Page 31 of Savage Heart

That made Trouble snort, because he had plenty of jagged knife wound scars because Hound and Grimm had the sewing skills of a hundred-year-old blind sailor.

“Right.” Trouble shook his head. “I’ll be there in twenty.” He hung up the phone, shoved it into the back pocket of his jeans, then gave a salute to the woman whose bed he’d shared the night before, who was standing on her porch wearing a barely long enough silk robe. She’d been a good fuck, but the relief hadn’t lasted for longer than the time it took to get dressed and walk out the door.

It never did.

Not sinceher.

He got to the clubhouse in record time and headed inside. He knew Odin would have Skathi in his room, and he wanted to be there with his brother while his woman was hurt.

Walking into the room, he stopped in his tracks, his heart flying from his chest to slam against each of the four walls, before it crawled back into his chest.

“Skizzy?”

The woman standing over a battered and bruised Skathi turned to look over her shoulder at him.

It was her—her body was fuller, her ass in her tight pencil skirt was bigger but still just as fucking mouthwatering. Her hips were rounder, and her tits were bigger—overflowing handfuls he wanted to plant his face in and never come back up for air.

She’d been a fucking knock out when they’d been together, but now…she was a fucking goddess, one he longed to worshipon his knees, as he claimed her pussy with his mouth, then his hands, then his very hard and aching cock.

Her blonde hair was up in a professional looking updo, her hair pinned back from her face—a face he still saw in his dreams at night and his thoughts during the day. Her eyes were still a remarkable cornflower blue that kicked him in the solar plexus every time he looked into them. Eyes that had once shined with so much love, he’d basked in it.

Now, however, those eyes shined with hate so vicious and deep, it made what was left of his soul writhe in agony.

“Erik Skaarsen….” He’d flinched at the abject disgust in her voice, a voice that once spoke to him in whispers warm with happiness, now hit with the force of a sledgehammer.

The woman he loved was back, and fuck did it hurt when she walked right by like he meant nothing to her.

And from that day, he’d determined to act like she meant nothing to him, either, because it was easier to be the careless asshole than to let thoughts of them together fan the ember of hope that flared to life when he saw her again.

Liz’s return to Vegas was both sweet and sorrowful, but he took comfort in knowing that his Liz was still in there, still kicking and screaming and living life to the fullest.

And to think…she actually did it, became a doctor, while being a single mom to Erika. She was a motherfucking boss. Brilliant, driven, compassionate, sexy as fuck, and from what he’d seen so far, an amazing mom to their daughter.

He pinched his eyes closed at the memory of those bright, wide eyes of his daughter staring up at him from the kitchen floor. There’d been fear in those eyes, but also relief. From her first sight of him, there’d been trust. She trusted him. And he’d never break her trust.

Not like I did her mama’s.

Fuck. He should have been there for his little girl from the beginning—all the thing’s he’d missed….

He grunted, refusing to name the emotion that blasted through him at the thought of Liz and Erika, without him, for ten fucking years. Ten years without his protection, his support, or his love. And he would have given them everything he had and all he was…. But he didn’t. Because he hadn’t been there. By choice. It had beenhis choiceto cut Liz out of his life, unknowingly cutting out his own flesh and blood, too.

And it washis choicenow to salvage the pieces of the life he could have had with them, and suture them back in to where they’d been torn from his life.

The last text from Skathi told him that Erika was fine with her, and that she was eating a healthy meal with only two cookies for dessert, even though she’d begged for more. When he read that, he smiled. It wasn’t a surprise that his daughter had a sweet tooth—both he and Liz loved anything sweet, and there were a few times when they’d licked whip cream off each other’s naked bodies. Nothing had ever tasted as sweet, or satisfied his sweet tooth since.

His Skizzy had always been his favorite sweet treat.

What wasn’t so sweet was her keeping their daughter from him. Seething at this thoughts, glaring at the woman in the bed, he didn’t immediately realize someone else had entered the room.

A nurse, one he hadn’t seen before, came further into the room, her wide eyes taking him in and probably shitting her scrubs at the glower on his face.

Fuck. The last thing he wanted to do was chase off the people there to help Liz.

“Sorry,” she muttered, “didn’t mean to interrupt. Need to check her vitals.” She cast a glance at Liz and gasped.

“Liz?” the woman blurted. “Holy shit.”

Confused and wary, he slowly stood up and pinned the strange woman with a look that was all MC VP.

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