“What are you doing here?” I finally ask, although my voice is shaky as hell.
Heidi’s lips curve up into a smile, her hand releasing her suitcase handle before she moves toward me, closing the distance between us. Her arms are around me before she utters a single word.
I feel her lips at the shell of my ear, and then she speaks, but it comes out more like a whisper.
“You needed me, and now I’m here.”
She’s right. I do need her, but also, she’s just plopped herself in the middle of the danger I was trying to keep her from. I’m not even sure how to respond or react to this. I want to be pissed at her for coming here, but she’s right—I need her.
I feel her fingers grip my biceps before she takes a step backward. Her eyes find mine, and her lips curve up into a smile. But her expression is one of concern. It shouldn’t bother me, and I know I need her, but I don’t want her to be worried for me.
“I need you, but for a few different reasons, and Dante isn’t the main one right now.”
Her eyes widen and she presses her lips together, then takes another step backward. I feel her hands fall from my biceps, but then she reaches for my hand, squeezing her fingers around mine before she tugs me toward the sofa.
We sink down on the cushions together while she continues to hold on to my hand, her eyes focused on mine and not looking anywhere else. Inhaling a deep breath, I hold it for a moment and allow this to all sink in before I let my breath out slowly.
Calm.
“What happened?” she demands.
“It’s Axton. He’s here, and we started up again. It felt as if no time had passed at all. It was as if I was eighteen all over again and madly in love with him.”
“But?” she asks.
Biting the inside of my cheek, I worry the tender skin there for a moment before I continue. I know once I say it out loud,it’s going to sound stupid, because it’s exactly what I wanted at eighteen. But the truth of the matter is that I’m not eighteen anymore, and even if I felt like it a few weeks ago, I am not.
“He claimed me as his old lady without even asking me,” I state.
Thankfully, I don’t have to explain to her what all of that means. We’ve been friends for a decade, and she knows everything about Axton, about the club, and what means what. So, she completely understands the gravity of what I’m saying.
“Isn’t that what you always wanted?” she asks. “Maybe he felt as if everything was right back where you left it, too?”
God, I want that to be true. But it’s not. Shaking my head, I clear my throat. “The thing is, I’m not eighteen anymore. I’m not the person I was then. He doesn’t even know me anymore, and maybe he’s the exact same, but him doing that without even asking me? Tethering me to him without talking to me first?” I shake my head.
“So you told him that and...?”
“He said it was the only way I could have twenty-four-hour protection when he was at work and I wasn’t at the club. He was doing it to help me, and he was seriously offended when I told him I wasn’t okay with it and that I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to be his old lady.”
“Girl,” she hisses, then she laughs and shakes her head twice before her eyes find mine again. “That bruised his ego and shattered his pride. Of course he got pissed off and left.”
I didn’t even have to tell her that he got pissed and walked out… I also don’t tell her about the closure sex. I’m way too embarrassed now. I don’t want her to know. She knows enough.
“Okay, do we want to fix this or move on?”
“My brain says move on—” I begin, but Heidi interrupts me.
“Your heart and the expression on your face say otherwise. Let’s deal with this asshole who, for some reason, is here looking for you first, then we move forward.”
“I should probably tell you why he’s here.”
I wanted to keep her out of it. I didn’t want her involved at all, but she’s here now. He involved her in it when he went to her looking for me. So, I tell her everything, starting at the beginning.
And I don’t leave anything out, at least about Dante. I do leave out the amazing sex with Axton.
CHAPTER TWENTY
PIGGY
