Page 40 of Wait For Me

“She’s your sister and you married her best friend while she was away,” I pointed out.

“From what I remember, Ash isn’t her best friend any longer, you saw to that.”

“Hey, that’s not fair,” I growled.

“You’re right. You and Ash were both to blame for that.” He nodded, like he agreed, then he carried on. “Thing is, Star wasn’t locked up or in a hospital unconscious somewhere. She chose to get gone and stay that way for four fucking years. Were we all supposed to hold our breath and wait to live again until she got back?”

“No, but shit, you’ve been married for a fucking year, and you have a kid together. You don’t think your sister deserves to know that?”

“She stopped calling me after that shit went down in Sturgis.”

“Fuck man, she had good reason to. You were an asshole, told her that she was an idiot and that the club had been tracking her the whole time. What did you expect her reaction to be?”

“I don’t fucking know, but I wasn’t the one tracking her ass. She still made contact with Mack and Aunt Viv. Hell, she even contacted Tripp a few times. She took that shit out on me though.”

“Man, put yourself in her shoes. You knew, for a whole year, you knew and never even hinted to her that she was being tracked. Then, when you finally told her, you did it in the middle of a drunken tirade where you berated her, the choices she was making, and whatever else you said in anger.” I shook my head. “If your situations were reversed, you wouldn’t have spoken to her either. You’re both equally as stubborn as the other.”

“She still hasn’t even told anyone that she’s worth a couple million dollars. Obviously, she doesn’t trust any of us.”

I laughed at his dumbass. “If I were her, I wouldn’t tell anyone either. Then she’ll every fucking clubwhore, prospect, shit member, and maybe even some distant family coming out of the woodwork asking for a loan, or worse, a handout.”

“I would never.”

“She doesn’t fucking know that anymore. You haven’t even told her you’re married with a kid. It’s clear she can’t trust you either. Don’t be a fucking hypocrite and try to say she’s so fucking bad for keeping secrets when you are too. It’s worse on your end.”

“How the fuck do you figure that?”

“You’ve had your whole family hiding that shit from her too. What do you think is going to happen when she finds out, and realizes that no one else told her either? Your little prideful secret might just be the one thing that sends her running back off into the sunset because her family has no problem lying to her for you.” I shook my head and stood. “I’m telling you, because I just came from talking to her, it doesn’t feel good when the tables are turned back on you. She called me out for being a fucking hypocrite too, and she wasn’t fucking wrong. Get that shit sorted before it ends up costing your whole family more time with your sister.”

Kip hung his head. “She used to tell me everything.” That was the heart of my best friend’s problem. He and his sister had been close before I fucked up the dynamic between her and her best friend, and then in turn her brother too. Now, he felt abandoned by her. “Why are you her champion all of a sudden anyway? I thought you finally moved on from my long-lost sister.”

“There was never anything between us to move on from,” I admitted.

“Because you were too stupid to see what was right in front of you when you had the chance.”

“I was too young and dumb then.”

“Definitely that plus the cum part,” he joked.

I punched the fucker in the arm. “Yeah, yeah. Young, dumb, and full of cum that I shot off in all the wrong fucking places. Look what it cost me. Look what it cost Ash and you too.”

He nodded. We both knew that the two of them would have ended up together much sooner, and with far less drama and complications, had it not been for me trying to weasel out of the deal I made with his father and uncle. I patted Kip’s shoulder and turned to leave when someone stopped me.

“Before you go,” Tripp called out. I turned to see he had only been sitting two tables over from us that whole time and I hadn’t realized. Great. “Got a problem up north in Michigan. Need you to head up there with Spice in the morning.” That was weird because normally, we had more prep time to get the drive planned out.

I deflated at the thought of leaving. When the fuck was the timing ever supposed to be right? Star was finally back, and fuck knew how long that would last and now her father was sending me away on a run. Figured. The bastard gave her to me willingly once, now he was going to do everything in his power to make sure I never got the chance again.

“I can do it,” Kip told him, trying to take my place.

“You got a woman and a kid at home. He’s got no one.” Tripp smirked. “Oh, you got that rich bitch now. She can go with you since she doesn’t have to work.”

“We’re not together anymore,” I admitted.

“Well, isn’t that just convenient. More reason for you to head on out of town then, huh?” Tripp asked snidely.

“Ask why he’s not with his woman anymore,” Trench told our Prez. Tripp glanced at him for a moment and then his eyes immediately came back to mine. I hadn’t even known Trench was in the room. Fuck, I was really off my game.

“What the fuck happened?”

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