“I was never yours, Axton. Not really.”
I can feel the tears welling up behind my eyes, and I blink them away, hoping to God they don’t fall. I refuse to look weak in front of him right now. I’ve been weak enough. I’ve let him back inside my heart and my body. I’m a fucking idiot. I don’t know how I let this happen, and so quickly.
“Now that’s a fucking lie,” he states. “You can lie to yourself all day long, but you will not lie to me, Millie. I won’t accept it.”
Pressing my lips together, I narrow my eyes at him. This asshole. This complete fucking asshole. The cocky motherfucker. I don’t say any of those things, though. I just stare at him. There is something more happening here.
As much as I want to snap at him and slap him at the same time, I stay quiet because there is something else he’s going to throw at me. I know it. And I don’t think I’m going to like it, so I mentally and physically prepare for the blow, bracing myself for what he’s about to throw my way.
“You want me to leave you swinging so that Dante just waltzes in and takes you?”
My shoulder jerks back slightly. I thought I was fully prepared, but I wasn’t, not for that. Swallowing the lump in my throat, I take a step backward. He moves toward me, closing the distance between us.
My entire body freezes.
“What?” I ask.
He smirks, and I still wish I could slap the expression off his face. “Mill, you think the club would have someone on your back twenty-four seven if you weren’t an old lady? It was either claim you or only watch you when I was off work. And I got enough fuckin’ drama down there. I can’t take time off right now.”
I don’t ask him about this newfound drama. I know I should care, but right now, I really don’t think I give a shit about his drama. I’ve got my own problems.
“I don’t want to be your old lady,” I whisper.
“And I don’t give much of a fuck.”
“Don’t you have a security company? Can’t you just put cameras up?”
He grins before he presses his lips together, and I watch as his brows furrow. “I could, but that doesn’t do shit, Mill. I’ve seen it firsthand. Having the cameras is great, and I can outfit this place with them, but they don’t protect you from immediate danger.”
“So you had to claim me?” I ask.
“No,” he murmurs. “I didn’t have to. It was the right thing, and it was the way it was always meant to be. I fucked up back then, and I’m not going to continue doing so.”
PIGGY
Cupping her cheeks, I decide that I’m finished talking. I’m not sure what her fucking problem is. This is what she wanted from me ten years ago, and I’m giving it to her. It took me a little longer than it should have, but I want this.
I want to keep her because she is and always has been mine.
I’m not letting her go anywhere.
Lowering my head, I touch my lips to hers. She wraps her fingers around my wrists, gripping me tightly. Breaking the kiss, I nibble on her bottom lip before I rest my forehead against hers.
“I should have claimed you back then, Mill. I was a fucking idiot.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
MILLIE
He was an idiot.But at the same time, it made me who I am today. I left Thunder Rock with no plans and made something of myself. Even if most people would think that something is scandalous and bad.
I still did it, and I’m proud of the woman I became. I made some damn good friends along the way, too. The confidence I built in myself, not just physically but inwardly, is something I never had before I started dancing.
“I’m glad you didn’t,” I whisper.
It’s the truth. The wholehearted truth. That shit would have ruined us. I don’t think we would have ever survived as a couple had he made me his old lady, had I stayed.
He instantly drops his hands from my face, his body heat moving away from mine as he takes a couple of steps backward. His eyes meet mine, and he stares at me. His expression is blank. But his eyes aren’t. He’s showing me every ounce of his emotion behind his eyes.
