How could ONE fucking man do this to me?
“Val?” I heard the voice of Morena, Hawk’s ol’ lady from outside and I put my phone back in my pocket and headed out to meet her. “There you are.”
Her bright and peppy little smile turned up when she saw me and was quickly replaced by a frown. “Oh god, what’s happened? Are you okay?”
I nodded. “Yep.”
“Girl, you know I can see through that tough exterior, right?”
“What’s up, Mor?”
She sighed. “Casey told me to come by and tell you that they may need you to cover the shop today. Something’s come up, and they need all hands on deck.”
“They know I’m one of them, right?” I shot back at her.
“Of course they do,” she said, pulling my hand into hers. “I think…well, I think it has something to do with a visitor they have currently.”
“You mean Dempsey?”
She sighed. “Is that why you are sad? He’s back and you haven’t seen him?”
I choked back a laugh but it came out as a sob and Morena wrapped her arms around me. I didn’t want to admit how much the hug helped and I leaned into it, trying to silence my tears.
“Come,” she told me and she pulled me into the office. She grabbed something from the bathroom and held it over my eyes. It was a cold compress. “This will help with the redness and the puffiness. Now, while it’s doing its job, talk to me.”
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“Sure I would, now spill.”
“I don’t even know why I’m so mad…it’s not like we were official or anything.”
“It doesn’t matter about that crap and you know it,” Morena said. “You love him and he broke your heart. You’re allowed to be sad that he’s back on your turf.”
Was that why I was so sad?
“I fucked him in the clubhouse last night and then when it was done, there was a moment where I could see that smile of his and I just…I broke. I started a fight and left.”
“Being a woman sucks with all these fucking hormones, right?” Morena said with humour in her voice.
“I’m Valkyrie, the first woman to patch in with the Ghost Rebels, I can’t be breaking down like this.”
“Babe,” Morena raised the compress and looked at me. “Fuck that. You’re stronger than any woman I fucking know, but you are allowed to break. We all do, even the boys do. Your heart was broken when he left. Him showing up here after so much left unsaid? That would hurt, of course it would. Want me to ask Casey for info?”
I shook my head. “No. He keeps you out of club business for a reason. You’re a troublemaker.”
She chuckled at that and I found myself feeling a lot better.
“Fine, but Val, you need to talk to him. Just…maybe wait until this meeting happens.”
“What meet?”
Morena bit her bottom lip nervously, realising she’d given up some information she shouldn’t have.
“The reason he’s back is because he wants to end it,” Morena said. “He wants to stop running, and the only way to do that is to face the people after him head on.”
“What the fuck is going on, Morena?”
She sighed. “Go and see him. Get him to tell you. It will be better that way, but you know, maybe let him talk before you take your clothes off.”
