* * *
As I soared down the highway toward Caleb’s place, I laughed to myself. Protection, my ass. I had walked right out the front fucking door without anyone even asking me where I was going! Two men had been sitting at the kitchen table, and all they did was watch me walk out like it was nothing. Their club was nothing. They weren’t protecting anyone; they were just saving their own hides.
Maybe Caleb was right.
Maybe his time being around pieces of shit had turned him into one.
“Here we are,” I said breathlessly.
My thighs still rumbled, even after I threw my leg over the bike. I rushed up to the second floor where Caleb’s disgusting apartment was, and I started jamming keys into the lock until one of them turned. I had to get through six keys before I found the right one, and as I jammed my shoulder into the doorway, I found my bag of stuff sitting where it had been dropped.
By the front door, as if it had known all along exactly how things would unfold.
“You’re coming with me,” I said as I snatched up the straps.
I didn’t bother locking his front door as I pulled it closed. After all, what did I care? I was just another abused woman looking for some monster to heal her. Why the hell did I care about locking someone’s door? I dragged my stuff down the stairs and hoisted it onto the back of the bike, trying to secure it as much as I possibly could.
Then, I threw my leg back over the bike and enjoyed the rumble between my legs as I struck up the ignition once more.
“All right, let’s get home,” I said to myself.
I wasn’t as wobbly backing out of the space as I had been trying to get out of the parking lot of that clubhouse. The gravel alone made it terrible but doing it on freshly laid black asphalt made me feel powerful. I cruised on to my place, allowing a moment to cherish the wind whipping through my hair. I didn’t bother with a helmet, either. I mean, what the fuck did I have to live for? I had a stalker husband trying to ruin me, I saw a life flash before my eyes that I wanted before the man attached to the fever dream told me exactly what he thought of me after all these years, and my business that I thought might thrive was really tanking. I had nothing to my name. Nothing to show for any of the hard work I had put into my life.
For all I cared, the pavement could take me, if it was my time.
But as I pulled into a parking space in front of my condo complex, I realized I wouldn’t be that lucky.
“Now, to wash that fucker off my skin,” I hissed.
After dragging my bag of things upstairs, I tossed it onto my couch. I kicked the door closed with my foot and flipped the lock, and as I stared down at it, it reminded me of Caleb. He had changed that lock for me to keep me safe, even though I had plans to do it myself.
Jesus, I’m going to have to move after all of this.
I stripped myself down, leaving a trail from the living room into my bathroom before I hopped into the hottest shower I could stand. I wanted to scrub every single inch of myself until Caleb’s scent swirled down the drain, never to be smelled again. How the hell could I have been so stupid? All along, he was just like every other man I had fallen for. A good for nothing, abusive, manipulative man who wanted to get his dick wet before tossing me out like garbage.
He used to be so sweet back in high school.
I blamed the club for turning him into the monster he had become.
I scrubbed myself down until my skin was red with anger. If I could’ve taken steel wool to my skin, I would have. I washed myself down three times before scrubbing the hell out of my scalp, because I swear to fuck on high his scent had gotten trapped in my locks.
I washed, and I scrubbed, and I soaped up with suds until the only smell that filtered its way up my nostrils were the smells of my own soaps.
I set my sights on a fresh pair of yoga pants and a baggy t-shirt, and just as I had gotten myself comfortable on the couch with my hair wrapped up in my towel, a knock came at the door.
“Go away!” I called out.
The pitter-patter little knock came again, and I rolled my eyes.
“If you think you’re getting in here, Caleb, you’re sorely mistaken. Now, go away!”
And still, he persisted.
“You stupid little shit, did that slap across your face not communicate everything you needed to know?” I spat as I soared toward the door. “I want you out of my life, out of my way, and out of my—Blake?”
The second I tore that front door open, his face ripped the air from my lungs. The wild smile on his face ignited something behind his eyes that told me to run. But where the hell would I run? Back deeper into my small-ass condo where he could catch me there?
“Blake?” I asked, clearing my throat. “What the hell are you doing here?”
