“Yes.”
The silence that follows feels heavier than the entire city.
Then she laughs once.
A sharp broken sound.
“What about us?”
The question lands exactly where I knew it would.
Right in the center of my chest.
I force the lie out anyway.
“There is no us.”
“You don’t mean that.”
I hold her gaze.
“You were just pussy. Something to keep my bed warm while the club figured out its future. Carmen’s my future.”
My words land like a blow.
Her face goes white.
“You’re lying.”
I step forward.
“If that helps you leave faster, believe whatever you want.”
Tears fill her eyes, but she refuses to let them fall.
“Get your things,” I say. “You leave Miami tomorrow.”
She rises slowly from the bed.
“You said you loved me.”
“I say a lot of things when my cock is buried raw.”
The look on her face almost destroys me.
But the club comes first.
It always has.
My throat tightens.
She laughs once, sharp and broken.
I stay where I am. If I move closer, everything inside me will break.
You don’t belong in this world, cariño, I say in my head. And I won’t bury you because of it.
Tears flood her eyes.
