Devon tried to help me slide from my seat, but the shattering of glass at the bar caused me to halt.
I turned at the sound and readied myself for action. I recognized that sound. It was the sound of a beer bottle crashing against the bar. And whenever that happened, a fight was about to go down. I’d broken up more drunken rodeos in my career than I cared to admit, and I poised myself for action. I started clocking everything around the room I could use as a weapon. The glass in my hand. The knife in my back pocket. The half-empty beer bottles on the table behind me.
I saw someone shifting in the shadows before the figure emerged.
And when he did, I gulped.
He had a small beard that covered his face, but I’d know those eyes anywhere. Brown eyes with hunter green around the irises. His six-foot-four frame emerged from the shadows, encased in cigarette smoke as glass clanked behind him. His chiseled jawline was set in anger as his eyes hooked onto the man behind me. His arms were hanging at his sides, bulging with veins and muscles that were toned and strong.
I felt my knees weakening as I stood to my feet.
Jace was walking right towards me.
I felt Devon grip my hand as he pressed himself flush against my back. I could see anger flaring in Jace’s eyes, and I tried to pull away from the man. Jace was a tick and a half away from losing it, and I didn’t want anyone getting hurt. He had no right to be angry. He had no right to think he could somehow control this scenario.
But I knew the anger he was capable of, and I wanted to tread lightly.
“Laiken, is everything okay?” Devon asked
“Just follow my lead,” I said.
Jace stalked towards us, and my mind conjured images I hadn’t seen in years. Images of his hands digging into my hips. Images of him plowing into me from behind. I could remember the first time he’d picked me up and pushed me against the wall. I’d fallen in love with his arms in that moment. The strength and power he had behind his body to pick a woman up of my girth was something that shook me to my core.
My eyes lingered on his arms momentarily, just to relive the pleasure a millisecond longer.
I watched Jace’s tongue dart out to lick his lips, and it sent shivers down my spine. I knew the things that tongue was capable of. The pleasure that coursed through my system every morning when he woke me up. Time and time again, I had opened my eyes to the warmth his tongue provided me. Snaking down my stomach and plunging between my thighs. His lips glistened with the spit of his mouth, and I thought about how good that wetness would feel against my skin.
My gaze was being pulled down his form. No matter how much I wanted to look him in his eyes, I simply couldn’t. There was the smallest part of me that was filling with guilt. That was feeling ashamed of holding this man’s hand. In some weird way, I felt like I was about to cheat on Jace. Even though we hadn’t been together for years. Even though he’d thrown me out after a fight. Even though he’d accused me of turning into my mother.
A part of me still hadn’t let this bastard go.
I trailed my gaze down his legs and tried to suppress a grin. A memory flashed through my mind that almost made me laugh on the spot. It was my favorite memory of Jace, and it was the moment I’d fallen in love with his legs. We had just gotten done eating chicken wings I had cooked at his place. His father was passed out drunk, and his mother was working some late shift at work. I had offered to come over and cook, and he was adamant I not come. But I showed up anyway with chicken wings, buffalo sauce, and a cooling rack.
His father had woken up in the middle of me cooking and started on some drunken rant about fat chicks. At least, I thought he’d woken up. His father was calling women who were fat ugly and lazy. Calling them things like ‘fat cock holders’ and ‘pieces of shit.’ It was the first time I’d ever seen Jace burst out in anger.
It was also the only time I’d ever come close to crying in front of him.
He went over to his father’s chair and kicked it. The back of the recliner fell all the way back, and his father howled in pain. His eyes sprung open as Jace turned off the stove, telling me to leave the shit there. He pulled me over to the door while his dad hollered about why the hell we’d woken him up and what the fuck Jace was doing kicking his chair and shit.
That day was the first day I’d taken a ride on the back of Jace’s bike. The smell of freedom whipping through the air had dried my tears as he rode us into town. He took me to his favorite wing place and bought a massive plate for us to share. We ate in silence, eating our fill while drinking down beer I couldn’t convince him to let me pay for.
And then I felt his foot scoot next to mine underneath the table.
That same leg that kicked his father’s chair and had broken it. That same leg that had brought pain to a man who was talking bad about me was also the leg that brought me comfort underneath the table. That brought me stability when I was riding on the back of his bike.
I fell in love with his legs that day.
I slid my eyes up Jace’s body before I met his stare. He was standing in front of me, his face set in stone as his eyes drank me in. He made no effort to conceal the fact that his eyes were dancing around my body. Taking me in for the first time in years just like I had.
“Laiken,” he said.
“Jace,” I said.
“Laiken, is this man bothering you?” Devon asked.
I watched as Jace’s eyes ripped from mine and were tossed over my shoulder.
“Funny. I was about to ask her the same question about you,” he said.
Chapter 9
Snake
I had no idea what I was going to say to Laiken once I got to her, but I knew one thing was for certain. I wanted that man’s hands off of her, and I wanted it now. He didn’t deserve her, he wouldn’t be able to please her, and he should be thanking me. Rejection from Laiken was rough. I’d experienced it many times before, even while we were dating. If she didn’t want to have sex, there was no getting around it. If she didn’t like what you were doing, she would definitely let you know. The longer she was with me, the more confident she grew, but that confidence came with a price.
