Page 120 of Tempting Fate

“Promise.”

23

LILY

“It’s go time, lil cuz,” Toker mutters to me as he flounces past me. “Hope you memorised your cues.”

“What cues? Go time for what?” He doesn’t answer me because he’s already reached Zeke.

My cousin, troublemaker extraordinaire with a hidden heart of gold, comes up behind my fiancé and claps a hand over his shoulder. From my position on the couch opposite the flat-screen TV that takes up two-thirds of the wall in the den, I watch with wide eyes as Toker rips Zeke off his stool and punches him in the face. The impact knocks my man to the floor. Slash and Hunter surge to their feet, ready to break up the fight.

“Stay the fuck away from my cousin,” Toker yells in Zeke’s face as he leers over him. “You’re nothin’ but trouble. Cherub doesn’t need you… doesn’t want you. It’s time you took the hint and fucked off outta her life.”

Mouth open, heart pounding, I realise that this is it.

Zeke and I are fake a break up.

In the most public way possible.

“Come on, Cherub.” Toker advances on me with a gleam in his eyes. He slings an arm over my shoulders. “He won’t bother you anymore.”

I clear my throat, unsure what to say.

“Think you wanna watch your mouth,” Slash advises Toker. He proves he’s in the loop and helps hide my confusion from the group of bikers and old ladies who’ve rushed into the den to watch the latest episode of Mayberry family drama by dragging everyone’s attention to him instead of me. “It’s tryna cash cheques your arse can’t afford.”

“Yeah?” My cousin takes three menacing steps toward his two best friends before I manage to kick my brain into gear. Slash points a thick finger at my cousin as Zeke scrambles back to his feet. “You have no idea what I’m capable of when my family’s in danger.”

Quickly catching up with Toker, I twist the back of his cut in my hand and try to pull him to a stop. When he doesn’t heed my interference, I rush in front of him and press my palm to his chest. Slash stops behind me, so I nudge him in the stomach with my other hand.

“Both of you need to step down,” I tell them. My voice shakes as I add, “This is between me and Venom.”

You could hear a pin drop in the silence that dawns in the wake of me spitting out Zeke’s road name. Our private sexual interludes aside, it’s common knowledge that I have long refused to publicly address him by it. He’s always been Zeke to me, and the stupid tradition of erasing new patches legal identities after they earn their top rocker would not change that. It took multiple arguments with my father for him to accept that I would not yield to the decades-old precedent.

Zeke was always going to be Zeke to me.

Until now…

“So that’s it then?” My man emerges from behind Slash. Hunter is hot on his heels, a critical expression on his face as he observes the crowd watching us to assess whether they’re buying what we’re selling. “It’s over?”

“Y-yes… it is.”

“After five years of dealin’ with your shit, I’m just tossed aside now Daddy’s here to save you?” When I blanch at the hostility in his assertion, Zeke looks away from me. I know we’re supposed to be selling this, but that was a low blow. “What? Got nothin’ to say for yourself?”

“I have nothing to say because you’re not worth arguing with,” I snap at him. “Plus, you’re right. I need someone who can protect me, and that evidently isn’t you, is it?”

To drive home my point, I gesture at my bruised face, the stitches in my lip and eyebrow, then at my ribs. The pain that fills Zeke’s face hurts my heart. I curl my fingernails into my palms so hard that they pierce the skin with half crescents. Caught up in the moment, we glare at each other. Chests heaving, our anger is palpable, and for a second, I almost believe this break-up is real.

I burst into sobs, and tears roll down my face even as I try to remind myself that we’re only faking this argument.

“Since that’s how you feel,” Zeke states in a lethal tone, seemingly unaffected by my breakdown. There is a glimmer in his eyes that makes my hair stand on end when he continues in the same voice. “I say we are done. I’m not gonna tie myself to a needy bitch who’ll never have the courage to step outta her daddy’s shadow.”

“That’s enough,” Slash bellows. He jabs Zeke in the chest so hard that I’m not sure if he’s still pretending to be angry. “Go and cool off somewhere.”

“I think that’s enough play-actin’ for the day,” Toker murmurs in my ear after he drops an arm around my shoulder and uses it to shepherd me out of the den. When I try to look back at my man, my cousin stops me. “Shit’s gonna be said that can’t be taken back if you two keep goin’ at it like that.”

“It’s not real?” I jerk when something hits the wall behind us. “He didn’t mean it, did he?”

Toker stays silent until we’re alone in mine and Zeke’s room. My cousin shakes out his hand, hitting me with a rueful grin as he declares, “Your old man has a hard fucking head.”

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