuckin’ careful, O’Shea. You’re a friend to my club. It would be a shame to lose that over something that’s none of your goddamned business.”
Ignoring the warning in his tone, I pushed on. “Did you fuck around on my sister?”
“Can’t fuck around on a woman you only took out a handful of times,” he retorted.
My hands balled into fists. “Yeah, you can if she’s a decent girl who doesn’t date to fuck around. Aislynn only goes out with men she likes and who she sees a future with, and she’s clear about that from the get-go, so I’m gonna ask you again. Did you fuck around on my sister?”
“We weren’t a couple,” he insisted, his tone low.
My jaw clenched from the urge to punch his low-down face. I was a trained PT, so I could tell that Pagan’s body was conditioned. I was also well aware that no fucker got to be the president of a one-percenter MC by being weak. He was no doubt a good fighter, and a dangerous one at that.
But I was, too.
I boxed for my Army unit for twelve years and never lost a fight, and I’d been in the ring with some big, burly motherfuckers. I also did Martial Arts and kickboxing, plus some Krav Maga that Sophie had taught me back when she used to train at the gym with Callum and me.
Would I have won the battle? Probably. But I wasn’t sure I could win the war.
Pagan belonged to one of the biggest MCs in the world, whose chapters spanned the US, and I suspected they had ties to other countries too.
If he made our fight his club’s business, it wouldn’t be good. I’d probably have to join Paddy’s business in New York to get backup from them, which would result in me being royally fucked.
Pagan would get his payback, but it wouldn’t be tonight. Still, I didn’t have to be his buddy; I didn’t even have to give him the time of day.
Rosie’s hand slid across my back. “Let’s go inside, honey,” she murmured. “It’s getting chilly out here.”
I glanced down at her face and nodded. Then, as I turned toward the clubhouse doors, I craned my neck and called out, “It’s probably better that you and your boys stay away from our bar for a while. You feel me?”
Pagan’s eyes were devoid of emotion as he jerked his head in assent.
I pulled Rosie close and walked to the clubhouse doors with my woman held securely under my arm.
“What a dick,” she murmured under her breath.
I grabbed the door handle and pulled it hard, leading Rosie into the vast, warm room. The music was loud, the bodies were plentiful, and the laughter was raucous as I caught Callum’s eye at the bar.
Rosie rolled up on her toes and said in my ear, “The girls and Tristan are over there.”
I glanced across the room to see Maeve and Aislynn sitting with the Speed Demons’ ol’ ladies and Tristan. Ash was talking animatedly with her hands waving through the air, probably relaying the whole Pagan story.
