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I pause to take a drag of my cigarette.
“Ember showed up out of nowhere one day looking for her brother. She met Smoke, and they hit it off immediately.”
“Love at first sight?” She arches her brow.
“Something like that. Anyway, Smoke didn’t want people. Well, one person, to know about his thing with Ember.”
“Her brother?”
“You catch on quick. Shiloh used this information to try and blackmail him. Held it over his head in an attempt to force him to be with her. She went as far as drugging and raping him and recording it.”
Stella shoots up to her feet. “What the fuck? No way. My sister wasn’t like that. She’d never be so desperate for a man. She never had to be.”
“Look, I’m only sharing what I know. Smoke will probably try to get me booted from the club if he knew I was telling you any of this. Love or obsession, whichever it was for her. I can’t say, but that shit makes people do crazy shit. Almost like a sickness or disease with no cure. She had it bad. Went as far as sending that sex tape of her and Smoke together to Ember to make her think he was cheating on her or some dumb shit. He found out what she did to him.”
“Sounds like a motive for murder.”
“I know what it sounds like. The night she died he confronted her.”
“Why am I just now hearing this?”
“If you were him… this big tough biker, would you want anyone knowing that you were drugged and raped? She stripped him of his masculinity. I don’t like the guy, but even I have some compassion for what she put him through.”
“I think it sounds like he knew he’d be the first person of interest in her murder investigation. What happened? You said he confronted her.”
“Far as I know, he told her that he’d never be with her. That he hated her and never wanted to see her face again. Wanted her banned from the clubhouse. She went back to the mansion, and I don’t know ended her life, whether on accident or purpose. Maybe what she’d become was too much for her, or she wanted to forget. She’s not here to answer to the choices she made. Smoke has to live with that shit every day of his life that his rejecting her sent her over the edge of no return.”
Tears slide down Stella’s cheeks. “I can’t.” She shakes her head. “I loved my sister. That’s not who she was or how I want people to remember her.”
Going to my feet, I wrap my arms around her.
“She could have been anything. Could have anything she wanted. Shiloh always had that effect on everyone. They loved her.” She sniffles.
“Maybe that’s why it was so hard for her to take rejection. She wasn’t used to be told no by men. And when one did…there was no cure for her disease.”
“He killed her. I know he did.”
“No,” I lie through my teeth, having no reason yet every reason to protect Smoke.
“She was beautiful and the sister I knew…” She shakes her head and shoves her palms into my chest to push me away.
“Was the sister you knew. Remember that person. Not that one you didn’t know, but babe, you’ve got to let this go.”
I bring my lips down on hers. Soft and liquor tainted, I try my damnedest to take away her pain. The shame of who Shiloh was. All the guilt she’s carrying and whatever else is weighing her down. Anger. Fear.
I take all of it, wishing I could have shielded her from knowing the truth. At least the parts that she needed to.
Chapter Nine
This hot as sin biker’s lips move against mine, beautiful and wild without restraint. He tastes like a home I never knew I was searching for and a lot like cigarettes and liquor. On anyone else, I’d find it repulsive, but not him. The biker with a beautiful smile. I drop the bottle and it goes rolling down the hill for all I know as black rain clouds blow in overhead. All my walls come down and the peace of him and the rain washes over me as his lips move with mine.
Returning his kiss with everything I have left in my soul, I welcome his touch. I welcome whatever pieces of him he wants to give, and those he wants to take of me I give just as freely. Tonight, I’m his as long as he keeps making me forget everything he told me.
The rain pelts against us, soaking me to the bone. I’ll pay for this tomorrow but right now my brain nor my heart give a damn.
“So beautiful,” he murmurs, delving his tongue between the part of my lips. I want to hate him and deny all those ugly truths and return the secrets to the shadows to hide. Yet I can’t. I pant against him like a cat in heat, wanting and needing more of him. I don’t mind if he’s using me because I’m doing the same.
“I still hate you, Trenton. Hate that you’re a biker with that club.”
