Page 5 of Chains

“Can you make this go away?” He asks, motioning towards the prone dead body.

She chuckles, doing her best to ignore me. But I notice her side eyeing me.

“I’m not Max Cullen’s daughter for nothing, after all.” She replies, pride emanating from every pore in her body.

“That’s all I needed to hear. Say hi to the old man when you see him next.” Kick replies before walking away, leaving me alone with the woman who has starred in every dream I’ve had for the past ten years.

She makes a point of ignoring me, and I chuckle, but I leave her to her job, moving farther away so that I wasn’t in her way as she worked. But I couldn’t help watching her, the way she moved efficiently knowing her work inside out. Whenever she bent over, I got a good look of her peachy ass, and it was all I could do not to groan aloud. Adjusting my hardening cock behind the zip of my jeans.

Soon after, my brothers decided it was time to return to the Dallas chapter’s clubhouse. I volunteered to stay as security for Zoe as she worked. But everyone knew the true reason I stayed, though I wasn’t going to admit it to them or to myself.

We worked in companionable silence; I helped her with the clean-up even though she never asked for my help. I couldn’t in all good conscience leave her to do it herself, even though she was fully capable of handling it alone.

Just as we were finishing up, headlights illuminated the alleyway. I froze, reaching for my gun in the back of my jeans. But I stopped myself from putting a hole in the head of the douchebag getting out of the black Grand Cherokee Jeep. His outfit of jeans and button-down shirt similar to mine, but the two of us couldn’t be more different. He used the law to get his way, while I skirted on the periphery of it. Caleb, Zoe’s husband. My ex-best friend.

I wanted to growl and tell the fucker to fuck off. But I stopped myself. Barely. It was the shock on Zoe’s face when she saw her husband at one of her job sites that had my hackles rising.

“Caleb; what are you doing here? How did you know where I was?” she demands. Standing her ground, even though I could see that she was nervous.

The man chuckles, but there's no trace of amusement. “You didn’t think I wouldn’t have my wife tracked for her safety?” he replies, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans; as if what he’s just said is the most natural thing in the world. I frown at those words, but like an idiot, remain silent.

Zoe looks down at her phone, and I can see clearly the moment she wants to throw the thing on the ground and break it. But she stops herself, returning the offending object back in the pocket of her overalls.

“You knew I was working.” she counters, lifting her chin, and standing taller as she faced off with him.

The asshole barely gives me a cursory glance, but I notice the way his lip curls in with her backtalk, and it’s as though he’s only just noticed me. Yeah, that’s right, asshole, I was with her all fucking night. Let him think of that what he likes.

“Yeah, I knew, but I didn’t know it would be with him, now did I?” He motioned to me without even glancing in my direction. “If you’re done here, I’ll take you home,” he announces, and my fists itch to clock him, just once I wanted to rub that smug look off his face.

The betrayal I felt over the two of them getting together after I’d left to join the Marines still burns like a motherfucker. I don’t think I’ll ever get over it. That was the final nail in the coffin of our friendship.

Zoe looks around nervously, and I can tell she doesn’t want to leave with him. But she’s the douche’s wife, and there’s not much I can do to stop her from leaving; besides kidnapping her. Which I’m sure would go down well since Caleb works as a detective at the Dallas PD. He’s just waiting for me to do something so that he can throw my ass in jail. But I wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction

I’ve had Knox do some digging into him, I wanted to see how deep into corruption he really was—I naively believed he’d never use the law for his own gain, but again, I was wrong on that front. Despite the numerous commendations he received for his work, his methods left me with a bad taste in my mouth. But there was no way to prove anything.

At least I’ve had minimal contact with him since he and Zoe moved to Dallas and I’d stayed in Briar Creek. But whenever we come into contact, he never fails to harass me and my brothers constantly for stupid shit, stopping me on the road like he was a traffic cop or something, for going over the speed limit by a mile or two.

He’s even broken the headlight on my bike once, with a bat, just so that I would have to pay the fucking fine he wrote up.

“Yeah, I’m finished. Just give me a second to pack up, then we can leave.” she tells him, and I see the immediate change in her. With me, she’s all sass and fire, with this asshole she’s meek, and does everything he tells her. What the fuck’s up with that?

I’m leaning against the wall, my booted feet crossed at the ankles, hands in my jeans’ pockets, watching her lug her heavy shit into the van, my anger growing with the piece of shit just standing there, refusing to help his wife.

“Fuck this shit.” I spit out, tightening my jaw, and I push off the wall, stalking toward the woman. We finish clearing the space up in ten minutes, what would have taken her at least half an hour on her own.

Silently, I help her into the van. Anything to have my hands on her, ignoring the way she freezes at my touch, her gaze quickly moving to Caleb to check his reaction.

That she keeps checking for his reaction pisses me the fuck off. It’s almost like she’s afraid of the fucker. But that can’t be. Could it? My eyes narrow on Caleb, if he’s hurt her, I’m going to make it my mission to put him in the ground.

I thought leaving her was the best thing I could’ve done for her. Telling myself I did it for her own good and kept telling myself that when I did a tour of Afghanistan. But when I came back and saw her with that asshole; all the regrets I pushed down over breaking things off with her the way I did; resurfaced. And I’ve been pushing them way down for way too long now.

I missed my chance with her, and I probably won’t ever get that chance again. I stand back, shutting the driver’s side door, and watch as she drives away, ignoring the knowing look her douchebag of a husband keeps throwing me.

I stand there in the empty alleyway for a moment, another regret at not confronting her over my suspicions, just piling onto the other regrets I was feeling. Shaking myself out of my thoughts, throwing my leg over my sled, sliding a brain bucket over my head, and ride back to the Dallas chapter’s clubhouse, regret burning my stomach all the way there.

CHAPTER THREE

Zoe – Present

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