Page 16 of The Broken Beginning: Part One

Sure, Lily was no real enemy of mine, but the fact that our families already wanted us together was a strike against her. The other strike against her was that while she was pretty in her own way, her mousy behavior just didn’t do it for me. I needed a woman with some backbone and up until a couple weeks ago when Lily beat the shit out of Brinley, I never thought she had that.

“You’re bringing me here?” Brinley shrieked when she saw where we were. I told her the truth about what happened with Lil and me, so she knew this is where we ended up that night.

“We’re not sitting in the driveway and fucking in the truck, if that’s what you’re worried about,” I launched the words at her like weapons. She huffed in response and crossed her arms over her chest, at least she tried to before failing, thanks to those bricks she had for boobs.

“I can’t believe you brought me here. This is where all our problems started.”

“We’re going to the shack, because there’s nowhere else to go.”

“The clubhouse!” She answered back in her snide, spoiled, rich girl tone.

“Is off limits for you, especially tonight. You don’t think Boone and Rob will be there, looking for me, so they can send me home?” I laughed humorlessly then. “Shit! It’s my fucking wedding night. I’m surprised they don’t have the boys out in force trying to hunt my ass down and drag me back there.”

“And you don’t understand how that’s going to be a problem for the next five years that you expect me to wait around for you?”

“We’ll get our own place that they don’t know about. It’ll be fine,” I reassured her even as a sick feeling formed in my gut at the thought. There was no way that would fly with my dad or Lily’s. If they found out I was shacking up in a very real way with someone else, they would not hesitate to skin me alive, strip my patch, and toss whatever was left in a deep hole somewhere. And, if I was being honest with myself, I’d deserve it. I didn’t have to marry Lily, but I’d agreed to do it for the perks I’d receive in the end.

Brinley never responded to that. I don’t know if it was because she could hear the lie in my voice or if she was smart enough to know that it would never be fine. Trying to hold onto what we had, and all our plans, felt more like trying to hold onto sugar-fine sand that slipped through my fingers. The whole thing made me feel so out of control.

I parked outside of the little shack. There was a small cot inside that my dad used to use for me when he’d go hunting and I just wanted to sleep as a kid. I had a feeling he also used this place to get away from my mom when he needed to. He might have even brought her here to detox the few times she had disappeared. She would seem clean for a few days when she came back, only to start the cycle all over again. At any rate, the shack would serve a different purpose tonight.

“Let’s go,” I demanded while dragging Brinley to my side from across the bench seat of my pickup. I helped her down and together we walked to the shack and went inside. It was a dusty mess. If I had been a planner, I would have come by yesterday and freshened the place up a bit, maybe left some flowers in here or something.

With the impending wedding hanging over my head, I hadn’t been able to do that, especially since Charles, some of the other club kids, and younger members got together to throw me a small party with some of the dancers from the strip joint the club owned. Charles far too underage to have organized it, so I assumed some of the other brothers saw fit to help out so I could have a bachelor’s send off into marriage. It didn’t matter that Charles was two years younger than me. When his dad started bringing him around the club, we hit it off instantly.

“This place is gross!” Brinley stated as she stomped her foot and pulled me from my thoughts.

“Shoulda come by to clean it up yesterday.”

“That would have meant you planned to bring me here.” She laughed again. “Is this where you plan to stash me away so that your little wifey and family don’t find out we’re still together?”

“No. Fuck, Brin! Don’t be a bitch. I’m trying to work things out. It’s not like I’ve been given a fuck of a lot of time to do that.”

“I know,” she cooed. “I’m sorry. I’m just so sad and angry.”

“I know, babe.” We didn’t waste any more time trying to talk and rehash the shit that couldn’t be helped. Instead, we worked at comforting one another the best way we knew how.

Once I had us both naked, I reached back down into my jeans pocket for condoms. “We don’t need those,” she demanded with a glint in her eyes. “I’ve been telling you for months now that I’m on the pill.”

“Not going bare, babe.”

“You did it with her! How else did she get knocked up?”

I sighed and hung my head because it was true. The only person I’d ever gone without protection with was currently knocked up. Yet another reason not to repeat those mistakes.

“I’m not going bare.”

“Why not? You did it with her,” she argued again. “I don’t want her to have that over me. She already has your kid and I don’t!”

That stopped me in my tracks. “That’s what this is about? You think if I knock you up too, it will somehow change things, fix them, or make you even?”

“They’d have to let you out of that marriage to be with the family that mattered!”

“Brin, you don’t get it. That would just make things worse. They could make you disappear just for trying that shit!”

“What’s so fucking special about her that she gets their fight! Huh?”

“Besides the fact that she’s family? She’s Rob’s daughter for fuck’s sake.” I leaned down and pulled my jeans back up my thighs. “Fuck! I can’t do this. You keep bringing this shit up. I just wanted to forget for the night, but you won’t fucking let me.”

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