Callum’s voice went low. “Please tell me you didn’t. Women and children are off limits, and that girl was under Santa Fe protection. I’m not starting a war with another chapter over Edge’s daughter because you couldn’t keep your head straight.”
The fact that he thought he even had to ask put acid in my mouth.
“No,” I said. “Nothing like that.”
The room went quiet.
I looked Callum dead in the eye.
“I kissed her. Once. At her mother’s grave. She kissed me back. I stopped it there. In Cabo, I gave her a birthday gift and walked away. That is all.”
Callum stared.
Nate went softer beside the wall.
“Yeah,” Nate said quietly. “She just ripped his heart out, that’s all.”
I shot him a look. “She didn’t rip out anything.”
“Oh, my mistake. You’ve just been haunting the clubhouse like a Victorian widow for fun.”
Callum dragged a hand over his face. “Hell.”
“We’re good,” I said.
Neither of them believed me.
That was fair.
I didn’t believe me either.
“She’s in nursing school,” Callum said.
“I know.”
“In Malibu.”
“I know.”
“Close enough to be a problem.”
“I know.”
My voice cracked on that last one.
Just barely.
But Callum heard it.
He always heard it.
I exhaled and looked away, hating every word before I said it. “Lend me out.”
Callum’s brow lifted.
“Vegas,” I said. “Texas. Hell, send me to freezing New England if they’ll take me. Maine. Boston. I don’t care. I’ll shovel snow for a charter I’ve never met if that’s what it takes.”
Nate whistled. “That is one way to help your dick.”
