Page 171 of Tempting Fate

“Oh, I will. The second my feet touch the ground, it’s on.”

Out of habit, I stop outside the room we once shared. I swap sides of the hall and enter what used to be Cub’s room, but is now mine. One of the benefits of being the VP means I can make ridiculous demands and get my way without an argument.

Changing rooms was one such request.

Sleeping in our old bedroom now that I’m back would’ve been worse than physical torture. Not that I’ve done much sleeping lately. I spend my nights staring at the ceiling, wondering what Lily’s doing without me.

With my heel, I shut the door behind us. When it slams, Lily punches me in the liver. Once I’ve breathed through the pain, I march over to the dresser and swipe everything from the top of it. The second I plant her arse on the polished wood, she hauls off and slaps me.

“Guess I deserved that.”

Her eyes flash. “Oh, you deserve more than that.”

“So, give it to me…”

Rather than launch into another tirade, Lily looks around her. “Why am I up here?”

“Don’t want your feet to touch the ground just yet.”

“Why?” Two blue slits filled with suspicion regard me with unconcealed malice. “Because you know I’m gonna kick your arse when they do?”

“’Cause I miss you, and I don’t wanna fight with you tonight.”

Lily’s laugh is filled with scorn. I wait her out. Let her get it out of her system.

“All it took for you to miss me was for me to kiss someone else. You’re sick… I’m not some discarded toy you get to snatch back whenever it catches someone else’s attention. We are not fucking. Tonight. Or any night.”

“It’s not like that.” When she jams her knee in my chest and tries to slide down to the floor, I use my bulk to keep her trapped. “All I wanna do is talk.”

“You had the chance to talk. Instead of that, you boxed up my shit and had my little brothers deliver it to Slash’s. I still gave you a tonne of opportunities to talk after that, and you ignored every one of them. You acted like I didn’t exist. Eradicated me from your life. Sold our house. Took my Harley away. Tried to banish me from the compound.”

“I’m sorry.”

“That’s not good enough.”

“I know it’s not… just want you to know I had my reasons.”

“Your reasons stink.” Lily sinks her teeth into her bottom lip. Without thinking, I tug it free before she breaks the skin. My woman slaps me again, then angles her face toward the ceiling. “Let me down, please. I can’t—I thought… I can’t do this. I can’t be this close to you.”

When her voice cracks, I realise she’s trying to stop tears from falling.

“Don’t,” I plead. My throat tightens. I wedge my upper body between her thighs and slide my hands around her waist. Fingers linked at the small of Lily’s back, I press my face into her cleavage. “If you cry—” I momentarily pause when I realise that my necklace no longer hangs around her neck. “—I’m gonna lose it.”

“Oh, fuck you.” Lily roughly digs her hands into my hair and uses her grip to force me to look up at her. “You’re the big man. You call the shots. Surely you have the balls to face the consequences?”

“I couldn’t watch you break. Not again. Not like that. It was my fault. The safe house. Alex. The baby. I thought I had everythin’ under control, but I was foolin’ myself.”

Lily stiffens when I mention our lost baby, then rallies to throw some more snark my way. “You were under something, all right. I hope Honey gave you syphilis.”

“I don’t think that exists anymore.”

She huffs. Like a starving man, I swallow her breath when it hits my face. “My sentiment still stands.”

“I didn’t fuck her.”

“So, everyone keeps telling me.” Lily rolls her eyes. “It doesn’t matter. We were already broken up back then, only I was dumb enough to believe it was fake.”

“It was fake. Technically, we never broke up.”

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