Page 31 of Theirs to Ruin

"And that wouldn’t bother you? If I were with Kage, I mean."

"It wouldn't exactly thrill me.” His strong jaw clenched and for the first time I saw it. Jealously. Possessiveness.

“Then stop trying to push me away,” I told him. “I want you, Dante.”

“You want me, but you want Kage, too. And that’s okay.”

“How can you say that? He’s the heir to the mafia! He’s rumored to have killed before.”

“Oh, sweetheart. And you think I haven’t?”

I felt like he’d sucker-punched me. We stared at each other, his eyes filled with steel and something like sadness. Wasthatwhat he’d meant when he’d said he’d done things he thought were right but others wouldn’t?

He’dkilledsomeone?

“Dante—”

Just then, his phone buzzed. His eyes remained locked with mine for a tense moment before he glanced at his phone and sighed. “It’s school. We’d better get back to campus.”

Disappointment flooded through me. After the bomb he’d just dropped I should be scared, yet I didn’t want our time together to end. In fact, I didn’t want to go back to campus at all. Not after what had happened. I wanted to stay here, hidden away with Dante with the beauty of nature around us. But I also knew the longer I stayed away, the harder it would be when I returned.

The ride back to campus was a blur of wind and lights. Before I knew it, Dante was pulling around the side of my dorm, near the small, graveled area used to access the dumpsters. He killed the engine, plunging us into a soft, ambient silence. As I climbed off the bike, the urge to pull him close was almost overwhelming. Our eyes met, and it felt like the world had shrunk to just the two of us.

“Thanks for the ride," I murmured. “And for...” My voice trailed off as my cheeks went warm.

His gaze was steady. “It was my pleasure.”

I stepped back but let my fingers lightly brush against his arm. "I guess I’ll see you around."

He nodded. “Try not to miss me too much, Peaches.”

I wasalreadymissing him.

As I walked away, I felt his eyes on me. And despite his effort to push me off onto Kage, for the first time in a long time, I felt truly seen and valued. I felt stronger and sure of what I wanted.

My phone pinged. It was an email from my dad. I stopped in my tracks. He’d sent another list of suitable men.

I groaned in disbelief.

This time, Kage’s name was on the list.

Chapter 12

Dante

Once I knew Camille was safely inside her dorm, I took off for the Devil’s Outcasts compound. Considering I’d beat up one of its members and had the shit kicked out of me by two others, the prevailing thought would probably be I should stay the fuck away from the place. Yet I knew the only way to maintain my position with the club would be to show my face and prove I didn’t give a shit what anyone else thought – I owned my actions, I’d do the same thing in a heartbeat, and fuck anyone who thought differently.

When I arrived, a party was underway, with bikers and women scattered around the compound’s four main areas: the old boarding house that had been taken over by the club about twenty years ago; the adjacent rec pavilion with open steel barnyard doors revealing polished concrete floors, exposed brick walls, and open beam ceilings; the industrial-sized garage, and the surrounding outdoor space littered with picnic tables and fire drums.

The club brought in a lot of money, most of it dirty, and it hadn’t skimped on creating a compound that reflected that. Theplace was anything but refined but it was well-maintained and the rec pavilion especially was high end, with a clean masculine look thanks to a dark color palette, leather-upholstered furniture, weathered wood tables, a cement bar, pool tables and rustic metal light fixtures. Hell, it even had an arcade of pinball and vintage video games in one corner.

Music that blared from outdoor speakers did nothing to disguise the shouts and laugher filling the air. I nodded to various people as I passed them. Most responded with friendly waves but others scowled.

When I entered the pavilion, Serpent was the first to notice me. In mid-laugh over something one of the guys had said to him, he stiffened, his tall, bulky frame towering over the pool cue he clutched in his right hand as he looked me up and down. He glared at me from a swollen face mottled with the bruises I’d left on him.

Razor, the MC’s leader, stood next to Serpent, and turned around to see who Serpent was looking at. Razor narrowed his eyes then started toward me.

Razor had led the MC for as long as I’d known him. He was ripped and yet, somehow, with his closely trimmed greying beard and glasses, he sometimes looked more grandfather than biker—until he started swearing and drinking, or fucked one of the MC groupies in front of everyone. He ran the club with a will of steel and the threat of serious pain if anyone crossed him.

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