Page 41 of Treachery

In a blink, he was on her, his hands clasped to her shoulders, his face inches from hers.

“You arenotpathetic!” he blasted, making her recoil—but not in fear, in shock. “If anyone’s pathetic it’s me….” He swallowed, his chin trembling. “Because I fell in love with my target.” His hands brushed her neck, gliding up her sensitized flesh until his hands were cupping her face. “I fell in love with you, Nadia Thompson, and if you ask me to, I will take off my kutte, slice it into pieces, and set the whole goddamn thing on fire.”

She gasped in disbelief. No, there’s no way he could mean that; evensheknew the symbolism of the kutte. The kuttewasthe club. The Unchained meanteverythingto him.

Her heart racing, her mind whirling, she blubbered, “L-Locust, you don’t?—”

“If it means you start calling me James again, I’ll walk my ass right into the clubhouse, throw my kutte in Frost’s face, and never look back as I walked out again.” Brushing his lips against her jaw, then her trembling mouth, he whispered, “I would give up anything to prove to you that I love you.”

SEVENTEEN

He watchedas his words settled into her mind, her beautiful eyes growing bright with tears. She was trembling beneath his touch, but not in fear. She was shocked, and after emptying herself out just moments before, he understood how she didn’t know what to think or feel.

He didn’t know how to feel, either, but he did know he felt like the lowest piece of shit on Earth. He wanted to say that if Frost had known about Joe, he never would have told Locust to target Nadia, but the man would probably see that as a bonus; she was obviously susceptible to handsome, charming men. Locust knew that no matter what, Frost would have sent Locust on the same mission, with the same desired outcome.

With Joe, she’d been charmed, seduced, and then scammed by someone who lied to her, using her—how was he any different? Well, for one, he loved the fuck out of her. What he felt for her was real.

“I can see you don’t believe me,” he began, gently urging her to take a seat once more. Right next to him. No more space between them.

She laughed a humorless laugh. “What gave you that idea?” She rolled her eyes, and he couldn’t help my smirk at her sass. Beneath all that pain, the fire was still there.

Good; the fire means she isn’t as broken as she thinks she is.

“You don’t have to believe me, but I do need to explain why I did what I did…and what happened afterward. After I met you.”

She stared at him, her gaze skimming his face, judging his sincerity. She must’ve believed he would explain; she settled back into the couch, and remained silent. She nodded once and waited.

Sucking in a deep breath that shook a little, he admitted, “I want to start off by saying that when Frost first told me about my…err…mission, I didn’t feel good about it. It didn’t feel right, especially since that’s not something he’d ever asked of any of the brothers before. I don’t understand his motives, what he was thinking when he handed out that order, I can only tell you that it didn’t feel right.”

She furrowed her brows, and then she asked exactly what he thought she would.

“If it didn’t feel right, why did you still do it?”

He didn’t want to answer her, the words lodged in his throat. Instead, he admitted, “When Ratchet—Elijah—stole from the Bone Dogz, he got himself caught up in some serious shit. When the Bone Dogz came to Frost requesting a patch over—basically combining the clubs under the Unchained patch—he was wary at first. The Bone Dogz were a one percent club, meaning they did a lot of shit the Unchained would never touch. When Frost found out about the money Ratchet took, it was almost like he hyper focused on it. He wanted that money bad, but he couldn’t get a bead on Ratchet. Through some sleuthing by Redtube, we learned about you….”

“And so you targeted me, thinking you could get to Elijah through me,” she finished for him, a bitter twist to her lips.

He nodded, hating that he had to speak the words in the first place. “We targeted you to get to him. You know I’m club enforcer, so it’s my job to make sure the club is protected, and I take my job seriously. When Frost approached me, he told me about Ratchet, the money, and how that money could be used to upgrade club protection. He wasn’t wrong; that kind of money could be put to good use….” Fuck, that sounded cold as hell, and he could see from the look on her face that his words were making her feel worse and worse. He couldn’t stop there, though. She should hear it all—if he had any chance of getting her back, she would have to hear it all in order to forgive him.

Even the worst parts, the parts that would tear him apart.

“He told me what I’d need to do, that I needed to have a run in with you, chat you up, charm you, get into your home…your bed—if necessary—to see if you knew anything about where Ratchet was or if you were holding the money for him. The supposedly suspicious mortgage-free house and new car were red flags, like you’d used the money your brother stole to buy yourself into a cushy lifestyle.”

She shook her head violently, growling, “I would never touch a fucking penny that crook gave me. Everything he touched turned to shit, and I already had my fair share of cleaning up his messes when he’d fuck around with some gang bangers’ money, and they’d come looking for it at my place. Five times, Locust,five timesI had to fend off local goons who came to my trailer to get the money my step-brother owed them. After a while, paying them off with my meager savings, my TV, my mom’s jewelry, or my car wasn’t enough. They wanted me to work for them, spreading my legs for them. I hid as often as I could, avoiding them in the neighborhood—and that fucking windfall came not more than two weeks after the lastvisit. It was goddamn providence I didn’t have to sell my body because my fucking step-brother used their supply instead of making them money.”

Suddenly, he wanted to find Ratchet, string him up by his balls, and beat the shit out of him. Again. That motherfucker had a lot of making up to do, and Locust would be there to make sure he did it.

Scrubbing his hand down his face, Locust remarked, “That money did good, baby, and I’m sorry I thought you would ever aid and abet your ratchet ass brother, but I didn’t know you then.”

She huffed, a sad smile curling her lips. “Do you even know me now?”

Without thinking, he leaned forward and pressed a hard kiss to her lips. She didn’t flinch or pull back, which was good.

“I know everything there is to know about you, baby, I just lost myself along the way.”

Her beautiful eyes filled with tears, and his heart jumped into his throat.

“I lost myself, too…” she admitted. “You broke me, so badly—I became that woman at Cool Hands….” Sniffling, she wiped a tear from her chin. “It was funny as hell at the time, but after I had time to think about it, about what I did, it felt wrong. I was in the wrong. And I hated that.” Lifting her gaze, she met his, tears still brimming her eyes. “That’s what betrayal does to someone; the pain is so bad that you have to become someone else to survive it. I loved you, to the depths of my soul, and when I overheard you talking to Cluster about me, about…what you planned to do, about our-our sex life…it was more than just a betrayal of me, it was a violation of me as a person.” She wiped another tear, and Locust had to fight the urge to simultaneously punch himself in the face, and reach out and hold her in his arms. In the end, they did the latter, and she melted right into him. Right where she belonged; her heart beating against his heart, the heart she owed.

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