Page 6 of Blade

My love for her was what allowed me to lie to her every day when she thought my dad was an accountant. He was an accountant, just not a legal one, and not for the good guys.

My love for her was what allowed me to search for her when I was free. I saw her happy and chose not to disrupt that happiness with my own selfish motives. And my love for her was what allowed me to let her continue to live in ignorance, believing that I was still dead.

Who was I kidding?

That was my fear.

Fear of telling her the truth and feeling her hate for me.

This way I could live in ignorance and pretend that what I had done was the right thing, the noble thing, not the selfish thing. There was one thing I had learned about myself and my family.

We rarely did the right thing.

We always opted for the selfish thing.

A few hours had passed, as I made my way to the gate of the clubhouse, praying they didn’t bring Becca back with them. Although even if they didn’t, she was likely right across the road.

I walked into the clubhouse and immediately spotted Rachel. I marched toward her, and Cash must have read my expression because he stood directly in front of her.

“Easy brother, don’t do something stupid that I have to beat your ass for.”

I let out the breath I hadn’t realized I was holding and looked my VP in the eye.

“She had no right to pull that shit.”

My brothers all knew about my past, as did Rachel, since despite the difference in my size from when I was fifteen years old, she recognized me as soon as she got involved with the club.

“I’ve already talked to her about it. She knows she was wrong.”

Rachel slipped around Cash and looked up at me.

“I’m sorry, Blade. I was excited about her being back. I wasn’t thinking. If she knew, I know she would stay, and I want her to stay, Blade. I want my friend back.”

I took a deep breath and pulled Rachel to me.

Leaning down, I kissed her forehead.

“I know, babe. But it’s not that easy. It’s been ten years. It’s too late to go back. Telling her now would only hurt her. You can have your friend back, but that doesn’t mean I get her back, too. I don’t get to be in her life.”

With that said, I released her and took off to my room.

This weekend would be tough. I needed to mow Grams’ lawn, and I needed to get her alone and tell her the same thing I just told Rachel.

No matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t go back again.

Saturday morning came early as I headed out of the clubhouse and across the road. Grams and I had an arrangement. She left the coffee machine on, and I grabbed a cup before I started mowing the lawn. An arrangement she clearly hadn’t told Becca about, considering I walked into Grams’ kitchen to find Becca standing at the sink in a tank top and panties and nothing else.

God, she was even more beautiful than I remembered. Her auburn hair pulled on top of her head in some kind of messy bun was sexy as hell. Her waist was thin, and her hips flared out. Hips I could hold on to. Her long legs that begged to be wrapped around my waist, or my shoulders.

The last decade had been damn good to her.

She must have heard the screen door because she jumped and swung around. It took everything in me not to smile when she screamed, and even more for me to stay by the door and not walk over and wrap my arms around her.

“What the heck are you doing here?”

My eyes roamed over her body as I took in the state of her dress, or rather, undress.

“Get the heck out of here!”

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