“You okay?” Riggs asks
I curl my lip. Fuck him, too. “Why wouldn’t I be okay?” I put my hands on my hips. “What is this about?” I point to the glass on the floor, the spray-painted walls. Even Stone’s mural of me is defaced. Both he and Onyx stand, refusing to answer. “So both of you are going to be fucking cowards too and avoid telling me? Fine. Get the fuck out then.”They felt like my friends before this moment. Even brotherly. But right now, I realize I don’t really know them anymore than I know the man I’ve been giving myself to without protection. And I don’t mean just sex. I didn’t protect my heart either.
Riggs looks angry, and I point behind me. “Go! Get the fuck out!” He stands still, watching me. I’ve gotten very good at stare offs lately. His friend taught me well. When he walks away, my chest aches feeling like I’ve lost another thing. I wait for him to slam the door, but it opens quietly, softly.
Onyx walks closer and says softly, looking right at me, his deep voice soothing. “He would tell you if he could. We would tell you if we could, but it’s safer this way.”
“Yeah? I feel pretty unsafe right now,” I scoff at his attempt to pacify me.
A deep sigh rumbles from his chest. “I can put up boards over the windows for tonight.”
“No. I can do it myself. I don’t want anything from you, from Riggs or him.” I lift my chin, refusing to soften. I just want to be alone and lick my wounds. Just like Riggs, Onyx exits without another word.
I stare out into the night, looking through the shattered glass still hanging from the frame. Stone’s cum slips down my leg, and I hate it. I hate that he’s shutting me out.
Running back upstairs, I head to my apartment and tear the sheets off my bed. I rip off his shirt and drop it to the ground. Naked, I gather his vest and boots, bundle them in my arms,open my door, and toss them down the stairs. I look around for any traces of him and don’t see any, not that I expected I would.
According to him, we are nothing more than hook-up, fuck partners. The only signs he was even here are the faint trace of cigarette smoke, the sex stains on my sheets, and the cum on my body. I can still feel the impression of his dick deep inside my pussy. My nipples ache from where he sucked them. The bites on my neck sting. He may not have left many traces of himself in my apartment, but my body is a testament to his occupancy.
I locate my satchel, remembering the equipment he said he planted. The last time I saw them was when he stuffed them in his pocket, but he also alluded to the fact that he has more lurking around. I’ll find every fucking device he planted in my place. Change every lock.
I push my couch in front of my door because that asshole still has a key. It’s childish and probably futile since he’s over 6 feet tall and has murdered people, but I’ll scratch his eyes out if he tries to get inside.
The sound of feet on the stairs makes me pause. I stand naked, heaving from my exertions, watching the doorknob like it’s a snake ready to strike. I hold my breath waiting to see if Stone will try to get in, but the doorknob doesn’t turn. No sexy biker pushes in begging for my forgiveness. There is no revelation. No love declaration. Instead, the heavy treads of his feet go back down the stairs.
The loud roar of bikes comes through the air, and I run to my room. I find my robe, pull it on, needing to warm my chilled bones. I look out my bedroom window, astounded to see six huge Harleys in the parking lot. There are five men I don’t recognize wearing helmets, dressed in black vests like Stone’s. All of them have the lower half of their faces covered with skull bandanas. They are just as tall as Onyx and Riggs. Each one muscular and deadly looking.
These are men from his club, the men that Kingsley’s friend said are not to be played with.
The Legion Lords.
Riggs maneuvers his bike while Onyx’s slowly cruises into view from where I know he, Stone and Riggs park in the rear of the building.
Of course my eyes look forhim.Alwayshim. And when I see him walk toward the group of me carrying his helmet, my breath catches, like it always does.
Stone has on his vest and his boots. The same ones I threw down the back stairs. He’s still shirtless, his tattoos on full display. The same black skull bandana everyone else is wearing is around his face. He looks just like he did all those nights ago when I was standing in this same spot watching him, wanting him. He pauses for a moment, his back to me. I can read the tension in his wide shoulders. The huge tattoo of black wings that spans shoulder to shoulder looks even more ominous. I was just touching that back, clawing at those wings while he fucked me and now it feels like all that happened years ago.
Suddenly, he turns and looks up, focusing until he finds my window. I step forward, up to the glass and let him see me. I don’t hide like I did the last time. I let him see the anger on my face and yes the tears.
Our visual exchange lasts for what feels like forever, but has only been minutes. He turns away, picks up his helmet hanging from his fingers and then pushes it down on his head. He walks to the back of the building, and I hear his bike too. I’d know that distinctive sound anywhere.
When he rides out, he doesn’t look back. He doesn’t look at me, and I am even more shut out. Onyx and Riggs follow, and then the five other men get in line, roaring down the street. I close the curtain, effectively shutting him out too.
I don’t know why I’m so upset. I shouldn’t be. Stone comes from a world where I don’t know the rules. He never promised me more, and I never asked for more. At least not aloud. Not to his face.
The truth is, he’s right. He doesn’t owe me anything just because we’ve slept together. And now he’s warned me away. Fine. I’ll stay away from him, as far away as humanly possible.
I need a shower. I can still feel his cum between my legs. His saliva is all over my body, and I’m sore. A hot bath would be better, but I have shit to do. Repairs to make. Both to my gallery and my heart.
I could stay at a hotel and luxuriate in a spa. Sleep in a bed that doesn’t smell like him. Thinking of my bed, I look around my apartment and wonder again where his little gadgets are. I need to find them. For all I know he’s watching me right now. Hell, he might have even witnessed my temper tantrum earlier. I lift my middle finger and make a circle around the room, snarling as I rotate a complete 360 degrees. “Fuck you. I’m going to find every single one of your spyware bullshit and throw them down the garbage disposal. You hear me!?”
I move my couch back to its position and head downstairs, ready to call Sophia’s cousins to help me board up the broken front of the gallery.I skid to a stop when I see that all the broken glass has been removed. The floor is cleaned. My windows are now boarded up. Where the hell had the wood come from? The only thing that’s still taunting me is the graffiti-covered mural. I walk over to it and touch the red paint. It’s still wet, and I wonder if I can clean it without damaging the art underneath. Pulling out my phone, I look up the acronym MZS. All that appears is a used bookstore and something related to motorcycle parts.
I can’t understand it. What does it mean?
Chapter 65
“Some of the members say the man that led the raid on the club house was wearing a Legion Lords vest. Vintage. His face was covered, but the vest was clear.”
