That’s when Riot slid into Link’s seat like he’d been waiting for the opening. No smile, no easy charm. “You really think running to Link’s gonna make it easier?” His voice was quiet, but it sliced clean through the noise.
My head snapped towards him, anger surging through me. “Excuse me?”
Riot leaned forward, resting his forearms on the bar. “I’ve watched you circle each other since you set foot back in here. Doesn’t matter how loud Gabby laughs or how hard you try to pretend with Link, everyone with eyes can see where the fuse runs.”
Heat climbed my throat. “You don’t know me.”
“Don’t need to,” he said, gaze steady. “I know him, and I know what you do to him.”
I looked away, but his voice followed.
“You think you’re the only one who feels it? That kiss wasn’t smoke. That was fire breaking loose in front of the whole damn club. You can play with it, deny it, drink ‘til you forget it, but it’s already lit. And once it burns, it doesn’t go out easy.”
Riot pushed back from the bar then, leaving the second whiskey untouched. “Figure out whether you’re gonna feed it or put it out, little Kane, before it burns you both.”
Then, he was gone, his chair still warm, his words heavier than the whiskey in my veins.
Chapter 14
Reaper
When I stepped back into the clubhouse, the noise hit me like a fist. The music, laughter, and perfume was thick enough to choke on.
After the kiss with Lucy and the revelation about the missing money, my head was chaos. I needed control. Needed the club to see Reaper, not some man unravelling over his dead friend’s little sister.
So, I let Gabby drag me into the bar and settle herself in my lap like she owned the spot. Any other night, I would’ve had both hands up her top, using her tits for stress relief, or slid a hand down her jeans to hear her gasp. Once, after a run went bad, I’d bent her over the pool table in front of half the brothers. She hadn’t cared. She’d loved it, her tits out, moaning louder the more they watched.
But tonight, her touch felt wrong, like ants crawling over my skin. Her voice was a buzz I couldn’t drown out. When she took my hand and shoved it up her shirt, my body went through the motions, fingers finding her nipple and giving it a roughsqueeze, but I stayed soft. She moaned in my ear, but nothing stirred in me.
Because my eyes weren’t on her. They were on Lucy.
She was across the room with Link, laughing at something he said. Every time she smiled, every time her eyes flicked my way, my chest went tight. My body reacted to her without permission, my heart kicking wildly, and that was the problem.
I hated her attitude, hated the way she got under my skin, hated that I couldn’t look away. Link peeled off towards the bathroom, and before the chair even cooled, Riot slid into his place. My chest locked up. He wasn’t smiling, wasn’t flirting, he was leaning close, voice low, eyes steady on her.
I knew that look. It wasn’t temptation—it was warning.
My jaw ground tight. Riot had my back in every war we’d ever fought, but right then, he was putting himself between me and the one thing I couldn’t seem to stop wanting. Protecting me from her or protecting her from me, either way, it felt like a betrayal.
I sat frozen, Gabby’s nails dragging down my throat, my hand limp on her hip. My eyes stayed locked on Lucy and Riot, until the burn in my chest coiled so tight, I couldn’t hold it any longer.
I was still watching her, jaw clenched, when voices carried from the back table. Two prospects were whispering like they thought I couldn’t hear.
“Fuck, she’s gorgeous. Not like the stick-thin chicks hanging around here. She’s got curves. Real curves. Makes a man want to . . .”
My knuckles went white around the glass in my hand, but I didn’t turn. Didn’t snap. Didn’t break a bottle across his face the way every part of me itched to.
Because that would’ve been admitting something I couldn’t afford to admit.
Lucy wasn’t mine.
Not officially. Not by club law. Hell, she wasn’t even supposed to be here.
But the thought of some prospect, some nobody, putting his hands or his eyes on her like she was a piece of meat... I had to breathe deep to stop myself from putting him through the wall.
She’s not mine, I repeated in my head.
Except she was. Always had been, but I’d been too much of a coward to claim her. I was too busy pushing her away with harsh words, trying to save her from my fucked up life.
