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“No?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “We separated on bad terms.”
My eyes widen, but I don’t ask for details. I don’t have to because she decides to open up to me and tell me the major details. I don’t know why she feels so comfortable with me. But I’m so interested in the dynamic, how this modelesque woman ended up with Atomic and then wound up leaving him.
Not that he isn’t hot in his own right because all the guys here are gorgeous. They’re all built with tattoos, most of them are tall, and almost all of them have beards. Ten out of ten stars. Even though I think that Elvis is the best looking out of the whole group, I’m also not blind.
“I was eighteen, scared out of my brains. I ended up here by way of my sister, who was a whore. I ran away from home. Well, it wasn’t much of a home. And he was here. Thirty years old, dangerous, and panty melting in every way a troubled girl could want.”
“Except?”
She shrugs a shoulder, her eyes flicking around the room, maybe in hopes that someone will come and distract her so she won’t have to finish her tale.
“Except I was twenty-three and dumb. I didn’t know what I wanted or how I wanted it. I knew how he made me feel, but other than that, there was nothing else that I understood about who I was. I knew where I came from and that I never wanted to go back there, but I was lost.”
“So you left to find yourself?” I ask, my voice soft.
“I did.”
“And you came back? What’s that saying? If you love something, let it go, and if it was meant to be, then it will come back to you.”
She laughs softly, shaking her head from side to side. “I wish it were that easy. I’m back because I need help, and he’s the only man who is both strong and crazy enough to help me.”
I open my mouth to ask her what that means when the meeting room door swings open and the men begin to file out. They aren’t really paying attention to me and the model beauty sitting at the pub table. They’re chatting among themselves, and I decide to just watch this unfold.
I have a feeling if this woman just walked out the door and didn’t look back, it pissed Atomic off big time. Maybe he loved her. Maybe he just felt like he owned her. Whatever the case, I think he’s going to be very upset at the sight of her.
Elvis moves toward me, stopping beside me, and holds his hand out for mine. But then he draws it back, almost as if he’s been bitten. That’s how I know that he has seen her and recognizes her. Lifting my gaze up to meet his, I watch as he stares at her, almost as if he’s looking directly at a ghost.
“Ryan,” he says, his voice barely above a whisper. It’s rumbly and low, a warning all in just saying her name. “You have a lot of nerve showing your face here after everything you did six years ago.”
Ryan stands to her feet. I watch as she faces Elvis, and she gives him a sweet smile. I don’t know what I expect from her, but it isn’t for her to hug him. “I’m sorry that I hurt you, King,” she whispers. “I was young.”
Then she takes a step backward, her eyes find mine, and she gives me a wink before she shifts her attention back to meet his. “I like her. Don’t fuck it up.”
Without another word, I watch as she turns her back and walks away from him, heading straight toward Atomic. He’s at the bar talking with one of the other men. I can’t tell who because his back is to me. She taps him on the shoulder, and he turns around to see her. The look of absolute shock, then rage that crosses his features when he recognizes her, causes my stomach to drop.
Whatever she needs, I don’t think he’s going to oblige.
KING
I want to sit and watch the whole thing play out, but I also know Atomic, and he’s not going to allow that. Once he realizes who she is and the shock dissipates slightly, I watch as he wraps his fingers around Ryan’s bicep tightly and drags her behind him to the bedrooms. I smirk at the fact that he didn’t take her to his office but instead somewhere with a bed.
“Is she going to be okay?” Shawn asks, her voice soft and full of concern.
I turn my head, my eyes find hers, and I jerk my chin. “She will be. Atomic wouldn’t hurt her, no matter how badly he might want to throttle her. You ready to go get your shit?” I ask.
Shawn presses her lips together, rolling them a few times before she lets out a sigh. “I can’t just hide out here. I need to pick myself up and figure out what I’m going to do. With my inventory. With my shop. All of it.”
I can tell she doesn’t want to say any of that shit to me, but she does, and that’s a good thing even if I want to control the fuck out of her, tell her what to do, and chain her to my bed so that she can be my sex slave forever.
But that’s not something I can do, and she’d probably hate me for it… eventually. Maybe not today, but eventually.
“What’s your plan, sweetness?”
She inhales a deep breath, and her eyes find mine. I wait for her to tell me what I know she’s been thinking about for probably weeks. I can tell she doesn’t make any decisions lightly… except me. She threw caution to the fucking wind for me, and I’m grateful as fuck for it.
“I’m closing down. I can’t keep it open. I’m going to try and get a job at the grocery store bakery. I figure I can save some money there, maybe try again in a few years.”
