Page 37 of Owning the Prez’s Ol' Lady

My shoulders lifted in indifference. “I’m not sure, Reese. Parts of me are happy that you’re here. Other parts of me want you to go away.”

He hung his head in shame, kissing the back of my hand with those soft lips of his. “I didn’t come alone...”

Oh god. Please no. I can’t handle them all being here. It’s not what I want!

“Wasp came with me, and Axl too.”

Relaxing just a tad, I sank even further into the comforting softness of the linens on the bed. “Did you come to take me back?”

He held my gaze, and I already knew the answer before he even said it.

“Yes,” he said, sadly. “But I can see you’ve already started to move on.”

Shifting, I turned to face him. “Do you mean Joe?”

“I see the way he looks at you, Shasta. It’s the same way I look at you. Sometimes, I even see a hint of it in Wasp’s eyes. He loves you, doesn’t he?”

“He says that he does.”

Snyder looked mortally wounded. “And do you love him?”

My eyes met his gaze, noticing the tears pooling around his iris, refusing to fall.

“I think I could love him eventually...” My voice trailed off, and I had to force myself to look at him again.

“But do you love him now?”

Shaking my head, I let go of his hand, overwhelmed by the conflicted feelings I was having. “I honestly don’t know. He makes me feel safe, and we have a lot of fun together.”

The corners of his mouth twitched into a frown. The fact that he was here, doing whatever he could to fight for me, said more to me than words ever could. My hands found their way to his cheeks, and I forced him to look up at me. “But he’s not you.”

There’s that smile I loved so much.

“I haven’t stopped thinking about you since I got here, Reese. Even in my darkest moments, my thoughts always come back to you. You and I have something pretty special, but I can’t be the club’s Ol’ Lady. I don’t want that. We both know that most of them only slept with me to get a piece. Some didn’t even want me at all. And others... well, they aren’t sure what they want. But I do.”

“And what’s that?”

“To belong to someone. To be with someone who only wants to be with me and is going to treasure and love me and all my fucked up flaws.”

He took my hand again, kissing the back of it with his sweet lips. “Shasta, I haven’t been with another woman since you left me. My thoughts are always with you... wondering how you are, and if you are even happy. I only agreed to sharing you because I thought it was what you wanted. That shit fucking killed me inside. I’ve been in love with you for as long as I can remember... before the flirty winks... before the growing bond even started to kindle between us. When another man touched you, I died a bit inside. I left my club just to find you, because living without you has been a fucking death sentence for me. I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness for asking what I did of you, but please believe me when I say that my only purpose in this world is to bring you happiness. If that meant sharing you with the others, men I know you care about, so be it. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make you happy.”

The man was always so good with his words, and my fingers combed through his familiar blond locks, finding comfort in those big blue eyes.

“Even if it means leaving me here, and never coming back?”

He nodded, but you could tell it killed him to do so. “If leaving you here will bring you happiness, then yes. I’ll walk out that door right now, leaving my heart behind, knowing that I’m doing what I have to in order for you to find peace.”

He searched my eyes for answers and found nothing but blank blinks and indecision.

We both fell into an uncomfortable silence, and before either of our voices could break it, a familiar one cut in, making my head automatically snap his way.

“Hey, Little Minx, how have you been?”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Wasp

I knew I had lost the battle before I ever entered the room. There was something about their relationship that just seemed unbreakable.

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