AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I hear her door open, and her feet coming our way. He clenches my hand tightly and cools his expression, and we both turn to see her as she enters. There are bags under her eyes, and she’s tired. She probably didn’t sleep either. She glances between us, and Ryder stands.
“I won’t repeat my father’s life, love,” Ryder snarls. “I couldn’t bear you hating me, everyone else? Fine, but not you. Not ever.”
Then he leaves, letting me deal with it like I said I would. He’s not running away, he’s not hiding, he’s learning that sometimes it’s okay to let others help.
“Ry?” she calls, as he storms upstairs, but he freezes, his hand on the bannister.
“I love you with all the broken, blood-stained pieces of me,” he murmurs, and then he’s gone. She gasps, stumbling back, and looks at me in shock.
I stand and step towards her, but I can’t close the distance between us. If I do, I might hold her and never let her go. I need Ryder’s cool confidence now, and I need Garrett’s strength and Diesel’s conviction. I need them all, and they are here, all of them, in my heart. With her.
“Roxy, I need you to listen for once and keep that pretty mouth of yours shut until I’m done. You’re the love of my life, darling. Someone I didn’t even know I was searching for all these years. But you’re here, and I love you more than words, which is why I’m giving you these keys. I know you can never love me the way I love you when you’re not free. I’m hoping, I’m fucking hoping, that even though you can leave, that you’re free, and I promise you are. We won’t chase you, we won’t hunt you. You are truly free…I’m hoping that you will still want to stay. With us. Love us, Roxy. I know I’m not asking for something easy or simple, I’m asking for everything, but I can’t not. You’re our heart, Rox, our living, beating heart. The piece we were missing from our family. You turned our world upside down. We aren’t good men, we aren’t soft or loving, we are hard and our hands are stained with blood. But I swear, I swear if you stay, you will never want for anything, and no one will ever hurt you again…well, apart from us.”
I smirk, and tears fill her eyes as she stares at me, speechless.
“We will love you effortlessly, always, even when it’s hard or hurts, when we are hateful and dark, even when we scare everyone else but you.” I step closer and pass her the keys to her car. “So I’m here, begging you not to leave, even though you can. I will lose all sense of dignity and pride for you. I’ll do what they can’t.” I swallow, the words hard as I look into those eyes I know better than my own. “Stay, be ours. Keep Ryder sane, melt that ice and give him the love he never had but deserved. Love Garrett, even though he struggles to love himself. Love Diesel, even though it might kill you…and love me, even though I don’t deserve it. Be my greatest win.”
She blinks and glances away for a second, so I turn her to face me, my hand lingering on her cheek.
“I have no gifts, no jewels or expensive clothes or…or anything to offer. Just me and my heart.” I smash my fist into my chest. “The one my father tried to carve out of me. It’s broken, damaged, and dark like the rest of us, but it’s yours. Along with my gun and my loyalty. Forever. Stay, darling, please stay.”
She swallows, not letting those tears fall, she’s too strong, our girl. “I’m really free?” she asks.
I nod. “Free, you can go back to your life, if that’s what you want.”
She stares wordlessly into my eyes. My heart is slamming against my chest so loudly, she must hear it. My legs feel weak, my stomach torn, and when she steps back, letting my hand drop from her face, it all breaks.
My chest cracks open, my stomach drops, and my legs nearly buckle. I watch her silently turn and run to the door. She rips it open, hesitates, and for a moment, I have hope, hope that she will stay, but then she’s gone, the doorframe empty.
I fall to my knees, my heart splintering into a million pieces as I watch the empty space where she stood. My home is cold and empty. I’m alone.
And I just had my heart broken.
She left.
She left us.
A noise has my head jerking up to the balcony. I see Ryder’s retreating form, and then hear his door slam. She broke more than one heart today, but we will keep our promise.
Her freedom.
But-but what if I can’t?
Because as the seconds tick by, it gets harder and harder to breathe the farther I know she gets away from us. What if, without her, there is no us?
What if I can’t let her go?
What if I’m not strong enough?
What if I’m too much of a Viper to release our prey?
Chapter Thirty-Eight
ROXY
My heart is hammering and my lungs ache, but I outrun it. I grip the keys so hard, they cut into my hand, even that pain doesn’t register. It doesn’t compete with the sick feeling in my stomach or my screaming heart.
He begged.
