“How did you two get together?”
I talk in between eating and drinking. “I had always known Jane through Abby, but I was about fourteen when I realized I had feelings for her. I asked her out on a date, told her how I felt, she admitted she felt the same, and that was it; we were together.”
“Wow. It seems like you were meant to be.” She avoids looking at me as she sips from her glass.
“Things were easy with Jane but also super complicated.”
She tilts her head to one side, and wavy strands of hair cascade around her shoulders. She’s so fucking beautiful, and I don’t think she realizes it.
“In what way?” she asks.
“I had to keep so many secrets from her and do things I didn’t want to do, things I could never tell her, and it ate away at me.”
“I’ve heard about some of the elite initiation rituals. We had similar things in our world until our new board got rid of them.”
“Then you get it.”
“I do.”
I don’t stop to question it as I unburden myself. I’ve been stowing these things inside for a long time, and I want to tell her. She won’t judge me because she’s come from a similar situation, and it’s refreshing to talk to someone who understands.
“Part of the reason why I never told her was because I knew she’d end things with me if she realized the full extent of what I’m capable of.”
“What you did with that MC at fifteen is legendary around these parts.” She waggles her brows and grins before popping a piece of omelet in her mouth.
“That grin is disturbing.”
She laughs, and I’m glad I seem to be distracting her from whatever is troubling her. “I told you I see you, Drew, and I meant it.”
“Well, taking out an entire MC because the son of the club president made a pass at my girlfriend wasn’t exactly a moment of pride, but I had to pick something as my main initiation task, and I was completely ruled by my emotions back then.”
“I heard you killed thirty men, and when you ran out of bullets, you slayed them with your hands.”
“That’s a bit of an exaggeration. Charlie and Trent were with me, and it was more like twenty men, but yeah, I went full feral on them.” I chuckle. “To this day, all the local MCs fear me and Charlie.” The smile flees my mouth as I remember the night before the slaughter.
She says sheseesme, so let’s see how she feels after I tell her this. “I had already chosen my target for my initiation. The task was simple—to kill a man to prove I was worthy to belong in the elite. It was such bullshit, but I had to do it. My plan had been to take that guy out, not the entire MC. But the night before it was going down, my father took me to his basement dungeon club for the first time.” Bile crawls up my throat, but I force the words out. “I’d heard rumors of what it entailed, and I was hella curious, but he’d never let me go there until that night.”
“What happened?” Her eyes are glued to my face, her attention laser-focused on me.
“I was engaged to Jane by then. But her father had insisted on a virginity clause in the arrangement, so we weren’t fucking at that point. I’d lost my virginity at thirteen at Parkhurst, but I hadn’t had sex since I made Jane mine. My father wasn’t pleased, so he took matters into his own hands.”
I bite down on my lower lip as I thank fuck that asshole is dead. Right now, I feel like digging up his bones and whaling on them.
Her hand lands on my arm, and there is nothing but compassion in her eyes when she stares at me. “You can tell me anything, Drew. I guarantee I’ve heard worse, and I would never judge.”
“I know that. This is still hard to admit because I’ve never told a soul about that night. Charlie doesn’t even know.”
“You can trust me with your secret.”
“I know that too.” I lean in and kiss her, just because I feel like it.
“I hate myself for that night.”
“What did he make you do?”
“Fuck the slaves he had caged in his dungeon.”
ChapterThirty-Five
