Page 85 of Meant for You

Panting, he grabbed my hand and lifted it, showing me my split, bleeding knuckles. “You’re fucking done.”

I shoved him off, climbed to my feet, and started toward the locker room, but stopped when I realized Grifter was right behind me. “Don’t need you to scrub my back, asshole.”

Grifter scowled. “Not leaving you on your own, fuckhead, so shut the fuck up and get in the shower. You stink.”

I planted my hands on my hips and stared at the floor, taking a steadying breath. “I’m not gonna do anything stupid. Just having a shower.”

His jaw worked. “Why don’t you come back to Black Stone for a bit, if Cal can spare you here? We’ve got shit to sort at the club, Ramblers from all over coming for a get-together, and the shop’ll be busy. Could use the help.”

“Maybe.” There was nothing keeping me there. Cal and Bull had their own shit going on, and as much as I loved where they were with their lives and what they had, I wasn’t much in the mood to be around the happy families crew. Cal would be glad to see the back of me. He surprisingly hadn’t given me shit over Everly. I’d fucked up. I’d chased her away, like he was worried I would when I first moved back. His words had been echoing through my head all week.

“We kept her up at the house for as long as we could…didn’t want to leave her on her own. Eves was broken.”

Nausea gripped my gut when I thought about her like that. That I’d fucking hurt her again.

Grifter eyed me for several long seconds, and I realized his worry over me doing something stupid told me exactly how messed up he’d been when I’d been in Black Stone with him, where his head had been when I’d been there for him when he’d damn near self-destructed.

Riff shrugged. “Whatever. But you’re not the only one who smells like shit, so am I allowed to shower as well? Or are you gonna buff the banana and need some privacy?”

Christ. I shook my head and headed to the locker room, with Grifter dogging my heels.

As I washed the sweat and blood from my body, ignoring the idiot in the next stall singing a medley of Britney Spears classics at the top of his lungs, I wondered how I was going to carry on with my life without Everly in it.

Because I was pretty sure I’d lost her.

For good this time.

Chapter Nineteen

Everly

I walked into Rocktown Ink, and Trix came out of the room she used to create her beautiful tattoos at the sound of the bell above the door.

“Girl, you’re back.” She walked straight to me, pulling me in for a hug. “Lila and I missed you. You okay?” She pulled back, her eyes meeting mine, concern clear to see.

We’d had a few group messaging sessions the last week, my friends talking me down when I was freaking out. “I will be,” I said, taking her hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. “Is he here?”

She bit the side of her lip and shook her head. “He’s been gone a few days. No one said where, and with the mood Cal and Bull have been in, I didn’t ask.”

I fought the sting behind my eyes as emotion welled inside me. I wanted so badly to see him. I hadn’t called because I couldn’t get through talking to him without crying. I was so angry, first at him, then my aunt when she admitted what she’d said to him.

Yes, I’d needed time, and I’d taken it.

I’d felt helpless when Dane had gone after Martin in that parking lot, like I had the last time he attacked someone on my behalf. Like I had no control over what happened to me and my life all over again. That the people I loved could be taken from me again, like my parents, like Dane, and there was nothing I could do.

I hated that feeling, and I didn’t want to feel that way ever again.

Dane was everything to me, and I refused to lose him again, which meant we needed to talk about what had happened and what we were going to do moving forward, because I couldn’t live like this. Worried he’d snap and do what he did last week again, that I wouldn’t be there to stop him and he’d do something he’d regret, terrified he’d be taken from me.

So I’d called the day before I came home, finally ready to talk this through, desperate to hear his voice because I missed him so much I physically hurt, but he hadn’t answered.

I’d called so many times since I couldn’t count. Left messages. Texted.

He’d locked me out. Dammit, he was trying to lock me out all over again.

Now to come home and learn he’d left town without telling me? It cut me deeply. I had a sick feeling that history was about to repeat itself. Dane was going to try and pull away from me like he had before, believing it was the right thing to do for me.

That I was better off without him.