Zep’s lips are on mine in a flash, and even though it hurts, I kiss him back. If I’m going up against Chanel, he needs to understand exactly what I’m offering. He saved me last night, and he’s done more good than bad. I need to risk it all.
“I fucking love you, Misty. I’ve loved you since we told Bernie about us, but I didn’t want to scare you away. It’s been killing me not to say it, but it never felt like the right time.”
He loves me. Oh, thank God.
“Excuse me?” Chanel asks. “Are you fucking serious?”
The door opens, and in walks the man who kicked Zep’s ass on the front lawn. Chanel’s fiancé.
“Dorian, baby, what are you doing here?” Chanel asks.
“Don’t fucking play with me,” Dorian says. “I know what you’re doing here. What you’re here for.”
Zep’s hands fly in the air, and I move in front of him. “I told her to go home. To fucking leave.”
“I know,” he says. “I heard the entire fucking conversation.”
“What?”
“Oh, yeah, I should have maybe mentioned that Dorian called Zep’s phone. It woke me up, and it’s been on the stairs since I started listening,” I say. “Sorry.”
Laughter behind me makes me smile, and Zep’s arms wrap around me as we watch Dorian shout at Chanel. I know Zep’s threat of what he’d do if Dorian ever physically hit Chanel is still valid, but I’m okay with that. He didn’t actually try to hurt Chanel as much as scare her, and I like knowing he won’t stand for women being hurt.
“I’m done,” Dorian says, grabbing Chanel’s hand and pulling the engagement ring off her finger. “Get your shit, and get out of my place.”
“What?” she shrieks.
“You heard me. I’m not doing this anymore. I’m not going to be the cuck sitting around waiting for you to make good on your promises to me.”
He storms outside, and Chanel follows. “Baby, wait!”
Hurrying to the door, I shut it and lock it. Chanel bangs on it, trying to get back inside, and Zep just smiles at me.
“Misty, baby, I’m so sorry.”
I walk over to him and wrap my arms around his waist. “It’s over and done,” I say. “As long as she stays gone, I’m willing to forgive and forget.”
“She’ll probably come back again, but she can sleep on the fucking porch as far as I’m concerned. Only you.”
“You’re not mad I answered your phone?”
Picking me up, he carries me back upstairs. “As long as it’s not someone from the club, you can answer every call that comes in.”
“God, she just ruins everything,” I say with a pout as he sets me on the bed.
Both cats were lying against me when I woke up, and it made me smile. They really are traitors to Zep.
“What do you mean?” he asks, climbing in with me.
“That’s not how I wanted to tell you,” I say, reaching up to tuck his hair behind his ear. “But I needed you to know exactly what you’d be missing if you chose her.”
He kisses my neck and sighs. “I wasn’t going to choose her. Even if you told me to fuck off, I’m done. What she has to offer doesn’t interest me anymore.”
“What would you have done then?”
“Spend the rest of my life trying to win you back.”
Oh, my heart. “Promise me something?”
