ONE
Bear
The sounds of the girls wailing and screaming tore at me, like someone shot ice in my veins. I wanted to shake them to get them to tell us what happened but this was Ace’s show. I waited, eagerly, to find out what had happened in Europe. Where were Sheridan, Wolf…and Orla?
I swallowed quickly, trying to find the courage to ask.
“They took her,” Shauna and Ryleigh said in unison. “They took Wolf, and Orla too.”
I was on my feet before I realised what I was doing, panic taking over my chest, making it hard to breathe. I watched as Ace tried to glean more information fromthem. How could he be so fucking calm? They just said his woman had been taken, and mine too.
Fuck.
No.
She wasn’t mine.
Panic seized my chest, making me want to run to the airport, to fly to Europe and hunt down whoever was crazy enough to do this.
“Who took them?” I heard Ace ask them.
“His name was Matteo Barone, and he was paying you back for what happened in Galway.”
I froze.
I knew that name.
Looking at Ace and Hawk, who both looked at me with fear in their eyes, I already knew what the hell we were facing.
“How did you get home?” I asked them.
“Someone called Bastian put us on a plane,” Shauna said. “He told us what to say, and to tell you where they were being held. He told us his brother was crazy and wanted revenge for something.”
Standing up, Ace ran his hand down his face, and began to pace. We knew what this meant. There was a good chance they were dead already, but we couldn’t leave it on the off chance they weren’t.
My heart plunged in my chest, a feeling I’d never felt before. Was I having a heart attack?
“Call Lorcan,” I heard Ace say to Hawk. He was already on the phone by the time I left the clubhouse, pushing my feet to get as far away as I could get before I fell to my knees on the solid ground. Pain jolted up and down my leg but nothing could topple the pain in my chest.
Why hadn’t I just told her?
Why had I been stupid and watched her from afar for so long?
Now, she was probably dead and I couldn’t do a damn thing to help her.
Orla.
The only woman to truly see me for me. I’d loved her since we were teenagers, dumb and horny as fuck. She’d been riding my dick all of senior year, and I had loved every fucking moment of it. I had thought I’d marry her right after, put some babies in her, and enjoy life in the club.
But she’d never wanted that.
She wanted to have fun, and in doing so, she broke me apart. I had been only too keen to follow Hawk and Ace, and join the Nomads. Multiple women were who I wanted, none staying the night, anything to get my mind off the beauty of Orla.
Her messages to me and phone calls went unanswered, until finally, she sent the message to me on a piece of her old schoolbook paper that I still kept in my wallet.
FUCK YOU.
The piece of paper that had found its way to me through a prospect for the club still sat in my wallet. From that day on, I’d been a monster, never wanting anything but a quick fuck and the bike between my legs. No attachments, no love.
