“Real friendly.” Havoc laughs.
I scratch my chin, flipping Willa off in return, and that draws a real smile even though she tries to bite it back.
“It’s been a while,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest as I return my attention to my brothers. “I haven’t seen her since I left Texas.”
Legacy’s eyes narrow, and I hate how he seems to read straight through me. It might be that he’s the club’s treasurer, and he’s used to picking out the small details others miss. Or it might be that he’s a father, so he knows how to look past bullshit. But without words, I swear he sees everything I’m trying to hide.
“She’s Kincaid’s ex,” I finish, and I swear the room gets quieter.
“Your brother’s ex-girlfriend is sitting in my clubhouse?”
“Apparently.” I still don’t quite believe it myself.
“Do you think your brother sent those guys to kill her or retrieve her?”
“Kincaid’s a self-absorbed asshole, but he wouldn’t hurt Willa.” At least, not physically, considering he apparently cheated on her throughout their relationship. “My guess is he hired some guys to bring her back, and they got a little too excited when they saw she was with us.”
“That was quite a show of force. He’s that determined to get her back?”
“Either her or this.” I pull out the envelope from my pocket and slap it down on the table. “She came here with some information I might be able to use in the lawsuit.”
Legacy snags the envelope and takes a look at what’s inside. “These are the investors bidding for mineral rights on your family ranch?”
I nod. “He’s been careful to hide who he’s talking to, so I haven’t been able to get any of them to back off. With this list, I could really fuck things up for him, and he must know that. If I had to guess, that’s why he’s got guys in town.”
Legacy passes the list to Ghost, who immediately pulls out his phone and starts researching the names.
“Why would she hand you ammunition against your brother? Bad breakup?”
“Yeah. She said she wanted to help.”
Steel arches an eyebrow. “You don’t sound convinced.”
“I don’t know what to believe. I haven’t seen her in a little over a decade. And bad breakup or not, my doorstep is the last place I’d expect to see her, even if the world was falling apart.”
Steel leans back in his chair, considering.
It’s not a great answer, but it’s the truth. Willa Elliott doesn’t trust me. She made that clear when I tried to be there for her, and she chose my brother. I accepted it, and I left. I sure as fuck wasn’t going to sit around and watch.
Now, she’s in Vegas—at my clubhouse, no less. Reminding me of everything I’ve been running from. Reminding me that I’ll never be more in her eyes than this—a fuckup. A disaster.
Although apparently my brother wasn’t much better if he was cheating on her.
When I see him again, I’m going to cave his face in for doing that to her. She might act like it doesn’t matter to her that Kincaid was unfaithful, but it’s unacceptable. There’s a reason I don’t get into relationships. I have no desire to be monogamous. So why is it that people commit when they plan on messing around the entire time?
Be fucking single.
It’s an option.
Then there’s the fact that Kincaid cheated onher.
I look up again and find Willa still watching me, like she hates me. But damn, her eyes are pretty when they’re filled with anger. How could anyone fuck around on that? It doesn’t make sense. If she were in my bed—
No.
I can’t let myself think like that.
There was a time when I might have let her turn me into a different man, but she burned any hope of that to the ground. Like she said, Kincaid was the easy option. I was chaos.