And if I didn’t step in, this poor little sob story was going to figure that lesson out the hard way.
As I emerged from the shadows, I could see Laiken’s eyes studying me. She was slowly letting them slide down my form, and if she was trying to hide it, she was doing a piss-poor job. I rolled my shoulders back and began to strut across the floor, taking my time as Mr. Asshat behind her took in my full form. He was lucky if he came up to my shoulder. A pathetic little existence for a man trying to take home a woman like Laiken. I grinned as Laiken’s eyes got to my legs because I knew exactly the memory they reminded her of.
The night of the chicken wings.
She thought I wasn’t romantic, but I was. I was just romantic in the way she needed. It was one of the many things she accused me of during our last fight. She told me I wasn’t romantic and didn’t give a shit about doing anything other than fucking her, and I informed her that I didn’t romance her because she didn’t need it. She didn’t like or want that kind of romance, so I gave her the romance she needed. Like those sly little leg rubs underneath the table or my fingertips slowly sneaking up her shirt. Not to get her to fuck me or sit on my cock, but just to feel her skin against mine.
There was no feeling in the world like it. There was no woman I’d taken home since her that could replicate that feeling. Only she had that feeling. And I wasn’t going to let just any man experience that with her.
I stood in front of Laiken, and I allowed my eyes to travel over her body. I took in her sparkling hazel eyes and her shoulder-length blonde hair. She had lost a little weight from the last time I’d seen her. Her cheeks were a little more prominent, and her arms weren’t as thick at the top. But perched at my height and hovering over her like I was, I had the perfect view down her shirt.
And her tits were as luscious as ever.
; “Laiken,” I said.
“Jace.”
“Laiken, is this man bothering you?”
I looked into the eyes of the man standing behind her, his hand clamping down onto hers so hard his knuckles were turning white.
“Funny, I was about to ask her the same question about you,” I said.
“Do you know him?” the man asked.
“Do you have a name?” I asked him.
“Devon,” the man said.
“Hello, Devon. I’m Sn-... Jace.”
“Snuh-Jace,” he said, grinning. “An interesting name.”
I was ready to lunge over her shoulder and wrap my hands around this cocky fucker’s neck. I knew his type. They played innocent to prey on women who weren’t sure whether or not they wanted to go home with someone, then they unleashed their fury. I could see the deviousness rolling around behind his eyes as Laiken kept her stare trained on me.
There was no way in hell she was going home with this man. I’d follow them all the way there if it meant protecting her from this asshole.
“I do know him,” she said as she looked back at Devon. “We’re… old friends.”
“Friends,” Devon said, grinning. “How quaint.”
I took a step forward but felt a pressure on my chest. I panned my gaze down and saw Laiken’s hand on my chest. I could feel her warmth burning into my skin, searing my soul and touching my heart. It had been years since I’d felt her. Years since I’d been anywhere near her skin.
And now she was touching me.
I looked into her eyes, and I saw how wide they were. How shocked she was that she could so easily touch me again. I felt her fingers curl into my chest, her body exploring my strength. She was magnetized to me, just like I was to her. Two souls floating aimlessly throughout the universe, trying to convince themselves that they were fine alone.
But neither of us was fine alone. Me bringing all those fucking women home said that.
And her lunging for a pathetic boy like the one behind her said that, too.
She ripped her hand back from me and released a breath she was holding. My eyes were boring a hole into the top of her head as she dropped her gaze. She cleared her throat, keeping her grasp on the man behind her. Just seeing their fingers interlocked made me sick to my stomach.
Why the hell was she clinging so hard to this guy? What the fuck did he have that I didn’t? I was here. I was right in front of her. I could feel the tension brewing between us. She should be releasing him and jumping into my arms. She should’ve been kicking him to the fucking curb so I could take her home.
So I could remind her of why she really came back to town.
If she had actually left in the first place.
“But he doesn’t mean anything to me now,” Laiken said.
“What?” I asked.
“I figured by the way you were treating him,” Devon said.
“Laiken.”
My voice was hard, and it pulled her eyes up to mine. I could see so many things boiling behind them. Shock and hesitancy and disbelief. Anger and frustration and a hint of sadness. So many memories bombarding the both of us. It was getting harder to breathe as her familiar scent stifled my lungs. I was breathing her in and holding it close, trying to absorb it through my pores in the hopes that I would never have to live another second without it.
“What?” she asked.
“Look me in the eyes and say that,” I said.
“I believe she’s given you her answer,” Devon said.
“I wasn’t talking to you,” I said mindlessly.
Her hazel eyes danced with mine as tears glistened in her eyes. I’d only ever seen that happen twice in the year we were together. The first was chicken wing night, and the second was during that fight.
The fight that ended up and pushed the one thing I treasured more than life itself out the door. Fucking literally, too.
I kicked myself to this day for doing that to her.
“Look me in my eye and say that,” I said.
