She didn’t crack as she walked out.
She remained solid during the drive back.
But it happened as she let herself into the house: her butt hit the first stair, and she just let the floodgates open. Tears poured, sobs racked her torso.
Cry now, she told herself, get it out of the way, let the realization sink in, and then deal with it. That was her plan of action.
Give Ryan time to heal, then see where they were at.
The next hour, Nina turned up at the house, and Lisa broke her vow as she collapsed into her friend’s arms and cried as if the world had ended.
Not being loved by Ryan Gold basically meant the end of her world.
TWENTY-NINE
Lisa
Two days.
Not a phone call.
Not a text.
Lisa couldn’t say which emotion was steering her ship, but she knew it wasn’t sunshine and rainbows; that was for damn sure.
In fact, as she parked her car in front of the Diablos compound building, she was fit for murder, or at the very least, a kicked shin. She switched the engine off and took a fortifying breath.
Two days without hearing a word from Ryan. The longest they’d gone without speaking ever since they reconnected, and her heart felt sore.
After speaking with Nina earlier, they’d pieced together all the weird shit their men had been doing for the past two days, and nothing made sense. The hushed calls, the secret late-night club meetings.
If Ryan had lost his memories, if he was injured, why the big secrecy?
Why were they keeping her out of their circle and away from Ryan?
Something smelled fishy, and she’d beat every single biker in that brick building to get the answers if she had to.
She was not a passive little woman who would sit at home and wait.
“I won’t talk you out of going in there, and going holy hell on Splice,” Nina said from the passenger seat. Of course, her best friend had tagged along. “If you’re gonna kick asses, Splice’s especially, I’ll hold your purse. But I want you to be prepared for what you might walk into.”
Lisa was staring at the front door, watching one of the prospective members carrying grocery bags inside. When the door opened, they heard the loud belting rock music. Were they having a party? When she was in utter shambles, they werepartying?
“Splice when he was single... he was...” Nina grimaced when Lisa turned her head.
“I know exactly what he was like; he told me himself. You told me enough stories about Splice before you knew he was my Ryan.”
But was she prepared to see that Splice in action right now? That was the question.
It wasn’t as though Lisa was a stranger to him; he remembered the younger version, but he’d shown no interest in the present version of her, not like Ryan from a few months back, who’d taken one look at Lisa and pursued her with a single doggedness to get her back.
The Ryan who’d stared at her two days ago seemed… he seemed like he was someone else altogether.
She still heard his “babe.” The same babe he called every woman in earshot. And he’d flashed Lisa a grin like he’d been greeting an old friend, and not the woman he was obsessed with.
That stung.
No, it burned her heart to ashes.
