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“Calm down? Her ex is a fuckin’ Deputy Miller. My archenemy.” As if I needed this complication.
It had been a shit week, already. Another of the club’s businesses was vandalized yesterday. No doubt it was payback from the Hunters after what we had done to their men, breaking a few ribs and one of the dude’s arms. I was sure Boxer’s “Hickey from Ricky” didn’t go over well either.
I’d been cleaning up mess after mess, not having a spare minute to call Madeline.
Not true.
I needed time to think.
Madeline had fucked with my head last weekend when we were together, and I needed to get myself straight. I had purposely not called or texted. A dick-move, for sure. She’d sounded more than a little pissed about it, too. I expected as much. She was my fiery little minx.
It was what it was, and I couldn’t change a damn thing. All I could do was talk to her and figure this shit out. I wanted her with every cell in my body. But she deserved better than me. She also distracted me. I needed to stay focused with the Hunters wandering around and trying to invade my territory.
But after one weekend of fuckin’ her senseless and loving every second of it, something changed in me. I needed her. Fuck. I never needed anyone before Angel.
“Try to remember how much you like her. I’m sure there’s a good reason why she didn’t say anything.”
I tilted my head toward Track. “It’s a betrayal.” Even though I wanted her, I was furious with her. It felt deceptive, like she was keeping secrets. I didn’t tolerate secrets. Not from my brothers. Not from my woman.
“Would it have made a difference?” Track snorted, as if trying to get a rise out of me.
Of course, like a dipshit, I took the bait. “If I’d known the truth, I wouldn’t have hooked up with her.”
“Hooked up? That’s what you’re calling it after spending the weekend with her? You neversleepwith a woman. You just fuck ‘em. What about all the hell you put us through when you came back from the lake? Moping around, biting off our heads at the littlest thing?” Track shook his head, lifting his beer to his mouth. “She’s fucked you up, man.”
“She hasn’t.”
“Just admitted it. You have it bad for her. And what you’re angry about is knowing who’d been fucking her before you. Deputy Miller, the little prick. He’s been up your ass for years trying to take down the club. Now you find out he’s been with your woman. It sucks, man. It really does. I’d probably go ape shit myself, but you can’t. Do you want to risk losing her?”
“No,” I grunted.
Fuckin’ Track. He called it. I hated the deputy. He’d arrested me at least a dozen times over the years. Never for anything serious. Always just to show he was in control. I should’ve taken the motherfucker out long ago.
But I didn’t kill for sport, only in self-defense or when absolutely necessary. Even so, Boxer took care of most of it. I already had enough blood on my hands and did everything possible to avoid more.
“Didn’t think so. Miller will probably try to take her from you. Don’t push her away, or you might push her back into the prick’s arms.”
Never gonna happen. The asshole treated Madeline like shit. Now that I knewhewas the one that messed with her so bad, she would never go back to him, and I’d make damn sure she didn’t.
Madeline’s car appeared on the monitor. I inhaled a deep breath, finished off the whiskey I’d been staring at, and waited for her. Track was right. I needed to calm down.
I’d been a crazy cuss dealing with the Dirty Hunters. Stressed about Madeline, missing the fuck out of her. I’d planned to call her over the weekend. It was stupid. I shouldn’t have put it off and invited her to the party tonight. We didn’t make a big deal about the Fourth of July. No fireworks or anything. A simple club party was enough for the guys around here. But she should’ve been invited long before the drama this morning.
“Heard your woman arrived.” Lynx entered the bar, smirking. “Finally, got her out here to meet us, did ya?”
“Not now.” Track leveled his gaze at Lynx.
Lynx eyes cut to Track’s. “What? Something happened while I was balancing the books?”
“Miller is her ex,” I told him straight up because I didn’t hide important shit from my brothers.
Lynx gaped. “Deputy Miller?”
“Yeah.” I watched the monitor, feeling the muscles in my shoulders turn hard as steel.
“Fuuuck. And she hadn’t told you?” The surprise in Lynx’s voice increased my fury. I should’ve known about Miller being Madeline’s ex.
“Nope.”
