Page 25 of Never Wed an Outlaw

I wanted to chase after him, but he was surprisingly quick for a man who'd just been sucker punched. Before I could take another step, the front door banged shut, and his bike rumbled in the distance.

“Let him go.” Dust laid a stern hand on my shoulder. “Fucking shit. Looks like we've both got ourselves a few more things to worry about, darlin'.”

I turned to him sadly, cold water thrown on my lust. “I'm sorry, Dusty. Don't know what came over me. We never should've started up like that, and my fucking brother really never should've seen anything.”

“Enough, babe. What's done is done,” he said, pushing his forehead against mine. “We're both stressed to hell and back. Nobody needs to apologize for a damned thing. Here's what'll happen – we're both sitting down with somewater, listening to a little more music, and then I'm taking off.”

My heart sank. A thousand things ran through my mind at once, but one word was louder than the rest, needling me between the eyes.

Stay.

Stay, Dusty.

Please, for the love of everything good and holy, stay with me tonight.

Of course, I knew how stupid it would be to give those thoughts any voice. I turned my back, humming along to the music while I got us some water, and tried to pretend my world hadn't just gotten wrecked.

Dusty took his glass and sipped slowly, watching while I did the same.

“Do you really think it's going to be okay with Huck?” I tried my damnedest not to tremble or cry when I said it. Yeah, I was coming apart.

He narrowed his eyes. “Darlin', I know it'll be. Don't you worry about anything.”

“This is what we were afraid of, though. The whole reason we couldn't be together before. I can't stand it if he's going to get pissed, drive a wedge with you and the club, especially when we haven't even –“

I stopped myself before I saidfucked.

Jesus, I wished we had.

“Haven't what, babe? Done something we really shouldn't for plenty of other reasons?” He raised his eyebrows, sweeping me up in those stormy eyes of his again. “If he hadn't walked in, honest to God, I would've been balls deep in you, Hannah. I know it would've been good. Might've been the best fuck of our lives, but it would've been something else, too.”

My eyes went wide with wonder, and I leaned in, waiting for him to finish.

“A huge fuckin' mistake.”

I wrinkled my nose, turning my face away from him.Asshole.

Even if he was right, I didn't need to hear it right now. Didn't want to think it would be anything short of amazing.

“Darlin'...” He reached out to me, laying a possessive hand on my shoulder.

“Are you sober yet?” I snapped. “Because I really think you should go.”

“Sober enough,” he said coldly, standing up and smoothing his leather cut. “Let's not have any bad blood over this, sweetness. You'll always be like family to me, and so will your brother, even when he's planning to slip a knife in my spine over what he just saw.”

Refusing to speak, I sat there in killing silence, breathing each time I heard his heavy footsteps down the hall. Each one took him further away from my hidden, deeply personal hell. The monstrous situation I had to suffer, and suffer alone, without getting anybody else in the club stung over it.

Except, now that Huck had seen me coming undone with his Prez, something bad was bound to happen anyway.

I stood and crept up to the door, just quickly enough tosee his motorcycle roar out through the open gate. Punching the key to lock myself in, I released the bitter sigh I'd been holding since he said his last words.

“Goodbye, Dusty. Try not to kill yourself or Huck over me. We could've had something real special, in another world.” Lonesome whispering only encouraged the tears stinging my eyes.

Another world.Easily something I'd never see as long as I lived, because I'd fallen too deep into a world that held nothing except darkness, greed, and soulless disappointment.

6

Lies and Damned Lies (Dust)

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