She swallowed thickly, but she didn’t make a move to say anything. I could see the specks of yellow and brown dancing in her eyes. All the colors that made up the beautiful hazel that nothing on this planet could replicate. Not the colors of a sunset or the colors of the night time sky. Not the colors of a rainbow or the colors of a waterfall. There was nothing I’d found in this desert that could replicate the beauty of the colors in Laiken’s eyes.
I felt myself falling again. Just like I did all those years ago.
Laiken ripped her eyes from me, but still stayed silent. She took a step back into Devon, who willingly opened his arms to her. He threaded his hand around her waist, and it made my hands tremble. I clenched my fists at my sides, trying my best to keep my anger at bay.
I didn’t want this encounter with Laiken to be filled with fighting. But if I had to fight this shithead to get his hands off her, then I’d beat his ass to a bloody pulp.
“Come on,” Laiken said as she shook her head. “Let’s go dance.”
I watched her walk off with Mr. Baby Dick in disbelief. I watched as they made their way to the middle of the bar like I wasn’t even there. Devon’s eyes flickered over to mine, a malicious grin crossing his cheeks as he slid his arm around Laiken. He pulled her close as her hands wrapped around his neck, then her cheek pressed into his.
I was furious. I was clenching my fists so hard I could feel my hand cramping. It was taking every ounce of respect I had for Laiken to not go over there and pull her out of that guy’s grasp. It was taking every ounce of energy I had not to charge that cocky little dipshit and punch him square in his jaw. He was weak. Tired. Flabby and flimsy underneath those clean-cut clothes. His skin was probably smooth. Not rough from living the life a real man should live. He probably couldn’t regale her with stories of travel and night time affairs. He couldn’t give her a life of freedom that she craved endlessly. He couldn’t inspire her to be the best she could be, and he sure as hell couldn’t comfort her the way she required comfort.
It took months to learn that shit about Laiken. Months I’d sunk into her because I wanted to.
Because I needed to.
Because I loved her enough to.
I sat down on the stool next to Laiken’s and watched them dance. Every time Devon turned my way, he would wink at me. Like he’d just won some prize in a street car race. He was everything a man wasn’t. Sneaky. Malicious. A trickster who played games to get what he wanted. It shocked me to my core that Laiken couldn’t see through his shit.
And if she did, it shocked me even more that she was okay with it.
Had her confidence slipped? Had she pulled back into her shell? Had our fight-- and my actions-- caused her to backtrack?
It made me sick to think that I might have created the perfect storm for this scenario myself.
I watched the two of them like a hawk. I watched his hand slide lower and lower down her back. I watched Laiken’s hands slide down to his chest before wrapping around his waist. I watched her bury her face into his neck, breathing in his disgusting scent.
The entire scenario unfolding in front of me made me want to puke.
I was responsible for this. I was the reason she was doing this. Had I just been upfront with her. Had I just told her what she wanted to know, maybe things would’ve worked out. But from the moment I first met Laiken, I knew she wanted to be a police officer. I knew she wanted to work at putting people behind bars. I knew she wanted to work and helping those that couldn’t help themselves.
Helpless people that reminded her of herself.
And that didn’t mesh well with a man who had just been initiated into an outlaw motorcycle club. Had I been honest with her about where I was going, it would’ve ended us. Had I told her the job I really did on a regular basis, she probably would’ve tried to find a way to arrest me. I couldn’t tell her that ‘church’ didn’t mean a temple and I couldn’t tell her that ‘running a job’ meant pedaling drugs. I couldn’t br
ing her around the guys and expect her to understand and I couldn’t explain to her that my weekends away were because I was escorting our crew safely to biker rallies.
I couldn’t tell her any of this, so I resorted to lying.
But, Laiken was smart. She knew from the very beginning that I was lying. She knew I was hiding things with her. She questioned why I never took her around my friends. She accused me of being ashamed of her. Of wanting to hide her. She thought for a while she might’ve been the other woman. That my secret was the fact that I was married or some shit.
I tried to settle her mind without ripping her into my world. I tried to get her to trust me while lying to her about my own fucking life. But things spiraled out of control and words were said that could never be taken back.
I fucking wished I could take those words back.
Now, all I could do was sit here and wait for her to come back. She was dancing in the arms of another man. A man who was just as conniving as he was innocent-looking. It was a deadly combination, and every time he looked at me I knew I was doing Laiken a service. She might hate me for the rest of her life for what I was about to do tonight, but then again… maybe she already did.
In which case, I had nothing to lose.
I wanted to talk with her. Privately. Without Mr. Cheap Shot with her. I knew what she said to me wasn’t true. I knew she still cared. It was written all over her features when she saw me emerge from the shadows. It was strewn behind her eyes as she held my gaze. It was seen in the uptick of her breathing as I grew closer to her.
She still cared, even if she didn’t want to admit it.
Chapter 10
Laiken
It felt wrong, being in Devon’s arms. The attention from him was nice, and he seemed kind enough. But there was something about the way he was holding me that was off. It was a little more possessive than I would’ve taken him for. We were swaying to the music that filled the bar as people around us stared. Jace was making a scene, and people were eating it up, and I wasn’t happy that the scene included myself.
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