Page 6 of Creed

“Yeah. Something like that.”

My stomach sinks. I know not all men who work on the road cheat on their significant other, but the percentages aren’t favorable. Not that it matters. It isn’t like I expect to hit it off with this dude, whoever he is. I’ve not even laid eyes on him and already I’m imagining all the worst-case scenarios, like we’re getting married, and he’s determined to break my heart. I’m being ridiculous. I’ve always been this way. My brain is wired to automatically assume the worst about everyone. If I expect the worst, then I can’t be disappointed when people eventually fuck me over. I let my guard down with my ex and I have no plans to get burned again.

“You’ll love Creed.”

With those words, my heart drops to my feet and splinters wide open as a rush of emotions slams into me. My first kiss. My first everything was all with Seth Creed. Most of all, my greatest heartbreak. “Did you say Creed?”

Music blares from some speakers near the makeshift ring. The crowd erupts in a roar of cheers and expletives. Ghoul ignores my question. It’s possible I heard him wrong. He could have said Reed.

Bile churns in the pit of my stomach, threatening to race up my throat. The only Creed I know is Seth Motherfucking Creed. My jerk of a stepbrother. I should say ex-stepbrother since our parents divorced before my mother passed away.

He can’t be the only guy in the world people call Creed. Last I knew, he wasn’t even living in this state. And yet my heart flutters at the thought of seeing him after all these years. I knew it was wrong to crush on him when I was just a kid. He was older, hot, and dangerous. The bad boy type that you’re well aware you can’t fix but would give anything for the privilege to simply try.

And God, did I try to save him from himself.

In the end, I failed.

My love wasn’t enough.

I wasn’t enough.

I followed him and his friends everywhere. Got him in trouble many times because I was jealous of the girls he was fooling around with. I was never the kind of girl he’d ever look at, even if he wasn’t older than me. Back then, I was still fat and wore glasses. Then one day he looked at me like he could see past my weight and insecurities.

He looked at me like maybe he loved me. At least that’s the lie I fed myself when I’d go into his room and give myself to him in any way he wanted. I craved him until one day he was simply gone. He left without a goodbye, and when I did see him again, he fucked my best friend after my mother’s funeral.

It wasn’t until months after my mother passed away that I started dropping my weight and caring about styling my hair and wearing makeup.

None of that matters now. It’s all in the past.

Seth Creed is the past. And so is Cade.

And yet I can’t help but wonder where Seth is. How he turned out. If he found that beautiful life, he was always talking about having one day. What a foolish girl I was to dream that I’d be a part of that life. That when he talked about leaving, I thought he meant with me.

Sucking in a deep breath, I watch as the first contender is announced. Relief and disappointment both flood me at the realization this guy isn’t my Creed. I shouldn’t want to see him.

But I do.

I want him to see how I’ve shed my weight and lost my glasses except for when I’m vegging out at home. The rest of the time, I wear contacts. Especially when I’m working.

I want him to see with his own eyes that I’ve survived life without him.

That I didn’t need him.

Even if I wanted him.

The pain thoughts of him brings burns through me like a ring of fire. Threatening to consume me and suck me back under.

They say we only get one great love.

He was supposed to be mine.

Blinking slowly as if coming out of a daze, I return to the now desperate to escape those old wounds that linger in the back of my mind.

“Fighting out of the blue corner, welcome to the arena, Rage.”

“Oh no, Tonya,” mutters, her face stricken with horror. “I can’t be here,” she whispers to me as Ghoul chats with some other biker. The name on his cut says Rogue. He catches my eye and grins at me, but I don’t think he recognizes me. I’d know that smile anywhere because he was always hanging with Seth.

Which can only mean one thing.

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