Standing at the bar with a woman I didn’t recognize. I swept my gaze down her luscious curves and barely kept the groan from spilling out.
FUCK ME.
How was it even possible that she was even more beautiful?
She had on these tight black leather pants that hugged her curves like a second skin, showing off that perfect round ass and those long legs that used to wrap around me like they’d never let me go.
Pain speared my chest and I rubbed at the spot. This was my lot in life. I’d given her up, and every day I had to live with what I was missing.
I sighed.
“She’s here, ya’ know,” Roxy’s soft voice pulled me out of my thoughts as she appeared at my side, pressing a cold beer into my hand.
Draping my arm around her shoulders, I gave her a gentle squeeze. Roxy was like a mother to us all. All she wanted was for her boys to be happy.
“Yeah. I know.” I blew out a breath.
“She’s here, Weston Basham,” she repeated slowly, using my full name like she used to when I was a punk kid she was trying to get to listen. “Who knows when she’ll come back again.”
I rubbed my free hand over the back of my neck, tension knotting in my shoulders. I knew everyone wanted me to fix things with Hattie so she’d come back to Odin, but the reasons I ended us hadn’t changed. She was a star. She was always meant to be on a stage, singing to crowds of people. She had a gift, and I wouldn’t be the reason she left it all behind.
That was exactly what she would do, too. It was why I had broken up with her and sent her away all those years ago. I wanted the best for her.
That was what you did, right? You put the person you love first.
That’s what I fucking did, and I lived with the pain of it every day.
“Talk to her. She thinks you stopped loving her. That’s cruel, Bash. I can tell by looking into her eyes that it still haunts her. You have to set the record straight, baby.”
“Yeah,” I rasped. I didn’t want to be the cause of her pain, but I wasn’t sure how to approach her. How was I supposed to talk to her when we weren’t the same people anymore? She wasa goddamn superstar for crying out loud. She had more money than everyone in Odin combined. Not to mention the fact that she fucking hated my guts.
I’d done that to her.
“Be the man I know you are.” With those parting words, Roxy ducked out from under my arm and took off across the room to where Eagle was deep in conversation with Pistol Pete.
I took a swig of my beer and let my eyes drift back to where Hattie was standing.
“Fuck.”
“You okay, brother?” Bane’s voice cut through my thoughts as he came up beside me, a beer dangling from his fingers.
My brothers didn’t know why I’d broken up with Hattie. Hell, most of them thought she’d just left for bigger and better things. I wasn’t sure how Roxy had figured it out, but she had. The woman was like a bloodhound when she wanted to know something.
“I’m fine,” I lied, taking another drink.
Bane stared into my eyes for a long moment, seeing right through my bullshit. “Let me give you some advice my mother gave me when I fucked shit up with Frankie.”
Bane and Frankie had an... interesting story. He kidnapped her after he found out she cleaned out his offshore bank accounts. The crazy bastard was beyond pissed–as anyone could imagine– so he decided he was going to break into her father’s mansion–the Mayor’s Mansion. He’d actually gone to beat her ass because he thought she was a dude. Imagine his surprise when it turned out she clearly wasn’t. After getting in a few shots with a baseball bat, he managed to subdue her. Then he tied her up and brought her back to the clubhouse. Let’s just say he fucked it up royally and let her go. He was a miserable bastard while she was gone, too. So, his Ma’ suggested he kidnap heragain, seeing as how it worked out so well the first time. It was a big fucking mess, but in the end it all worked itself out.
“Our situation is different, brother,” I said, shaking my head. Way different.
Bane cocked a brow. “Is it, though?”
I grunted, not wanting to get into it.
“All I’m saying is if you love her, don’t let her go again. Fuck, don’t even give her a fucking choice.” He shrugged like it was as simple as that as his eyes strayed to Hattie.
“Yo, Hats!”
