She just shakes her head. “As if I fucking care.”
“Ladies, let’s go before I lose my fucking shit.” Rochelle turns on her heel, making her way to the exit.
I look her up and down in disgust. “Looks like someone’s been put in her place yet again. Best woman won.” I wink at her, her jaw twitches, and I can see she’s dying to react, but she knows Rochelle will also get Drifter to fire her ass. As we leave, the motorbikes pull up outside. Drifter and Clay remove their helmets. I want to run and hold him, but I can see the tension radiating from him.
“What you fucking done now?” Drifter yells.
Rochelle holds her hands up. “I’m offended. I was a good girl, I promise.”
“You and your mouth don’t know when to stop,” he replies.
“How did you know I was here?” she asks.
He nods his head at the bouncers behind us. “They called.”
“Fucking grass,” Rochelle snides.
Clay grabs my hand and pulls me into an embrace, his body sagging against my own.
“You okay?” he whispers.
“Hmhm. I can look after myself, you know.”
“I have no doubt, beaut.”
“Anyway, the bitch needed putting in her place,” Rochelle continues. “I’ve told the bitch she is no longer welcome in the club.”
“She’s going to put Drifter in an early grave,” Clay mutters.
“Get on the fucking bike,” Drifter growls, and she stares him down.
“Who you fucking talking to?” she retorts.
“You. Now, get on the fucking bike. P.L.E.A.S.E.” He accentuates his manners. She rolls her eyes at him but does as he says anyway. Their relationship seems more strained recently. They have their light moments, and you can tell the love and admiration that Drifter has for her, but there seems to be more moments like this, where she pushes him at every turn. Drifter pulls off, his tyre kicking up dust from the gravelled car park.
“You want a lift back, Bella?” Red shouts making her way to her car.
“I’ll take her,” Clay interjects before I get a chance to answer. Red pops her hand up in acknowledgment before climbing into her car. “You gotta be careful,” he mutters, grabbing my hand and leading me to his bike.
“Clay, if I’ve learned one thing in the time I’ve been part of your life and this club, it’s that I need to have a backbone and if I’m your ol’lady there is no way I can let some club whore come in and literally lay her hands on you.”
“But you’re not from this world, I have to protect you.” I pull my hand out of his, folding my arms over my chest. I’m sick of men thinking I need protecting. Before any of these came intomy life, I looked after myself, Liam made me lose myself over the years, and I was just starting to feel more in control of my life.
“Not from this life,” I snap, and he stops in his tracks, turning around to look at me.
“That’s not what I mean—”
“Well, what else could you mean? I might not be from your ‘world’.” I use my fingers for air quotes. “But I’ve been the woman that’s had to claw myself back from the edge, the woman that wanted to jump from that bridge that night, I didn’t belong anywhere until you claimed me as your own, and now you’re telling me I don’t belong there.” The hurt I feel right now is like a knife to the heart. They’d accepted me as their own, and now he was trying to tell me I didn’t belong. He runs his hands over his face.
“Fuck, Bella. That isn’t what I fucking meant. I’m tired. I haven’t slept. I just mean that you aren’t used to how crazy these club whores are when they want something. I mean, she fucking spiked my drink, they don’t have boundaries. What if she did something to you? I’d have to end the bitch.” He begs, his eyes pleading with me, he reaches for my face. “You’re mine, today, tomorrow forever. My world is your world but fuck I would burn it to the ground if I lost you.” His eyes are full of pain and I feel like a grade a cunt for acting irrational.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper, leaning into his touch. “I . . . I . . . fuck, I feel so overwhelmed with everything. I can’t lose you.” There’s a sudden pang to my heart at the thought of losing him, of being alone on that bridge again.
“Never,” he whispers, bringing my face to his and kissing me tenderly. “You’re mine now, there’s no going back.” A single tear falls along my cheek.
“The beauty to my beast, now and forever.”
Chapter Twenty
