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“And you and her?” Samson asked.
“I don’t fuckin’ know. We got so much shit to wade through. Nothing’s ever easy when it comes to her and me and now we got Portia to think about. I was fuckin’ pissed that she kept her from me but . . .” He scrubbed his hand over his face. “I wanna do everything right when it comes to Portia. Try to make up for the last ten years.”
“Before all this shit went down you were gonna toss her to the curb, now, seeing her all busted up pulled you back in but . . .” Samson said.
“I don’t fuckin’ know what to do and that’s what’s killing me.”
“Chances are when shit settles you’ll go back to how you felt yesterday. Between this and having the club trashed everything got twisted.”
Nick pushed out of the chair and faced the floor to ceiling windows, but the view of the mountains in the distance didn’t give him any answers either.
“Maybe I’m just fighting for something that’ll never be right.”
Cheryl jolted awake by loud voices coming from the other room. The sudden movement jarred her bruised face and it took her a minute to get her bearings. She frantically searched the room, then willed herself to draw in deep breaths to calm her racing heart. Right, Nick’s guestroom at the Vegas Towers after Johnny used her face as a punching bag.
She stretched her sore muscles and listened. Male voices filtered into the room, and Cheryl’s curious nature made her throw back the covers and slowly ease her feet to the floor. She checked her phone surprised to see she’d slept for two hours. Nick had drawn the shades and the room was dark for late-afternoon.
She slowly opened the door and the voices became louder so she silently moved down the hallway then stopped at the end. Still out of sight, but close enough to hear and make out the voices. She peaked around the corner and spied Nick, Samson, Jax, and the Serpent’s MC president, Cobra. A slight pang of guilt pricked at her for eavesdropping, but there was a good chance what they were discussing had to do with her.
“I think we all agree this shit has gone on long enough and this fucker needs to be taken down.” Nick dipped his head to light a cigarette.
“Agreed, but it has to be done the right way,” Samson advised. “Taking out Frank’s number one guy could put us all in the shit, and open up a whole other set of fuckin’ problems.”
“Who says either one of you have to do it?” Cobra lit up his own cig then blew the smoke toward the ceiling. “We’ve got resources. Maybe even get some of the Desert Rats to do the deed.” The big man spit out a harsh laugh. “They’ve got no loyalty to Russo and they can’t be too happy after we torched their main income. Probably looking to recoup.”
“Either way, that motherfucker is going down. If he did that to Cheryl there’s no telling what other shit he’ll try.” Nick rubbed at the back of his neck. “Plus I got a kid to look out for.”
Cheryl’s heart twitched hearing Nick mention Portia. A twinge of remorse of not telling him sooner crept through her, but the past unfortunately couldn’t be changed.
“That’s why you gotta get your head straight cause whatever goes on between you and Cheryl is gonna affect the kid too.”
“It’s never been easy with us so I’m just gonna concentrate on taking care of Portia. Me and Cheryl probably never had a chance and we don’t have one now. Best to cut ties before we make any other mistakes.”
Cheryl drew in a sharp breath. The truth of Nick’s blunt revelation hit her harder than Johnny’s fists. Worse she agreed with his every word. She couldn’t say he was wrong, but she supposed a small part of her wished for the impossible, and his honesty made it all the more painful.
A sudden weakness overcame her, and she leaned against the wall for support. Their voices echoed in the background as she made her way back to the safety of the guest room where she couldn’t hear any more of their conversation. She settled onto the bed more sure than ever she would leave tomorrow.
“Who the fuck are you kidding? You can’t kick her out and forget her any more than I could with Lisbeth.” Samson shook his head. “You’re in too deep only you’re too stubborn to admit it.”
“Fuck you.” A damn weak response especially since Nick feared Samson was right.
“Can we get back to business,” Cobra said. “And make some short-term plans for Russo.”
“I’ll have a sit-down with Frank,” Nick said. “Figure out the best way to handle him.”
“Fuck Frank,” Cobra bellowed. “I told you I got plenty of people to handle him, and if we go to the Rats I could probably get it done for free. Seeing as we scared the shit outta them and they owe us for showing up in our territory again.”
“This has to be handled carefully,” Samson warned. “We don’t want any blowback.”
“Screw being careful,” Cobra snarled. “You’re in the wild west now, boys.”
Laughter filtered into the guest room and Cheryl’s stomach pitched. While an empty sadness surrounded her, he was laughing with the guys. She pushed down the useless emotion of resentment. Nick made himself clear the other day and she refused to be a fool to think he’d change his mind.
She closed her eyes and fell into a fitful, restless sleep. Dark images loomed around her and she startled awake twice with her pulse pounding. Tomorrow she’d contact Frank tell him her plans to leave Johnny, then move forward with the paperwork.
The doorknob rattled and she quickly closed her eyes feigning sleep. Footsteps entered the room and stopped by theside of the bed. Nick’s cologne wafted around her and it took all her willpower not to reach out to him. Wish away the past and all their mistakes and beg him to give them one more chance. When the bed dipped and his hand gently stroked her hair she mentally counted backwards to distract herself.
“I know I came down on you hard the other day, but I was just so pissed off. I can’t believe you thought I wouldn’t wanna know about Portia, but I guess it shows how we don’t really know each other—maybe we never did.”
