At first, there’d been rage at seeing her in the car with Sutton. Then there’d been disbelief. The second I laid eyes on her, I felt myself soften a bit, melting under her smile, until the memory of her betrayal struck my ego like a knife.
Ayda had lied to me.
The one person who spoke of truth, honesty, and being open. The woman who had made me want to believe that trust was something you could not only feel but touch, too. I could reach out and touch it on her skin, wrap it around me and breathe it in from her.
Trust.
Because Ayda didn’t lie. Not even when most people thought she probably should. She didn’t lie… until she did.
I got back on the bike, and I let the engine drown out all the anger I felt, pushing myself hard as I tore through the streets in a way I hadn’t torn through them in months. The sound of my tires screeching around corners mixed with the roar of the bike let everyone around me know who I was and what kind of fucking mood I was in.
I took the long route back to The Hut, needing to spend some time with my eyes on the road, enjoying the silencebeing on the bike gave me in my head. There were no thoughts. Just… feelings. Mainly hurt. I was fucking hurt she’d kept that shit from me.
Eventually, I slowed to a crawl and rode through the gates of the yard, parking in my usual spot and taking a minute to try to calm my breathing. I sat on the bike for far too long, just staring at the ground, until I shook my head and let everything I felt tear through my veins.
She’d been shooting with Sutton, and while she might not have been around for me to say something to, I knew a man who was. Sutton’s car sat in one of its usual spaces, giving me purpose.
Peeling myself off the bike, I rolled my shoulders in my cut and swung my arms from side to side as I marched across the yard with strides that should have made the devil quake beneath me. I hit the stairs and jumped onto the porch before I pushed on the door of The Hut with all the force I had, not even flinching when it smashed into the wall and made everyone inside stop what they were doing and turn my way.
I didn’t make eye contact with anyone as I stormed through, my face set in stone and my eyes glancing around to find Sutton.
“Hey, Drew,” Deeks greeted me.
I had no desire to make small talk, but one look at him and I knew there was something I had to do before I lost my shit.
“Deeks. Go sit with Ayda at Rusty’s.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Just stay with her. No matter what her stubborn ass says. Do not let her leave your sight. Got it?”
“Understood.” With a firm nod of his head, Deeks wasleaving and following his orders like the good brother he was, leaving me to continue marching on my one-man crusade.
“Drew?” Slater called from somewhere behind me.
“Where is he?” I barked back.
“Who? What? What’s happened?” Jedd pulled up by my side, matching me step for step. “Why do you look like you’re about to kill someone?”
“Because I am.”
“Shit,” Jedd hissed. “What’s Kenny done now?”
“Not Kenny.” I stopped and spun around, searching through the bodies around the bar. “I’m looking for Sutton.”
A silence descended over the room, but not before I heard the collective gasp of a few women who were sitting on the leather sofas. It had been my law that Sutton wasn’t to be touched, sneered at, or even breathed on in the wrong way. Now there I was, seeking him out, ready to rip him a new asshole.
“Drew, you better tell us what he’s supposed to have done,” Harry said behind me. Everyone seemed like they were behind me, just voices trying to drift over my head and cut through the rage that was desperate to pour out. “‘Cause unless it’s murder, son, I’d say you need to calm do—”
“Don’t!” I snapped, cutting him off as I growled through gritted teeth. “Do not tell me to calm down, Harry.”
I took off down the corridors, looking for Howard in any of the bedrooms that had been left unlocked before pushing through into the toilets. Fuck. They were all empty.
“Sutton!” I called out. “You better get your skinny cowboy ass out here. The longer you hide, the worse it’s going to be.”
“What the hell has he done?” Jedd asked, hot on my heels.
I flared my nose like a raging fucking bull, releasing a long exhale before I looked Jedd in the eyes.
