My chest heaved, fists curlin’ like my body was still huntin’ for a fight.
“She made me a fool,” I said hoarsely. “I gave her everything I had that was worth a damn, and she walked it straight into another man’s bed.”
Devil’s voice dropped, rough with truth. “Or she walked into something that came back to haunt her, and you were standin’ there when it did.”
I laughed again, but it broke apart halfway through. “Same difference.”
Silence settled heavy, broken only by the hum of the lights overhead.
After a moment, Devil reached out and slid the bottle farther away. “You’re stayin’ here tonight. On the couch. One of us’ll be nearby.”
“I’m not a child,” I muttered.
“No,” Mystic said evenly. “You’re a man who just got his heart ripped out. And men do real stupid shit in that state.”
I sank back into the chair, exhaustion finally creepin’ in beneath the rage. The room felt too big. Too empty.
“She looked at me like I was already gone,” I said quietly. “Like she’d already decided I wasn’t worth fightin’ for.”
Devil didn’t answer right away.
When he did, his voice was softer than I expected. “Or she looked at you like she knew she just lost you.”
That thought hit harder than the whiskey ever had.
I closed my eyes, jaw clenched, breath shakin’ as the weight of it all pressed down.
I didn’t know what I’d do tomorrow.
All I knew was that if Devil and Mystic hadn’t been here tonight, I would’ve burned the whole damn world down just to feel somethin’ other than this.
***
MORNING CAME INmean.
Light punched through the clubhouse windows like it had a vendetta, settlin’ straight behind my eyes and splittin’ my skull clean down the middle. My mouth tasted like old whiskey and regret, my head poundin’ hard enough that every breath felt personal.
I lay there on the couch for a long minute with my arm slung over my face, listenin’ to the place wake up around me. Boots onwood. A chair scraping. Somebody coughin’ like they’d made the same bad choices I had.
Didn’t matter.
None of it mattered because the one sound I didn’t hear was hers.
No soft footsteps. No quiet hum under her breath. No sense of her driftin’ through the room like she belonged there.
She chose another man.
That thought settled heavy in my gut, sour and sharp.
I pushed myself upright and immediately regretted it. The room tilted just enough to remind me I wasn’t fit company for anybody. I dragged a hand down my face and stood anyway, because lyin’ there thinkin’ wasn’t doin’ me any favors.
Devil was already up, coffee in hand, lookin’ entirely too clear-headed for my taste. Mystic leaned against the wall, arms crossed, watchin’ me like he was takin’ inventory.
“Morning,” Devil said.
“Fuck off,” I muttered, my head throbbin’.
He didn’t smile. “You remember last night?”
