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“Canadian bacon and pineapple with roasted red peppers,” he said, pushing the perfectly cut pizza toward me. “Help yourself.”
I did just that, grabbing two slices and water from the fridge before I took a seat as far away from him as I could while still sitting at the kitchen table. “Thanks.”
“No problem,” he grunted and shoved another slice of hot, cheesy pizza in his mouth without so much as a wince. He was angry and uncomfortable, and I hated that I had made it awkward between us.
“I’m sorry, Charlie.”
He nodded but said nothing, just chewed angrily while he stared at the wood grain of the table as if it held the answers to all his problems.
I ruined it, the easy camaraderie we’d built up over the last few weeks. Lost forever.
“Okay.” I stood and put the uneaten slices back in the box. I faced him then and let out a long, frustrated sigh. “I don’t know what else to say other than I’m sorry, Charlie. It won’t happen again, but if that’s not good enough, I can leave right now. You’ve done enough for me as it is.”
“Will you stop fucking apologizing!” The words roared out of him and echoed in the kitchen, making me jump in unexpected fear.
“Okay, sor—…fuck. Fine.” I turned and took two steps before he spoke again, his words low and lethal.
“Don’t walk away from me, Savannah.” I turned to face him, but I didn’t come closer, didn’t speak. “I have a lot on my mind right now. Being the Prez is new to me, and I’m still adjusting, not to mention keeping you safe, the threat posed by The Crusaders and Black Jacks. Plus, there’s the issue of the Ashbys. It’s not that I don’t want you, but you’ve been through so much, and I don’t want you to regret it.”
“That’s bullshit, Charlie. You don’t want me, and I understand why. Hell, I wouldn’t want me either. It’s fine, but clearly you are uncomfortable around me now so maybe I should just leave.”
“Don’t tell me how I feel or what I want, Savannah,” he growled.
His words were low and gravelly, each syllable a gentle tug on my clit. And that pissed me off.
“I’m just telling you what I know, Charlie. You’ve been good to me. I’ll give you some information to make your life easier, and you can drive me to Reno and I’ll grab a bus to parts unknown.”
He opened his mouth to say something, but the sound of the doorbell stopped us both cold, especially because it was accompanied by a dozen rapid, angry knocks.
“Get upstairs,” he ordered.
“No. It’s probably for me,” I said. “And if it is, you might as well give me up rather than face any more shit for you or your MC.”
“Savannah,” he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose with his free hand, reaching under the table for a gun with his other. “Get your ass upstairs. Now.”
“Open this damn door up right now, Charlie! I know you’re in there, and I know that bitch is with you!”
Damn. That was one angry woman. “Girlfriend?” I asked.
The thought that he rejected me because there was a woman who was special to him stung, but not as much as the initial rejection.
“Cousin. The one Brendan kidnapped and shot full of drugs. Maisie.”
“Then I should probably stay since I’m the one she’s after.”
He shrugged. “Suit yourself.”
As soon as the door opened an inch, a petite woman with black hair, pale skin and the bluest eyes I’d ever seen, plowed inside wearing an angry expression to go along with her Chanel suit and Louboutin shoes.
She knew her way around because she made straight for the kitchen and leaned within an inch of my nose.
“You! You rotten little bitch. How dare you think you can come here to my family?” The woman, Maisie, spewed her hot angry breath all over me.
I stayed where I was because I learned at an early age that backing down from a bully only made things worse.
Maisie straightened up and began pacing, keeping her eyes on me the whole time.
I laughed in her face, a good way to hide my nerves. “Your family? I thought you were an Ashby now. Congratulations, by the way.”
She didn’t smile, instead her nostrils flared as she stepped closer again. Was she going to hit me? She wouldn’t do any more damage than the Black Jacks had done. With that realization, my fear melted away.
“Get away from Charlie,” she yelled, “and stay the fuck away from him or you’ll end up just like your stupid brother!”
I snorted at the reminder that Brendan was dead.
“Is that funny to you, bitch?” She took a step closer and pushed me. “I said back the fuck off.”
Now I was mad. “Don’t. Push. Me,” I growled.
“Or what?”
She pushed me again, and I dropped my hands from my hips, balled them into fists.
