“I can explain. Will you let me do that?”
Her mouth opens but it isn’t her voice that fills the bar.
“Do I need to stay here for that? I couldn’t give a shit if you’re dead or alive.”
Turning on Kristia, I snap, “You can fuckin’ leave. And never let me see you here again.”
Her brows furrow together but before she can argue with me, Luca’s giving the nod to Warren to get her out of here.
“I suggest you go talk and sort this out,” Luca instructs.
Out of reflex, I go to hold her hand but like a snake’s strike, she’s fast when she yanks it away.
“Are you gonna talk to me?”
“You can bet your ass you’re going to explain,” she snaps.
She follows me up to my room. She doesn’t move from the door after she’s closed us in.
Without the scene down in the bar, her eyes are brimming with tears that she’s refusing to let go.
“Talk,” she snaps.
I sit on the edge of the bed and tell her the whole sorry story of where I’ve been. I leave out the details that include the club, but I give her enough to believe me and be satisfied.
Wordlessly she stumbles her way across the room and drops down beside me.
“When my dad called to say you had been killed, I came straight home. I grieved you. I cried for you. There hasn’t been a single day I haven’t thought about you. And all along, you were alive.”
“A lot of people grieved for me. I didn’t know I was so liked.”
My attempt at humour to lighten the moment falls flat or is ignored.
“My dad and I were so worried about your mom, we didn’t think she would survive without you.”
“You don’t need to tell me. I know it.”
“Does she know you’re alive?”
I nod. “I went to see her a couple of days ago.”
“I bet you scared the living shit out of her.”
I huff, “You could say that.”
Her eyes drop to my cut, and she frowns. “I never expected you to go full criminal, Ford. What happened when I went away?”
I snort. “You went away.”
This angers her. She shoots up from the bed and wears holes in the thread bare carpet from pacing.
“Don’t put that on me. I had to make my choices, and you had yours. Going to prison, joining a biker club, they’re your decisions, Ford.”
I hang my head in my hands and pull at my hair.
“We had our plan, you changed it. You can’t blame me how you acted after.”
Our plan. Fuck. It feels like so long ago now.
