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I shook my head. “I’ve never felt this way, and I don’t want it to stop because some terrible men robbed you. They must have you confused with someone else.”
He sighed and puffed out his cheeks. “They’re not confused.”
My heart hammered and I couldn’t quite decide what that meant. I had no idea what sort of things Ethan did when he wasn’t with me, but then Ethan smiled, and I couldn’t think. He settled his mouth carefully over mine again, sucking a sweet kiss onto my lips.
5
ETHAN
Jonas must thinkI’m a loser.
I didn’t want to give him a reason to believe it even more than he already did, but bullshitting him wasn’t an option, either. I’d spent my life watching my parents lie to each other as they drank themselves into stupid decisions.
It was Dad who’d cracked first—literally. He’d fallen at work while drunk and hit his head, splitting his skull open and bleeding to death. Mom’s version of breaking had involved packing and leaving town when Leo and I were at school. My brother had been my only role model, and he’d ended up in jail, leaving me alone. I did what I had to do in order to survive, but explaining my life to someone asperfectas Jonas seemed impossible.
I groaned and pressed my back against the wall of the alleyway, then slid down until I was sitting on my ass with my elbows on my knees and my face in my hands. “Fuck.” I exhaled deeply and pressed my fingers into my eyes. Leave it up to me to fuck this up. “They don’t have the wrong person. I’m working for the Kings. Kind of. I work through this guy called Dutch, who runs drugs for the bike club. From what I understand, there are only certain areas we can do it because they’ve got some deal with another club, the Demons, about where they sell. Fuck if I know. I’m not the details man.” And I didn’t know why I was telling him any of this. He wasn’t part of this world, and even though I liked him, I also wanted to keep him away from this side of my life.
“Oh.” He curled his arms around his stomach and winced, and I saw some fear pass over his face. Pain resonated through me. I never wanted him to be afraid of me.
“I wouldn’t hurt you,” I muttered, shame flushing my cheeks. Maybe he would end up believing what his mother did and think we were all losers.
Jonas tilted his head and turned his back to slide down the wall beside me. He dragged his knees up to his chest, and to my absolute surprise, he grabbed my hand, linking our fingers together. “I know. I don’t think you would.”
“But just being around me.... Those guys punched and kicked you.” Anger stirred in my gut and I gritted my teeth. “I’ll get my revenge.”
“Please don’t.” He tightened his grip on my hand and gave me a sad pout. “Then they’ll come back for you. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
My heart gave a throb and I swallowed around a lump in my throat.
The sound of motorcycle engines filled the alleyway again, and I jumped to my feet. With Jonas frowning at me, I placed myself in front of him as three bikers rode into the tight space with their Harleys. They were much bigger than the Demons we’d encountered, and I couldn’t imagine the damage these guys would do, but I raised my fists, ready to defend Jonas to the death.
The tenseness in my shoulders relaxed when I caught sight of aKings of Men MCpatch on the arm of the lead biker’s jacket, but I didn’t lower my hands. I’d never had any interactions with the Kings, so I didn’t know how they would act.
“You gonna do something with those fists, kid?” The lead biker laughed, his voice muffled, and grabbed his helmet, dragging it up and over his head. A hard face appeared, and I’d never seen him before, though that wasn’t anything unusual. While I’d spotted the Kings around the city a few times, I’d never approached them, and there were a lot of them. This guy looked dangerous as fuck, with a short crew cut that was gray at his temples and a thick brown beard. He also had wide shoulders that stretched the black leather of his jacket. With a smirk, he kicked down the stand of his bike and got off it. He towered over me.
“We didn’t do anything,” I snapped, retreating so I had my back pressed against Jonas, who had stood at some point. “So fuck off, old man.”
The biker laughed and so did his friends. “I saw the Demons come tearing out of here. What did they want?”
I glared. “To kick my ass.”
“Yeah?” The biker shook his head and placed the strap on his helmet around one of his handlebars. “What did you do?”
“Who the fuck are you to ask? You King?” I finally dropped my fists, but I still didn’t trust him as far as I could throw him.
“Nah, the name’s Scar.” His stare narrowed on me. “Come out of the shadows, kid.”
I glanced at Jonas over my shoulder. “Stay against the wall. No matter what,” I whispered.
He nodded, though concern flickered across his face as he sucked in his bottom lip.
I stepped forward into the part of the alley that the sun was able to reach and raised my chin. I opened my arms. “I’m here. Now what, huh?”
The big man—Scar, he’d called himself—stomped in closer, and I braced, ready to take more beatings. Everyone knew not to mess with the bikers. I didn’t know which mirror I’d broken to get this kind of bad luck, but here I was, ready to get a few more punches to the gut.
“Are you Leo Shepherd’s brother?” Scar tilted his head, studying me with hard brown eyes.
I blinked, surprised. “Yeah, who the fuck were you to him?”
