Page 54 of Charger

“Hey.” Zach tilts my chin up. His warm touch is welcoming. “It’s not your fault. Do you understand me? Blaming you… what I said to you… it’s not fucking true. I was a dumb kid, I was a coward and shit, Jules, I still am. I never tried to reach out because I knew you hated me or… at least, I thought it was too late. I didn’t think there would be anything left to salvage.”

Don’t cry. Don’t cry.

“Like I said, it’s in the past. So, we move on, for Chloe’s sake. We can try to get back to being friends, if that’s okay?” Friends, I have to laugh inside. Or die. At least, that’s what saying those words feel like. Sure, we were best friends. But I fell in love with mine. How am I supposed to just be friends with this man? The man sitting across from me, the father of my child. The same man who, all about half an hour ago, was wearing costume jewelry and playing tea party. The gorgeous, raw, powerful man who drips testosterone. Friends? Sure.

“Sure, friends.” He clears his throat. “Since we agree to move on, how about I help you put that back on. If you want…” I turn in place, so my back is now facing him. My hair is already up in a bun so I don’t have to move it. But heat shoots through me as soon as his touch hits my neck. Using his fingertips, he takes the tiny strand that must have fallen and slowly, extra slowly, brushes it off to the side. I quietly suck in a breath, closing my eyes. He swings his hands around, letting the necklace drop on my chest, then he clamps it from behind. His fingertips brush from my neck down my back, and my body goes stiff as a board. I turn my head slightly to get a peek from the side. He edges forward, but then stops himself. “I should go.” The deep, husky whisper of his voice sends chills through me.

Before he reaches the door, I quickly ask him, “What happened after that night?” Rising from the couch, I hug myself protectively. “I mean, where did you disappear to. Zach, what happened to you?” Waiting for him to answer, I watch as he slides his hands inside the pockets of his athletic, slim, charcoal-colored jeans. His black tee stretches across his muscled back, which I can still picture in my mind even with his leather vest concealing it.

“I was in a really bad place.” He turns to face me. “I did shit I’m not proud of. Got into some stuff that was hard to break free of. I’m not making excuses but… Garrett and you were my everything, so after that… After losing him, I just didn’t know what to do. I felt lost. But the club took me in. Saved my life in a sense.”

“You all sound like one big family.” I smile.

“We are. They’re the only family I have. That is, before I found out about Chloe.” I nod my head, but I still feel pain for him. “And you, Jules. You are both my family.” A wave of emotions hits me. I press my tongue to the roof of my mouth, in order to stop any form of tears from showing up.

His hand grips the doorknob. Just before he walks out, I take a step forward. “I have Sundays and Mondays off. I know, I own the bar, but I still like to work and do my part. Anyway, you can see her those days. Together or separate.”

His eyes soften. “Together would be good. I’d like that.”

“Perfect. And of course, you can call or text anytime you want to see her.” My voice starts to crack.

“Thanks, Jules. I’ll see you around then. Oh, and lock your damn door.” With that, he walks out, closing it behind him. I can’t help but laugh as I go to throw the deadbolt on. I lay my forehead on the door, clenching my necklace in my fist and holding onto it for dear life. For the first time, in so long, I cry happy tears.

Charger

Pulling up to the club after leaving Jules’s place, I feel a sense of relief. Like something was lifted off my shoulders. I haven’t felt this way in a long-ass time. Spending those few hours with Chloe was incredible. Though it hurts in a way, because I wish I was a part of her life from the beginning. But I’ll take it—finally having that closure with Jules.

Damn, friends. That’s not something I want between us. I guess a part of me will always want more. But I have to take what I can get, considering. But damn it, if touching her didn’t feel right… My body awakens like a beast when I feel her. Or whenever she’s around. Christ, I’m a horny teenager all over again.

There’s a loud commotion coming from inside the club, breaking me out of my trance. I jog the rest of the way up and see Tank, Chain, and one of the club hang-arounds. The girl looks upset, holding an ice pack to the right side of her face. Maggie has her arms around her shoulders in a comforting way. Chain looks pissed.

“What’s going on?” I shuffle in and look at our Pres questioningly. But his look doesn’t need words. I have a clue as to what happened.

I now recognize that it’s Tequila who is sitting at one of the tables. “I was just walking out to my car when some fucker grabbed me, trying to pull me inside a van. But I fought him off. Thank God for my four-inch pumps. Kicked the prick right in his balls,” she snickers. “No one touches me, not unless I fucking ask for it.” Uneasiness settles over all of us.

“All right, dear, let’s go get you something to drink and switch out the ice pack. Let the guys talk.” Tequila nods slowly and walks to the back with Mags. Chain looks around before speaking up.

“It might have been one of Scorpion’s guys. Tequila said she saw Prospect on his cut. Fucker’s sending guys to snatch our girls. He’s sending us a goddamn message.” The vein on Chain’s forehead pulsates. There’s no stopping him when he gets like this, no reasoning with him, but I can’t say I blame him. I’m right there with him.

“All right, so let’s go pay those bastards a little visit.” Tank towers over everyone as he starts to head for the door. His black combat boots dip over his jeans, with his man jewelry clunking together as his massive arms sway at his sides.

“Stop. No one is going anywhere.” Chain grinds his teeth to his own words.

“Boss, c’mon, we know it’s them. Let’s go teach them a fucking lesson.” Tank is visibly angry, his hands moving at a mile a minute.

“As much as I would love to ride down and rip havoc on their club, we can’t just go in and start a war.”

“Start a war? They already started one. Chain, they tried to snatch one of our girls. As either a message or maybe worse.” Chain’s eyes bore into Tank, sending him a warning look. “Sorry, fine. You’re right.” The big guy is usually all fun and games, but right now our jokester is anything but laughs.

“Everyone, breathe and relax. We come at this smart. Got it?” Tank and I nod in agreement, followed by Bullet and Throttle, then Hush. Bullet, our Vice, shakes his head. “They don’t know who the fuck they’re messin’ with.”

No, they don’t. Because if they were to come after Jules or Chloe… if they were to even think about it… well, regret isn’t a strong enough word for what they’d feel when I hunted them down.

TWENTY-TWO

Jules

Chloe’s with my parents. So today, today is a me day. A day I take a long, hot bath, chill the hell out by listening to music, and try to come down from my high that is Zach. Everything seems okay. Our daughter now has her father in her life. Things are going well at the moment. Though, I’m trying desperately to ignore the leftover feelings I still have for Zach. I have to try to pry the vision I have of him out of me, from his gorgeous face, down to his amazing ass. If this “friends” thing is ever going to work, then I can’t look at him like I want to straddle and ride him home. Good thing he’s the only man to ever make my lady parts sing hallelujah. Sure, sex with Venom was good at the beginning, but there were no feelings there. And before Venom, this one guy who Lucy set me up with, well, what a dud he was. He made Venom look like a five-star winner.

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