She shook her head once, small and sharp, like she didn’t want to hear whatever was about to come out of my mouth, and that pissed me off, though I didn’t know why.
I was suddenly so angry at her. At the world.
I felt judged and seen, and I desperately wanted to take it all back. I wanted the image she’d had of me in her head yesterday, not this one. Not the one that fucked random women with no care. That drank until he passed out. That killed without fear of retribution. That had a code he stood by because it meant more to him than anything—more than anyone.
Because none of those things felt like me anymore.
In that moment, all I could think about was making her like me again. Making her look at me like I was something—someone that belonged in her world.
“I can’t believe you. I mean, I should have known, but.” She shook her head and let out a dry laugh. Rage doused my desire and longing for her. Embarrassment at being seen for who I really was, but who I no longer wanted to be making me angry.
“What?” I snapped, stepping toward her. “You gonna stand there lookin’ at me like that or you gonna say something else?”
Her expression shifted, hurt twisting into anger so fast it almost gave me whiplash.
“What would you like me to say, Tex?” she shot back, her voice low and cutting. “That I walked in on youexactlywhere I should have expected to find you? It was what you were trying to tell me last night, wasn’t it.”
I clenched my jaw. “Don’t start?—”
“Oh, I’m not starting anything,” she interrupted, crossing her arms tight over her chest like she was holding herself together. “I just didn’t realize I was that stupid.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Her laugh was sharp. Bitter. “It means I forgot who you were for a hot second, but I remember now.”
Something ugly flared in my gut. Judged. I was being judged, and that had never bothered me before because I didn’t care what people thought about me. But I cared what she thought. I cared about her judgment. And that realization made me furious.
“Oh yeah? And who am I? Enlighten me, Rowan.”
“You’re a biker,” she said, like it tasted bad coming out. “You drink, you fight, and you screw anything that’s willing. You don’t care about anyone else but yourself. That’s your life.”
I stepped closer. “And you got a problem with that?”
“No, I don’t have a problem with it,” she snapped. “I’m the problem. Because I thought that maybe you were different. That maybe you were better than that.”
That word hit harder than it should have.
I scrubbed my hand down my face, my frustration boiling over. “Yeah, well you don’t know a damn thing about me.”
Her eyes flashed. “No, clearly I don’t.”
“I don’t need to listen to this,” I bit out.
“No, you don’t. Because I’m not your woman, and you aredefinitely not my man.” She glared at me and I had to hold myself still for fear of staggering backwards at her words. “I guess you were right after all.”
“Yeah,” I said, “right about what?”
“We have no future.” She shook her head at me like she hadn’t just delivered the killing blow. “And you clearly never felt anything for me other than trying to get me into bed.”
Silence cracked between us, loud as a gunshot.
I laughed. “What?”
“Was I just a challenge for you, Tex? Was that it? Were you trying to see if you could fuck the ranch girl and then when it got too close you felt sorry for me? Was that it?”
“No,” I said, sounding miserable. I had to stop this or I was going to lose her forever.
“Yeah, I bet that was it. Why else would you make me fall for you only to tell me we had no future?”
