My stomach twisted into knots as I tried to process what he was saying. It was impossible to believe the man I loved might have only been with me to hurt my brother. Not after I’d given myself to him so completely.
“You’re wrong.” My voice shook, but I meant it. “What we have is real. The way he looks at me, the way he treats me…there’s no way he’s faking it.”
Except even as I said the words, doubts began creeping in.
He had never taken me to the compound. Or introduced me to any of his club brothers. We’d never even gone on a single public date in Crossbend—always somewhere private or out of town.
Looking back at our time together, I realized he’d been careful about keeping me separate from that part of his life. And he had to have a reason for it.
I pressed a hand to my chest, trying to breathe through the ache forming there.
“Don’t blame yourself, Aubrey.” Tripp’s voice softened, but it only made it worse. “You couldn’t have known. Blitz is smart and patient. If he knows I’m a fed, this would be the perfect way to fuck with me.”
Tears stung my eyes. I felt shattered. The beautiful love story I’d been living suddenly looked twisted and calculated.
But deep down, beneath the hurt and confusion, a stubborn part of me still refused to believe it. What Canyon and I had felt too real. The way he touched me, how he spoke about our future, the way he looked at me like I was everything…that couldn’t all be fake.
I sat there with the phone pressed tightly to my ear, tears slipping silently down my cheeks. I was torn between the devastating theory my brother had just handed me and theunspoken love I still felt for the man who had claimed every piece of my heart.
When Tripp finally spoke again, his voice was heavy with what sounded like genuine disappointment. “I didn’t think Blitz was the kind of man who’d use a woman either.”
Those words didn’t sound like they were about the investigation. I couldn't help but wonder if they were friends. If my brother had trusted Canyon.
That somehow made the betrayal feel even deeper.
“This is serious, Aubrey,” Tripp continued, his tone turning urgent. “The club world is dangerous. You don’t belong in it. Please, get out now. Pack your things and leave before you get hurt. I’m begging you.”
Tears streamed down my face as I sat there feeling hurt, angry, and so confused I could barely think straight. Part of me wanted to scream at Tripp for ruining the most beautiful thing that had ever happened to me. But I was terrified he might be right.
And even through all the pain and doubt, one thing remained crystal clear—I was still deeply in love with Canyon.
“I have to go,” I whispered, my voice breaking.
“Aubrey, wait?—”
I hung up before he could say anything else. Then I just sat there on the couch, staring blankly at the water through the windows while my head spun.
Everything I thought I knew about us suddenly felt uncertain, yet my love for him refused to die. I couldn’t sit here wondering. I needed to know what the heck was going on, and only one person could tell me.
Wiping the tears from my cheeks, I stood, grabbed my keys, and headed for the door. I was going to confront him. Right now.
I had to look Canyon in the eyes and hear the truth from him—whatever it turned out to be. Because no matter howdevastatingly Tripp had laid it all out for me, I still believed in us. I needed to know if I had fallen in love with a lie.
14
AUBREY
Tears blurred my vision, but I angrily wiped them away. I couldn’t fall apart. Not yet.
I climbed into my car and gripped the steering wheel as I took a few slow, deep breaths. I needed to be calm enough to drive, which was asking a lot of myself when I was completely shattered.
It took fifteen minutes to get my emotions controlled enough that I stopped crying. And another five for my hands to stop shaking.
Finally starting the car, I backed out of the driveway with an unfamiliar destination in mind. Canyon had told me where the clubhouse was, just in case of an emergency when I couldn’t reach him. I never thought I’d actually need that information like this. But right now, it felt like the only place I could go for answers.
I had a hard time focusing on the road with my emotions a chaotic storm inside me. I was hurt. Angry with Tripp for dropping all of this on me. Pissed at Canyon for possibly lying to me. Confused about what was real and what wasn’t.
But I kept driving because I needed to know whether the man I had fallen so hard for had been playing me from the beginning. My hands wouldn’t stop trembling on the wheel, but I clung to the fragile hope that what Canyon and I had was real. I didn’t know how I would survive if it wasn’t.
