I huff, amused. “Are you saying your godfather’s a dick?”
“Not to me,” she dismisses. “He’s always sweet to me.”
Are we talking about the same man? Axel, a.k.a.: Michael? My big brother, our head king? The man who literally pours salt in the wounds of evil men?
“He’ssweetto you? How?”
Shit, that sounded jealous.
“Sort of. I mean…” and she heard it. “I trust Michael. He’d never hurt me. He’d do anything for me, but that’s his role, right? To help me—nothing more.”
Maybe I’m jealous because I wish Axel would go easy on me. Or maybe it’s because it sounds like he and Alena are closer than I thought. Maybe that explains why he’s so protective of her.
Silence and a country song fill the air. An odd tension twists my heart. I’ve dug us into a conversational hole and can’t get us out.
I don’t want to risk asking Alena more questions about my brothers. I can already imagine the betrayal she’ll feel when she finds out about them. The tears in her stunning eyes when she realizes my lies.
It makes mine glisten, hating to hurt her.
Guilt, a cement block in my chest.
Fury about our situation, a fire in my soul.
I thought I was making the past ten months perfect for Alena’s sake, and I was. I live to see her smile.
But it was also for me.
I’ll need the memory of the most romantic year of my life before I lose it all. Before I lose her.
Because I can fucking promise I’ll never love another woman.
I’m like Maxim. I love a woman so much, I’ll sacrifice. I’ll lose her, hoping she’ll live with our memories. Hoping onceAlena stops hating me, she’ll look at the mountains and smile, knowing she was loved.
By the one man born to love her.
Only her and she deserved it.
Checking my side-view mirror, I hide my shimmering eyes, clocking Grant’s tail, and now Wilder tailing him on his Harley. A covert convoy on our way to Atlanta.
“Hey.” Alena reaches for my leg this time. “You okay?”
I blink back the pain, choking on guilt. “Ahem.Yeah, I’m good.”
“You’re so quiet. What are you thinking about?”
I turn to her, feeling like it’s my only truth.
“About how much I love you.”
About how much I’m going to give you the best night of your life, and treat you like my queen, before I lose you forever.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
ALENA
This is definitely notwhat I expected.
Loch holds my hand, the one wearing his ring, leading me into the VIP room of The Rabbit Hole, Atlanta’s most exclusive sex club.
