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Butterflies dart around inside my stomach as I smile. “I love you too.” And I do.
But Lorenzo isn’t forgotten about. I can’t let it go as easily as he can.
Chapter Twenty-One
ACE
I take the drink that Hulk hands me and then, when he isn’t watching, I put it on a nearby table. Drinking after a kill like that, brings me down and I’ll get lost in dark thoughts. I want happy memories of me and Mae this evening. I glance over to where my old lady sits on the couch. She’s tired and looks pale. A party was pushing her when she was still recovering.
I head over and crouch down in front of her. “You ready for bed?” Nodding, she takes my hand, and we sneak off. The party will continue until the early hours of the morning, and no one will miss us now the alcohol is flowing.
We go to Mae’s room and undress in silence. Mae goes to the bathroom, and I slip into bed. I don’t want to push her too much, and I don’t want her to think I expect anything from her. She isn’t ready. I turn away from her side of the bed and pull the covers right up. When she finally gets into bed, she turns the light out and snuggles down too. There’s a large space between us. It isn’t how I imagined our first night together as an official couple.
We’re asleep for less than an hour before her crying wakes me. She’s shaking and whimpering as I sit up and turn the lamp on. “Mae,” I whisper. “Mae, wake up.” She begins to thrash about, crying out louder, so I gently place my hand on her arm. “Mae, you’re safe, I’m here.”
She stills and snuggles down into her pillow. The rest of the night is pretty much the same, and by the time the sun rises, I’m exhausted. I wait until she steps into the shower and then decide to go for a run. Last night’s activities play on my mind, but I need to fight the darkness that threatens to overtake me.
Dodge runs beside me for a solid half-hour before he sits down and refuses to run anymore. I threaten to put him on a diet, and we walk back to the clubhouse.
The place is a mess, bodies sleeping on the couches and the floor. Empty glasses and bottles are strewn across every surface. I slam the door as I enter, and a few of the guys sit up and look around confused. “Get this shithole cleaned up,” I yell as I march for my office.
A minute later, Hulk comes in. “You okay, Pres?”
“Fucking great.”
“You wanna talk?”
I shake my head and sink back into my chair. “Women are confusing. One minute, you think you have them all figured out, but turns out, you really don’t.”
Hulk sits on my couch. “If you still haven’t worked them out, then what chance have I got?” He laughs to himself and pops a cigarette into his mouth before chucking the pack to me.
“Mae’s acting weird.”
“She was pissed at you for everything that went down with Lorenzo. You knew that before you claimed her.”
“How long does a woman usually stay pissed for?”
“In your case, probably a while. Go and talk to her, Pops. Mae’s someone you can talk to.”
“And say what? I thought she’d be happy he was dead. I explained why I didn’t want her there. I admit I fucked up by letting Mystique be there, but I can’t change that now. I close my eyes and see what they did to her, and it makes me so mad that I want to smash shit up. It’s not her fault, she didn’t choose it, but I still can’t help feeling lost and jealous and hurt.”
“It’s natural. No one wants to see that shit.”
“But I feel jealous. How is that okay?”
“It was still another man with the woman you love. You can’t help how your mind reacts to it.”
“Mae thinks Angel is the spy.”
“I can’t lie, it crossed my mind too.”
“Really?” I trust Hulk, he’s good at reading people, but I find it so hard to believe that Angel would do that to me.
“She has the motive. If she wanted to fuck up you and Mae, and then Lorenzo came at her with a plan where they could both walk away happy, I think she’d go for that.”
I shake my head. “I don’t buy it. She wasn’t that into me, not enough to screw me over knowing what would happen if I found out.”
“Then ask her straight. After last night’s public claiming, I’m sure she’ll gladly try to hurt you with the truth.”
