Page 16 of Protecting Her Secrets

“Not anymore. Not after waking up the morning after we got married to a fucking text message telling me she dipped.”

“Shit, man. I wish this wasn’t the first time you were telling me this because you need advice because my mind can’t get over the whole MC thing.”

I listen for the shower, but as far as I can tell, she’s still in the bath. “Catch up, asshole, because now she’s here, snowed in with me, and demanding a divorce because she’s getting married to someone else.”

“So? Sign the papers, and once the snow stops, get her the fuck off your hill.”

That’s the inevitable outcome, but something in me will always hold out hope for us. On the phone earlier, she said she felt like I was still hers in some way, and I feel the same. It has been fifteen years, and we’ve both created separate lives and haven’t so much as sent a carrier pigeon to the other, but until that certificate I’ve buried in my safe is void, Skylar is mine.

Wilder comes to his own conclusion when he hears my hesitation. “You still love her.”

“I don’t even know her. It’s been over a decade,” I argue.

“Doesn’t matter. If you didn’t love her, we wouldn’t be talking because you would’ve scribbled your dumbass name on the dotted line the second she handed over the papers.”

“I don’t have a dumbass name.” It’s the only part of that statement I can honestly argue with.

“They both end in anersound. That’s dumb.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Yes, it is.”

I run a hand through my hair, more annoyed than I was when I first called him. “You know what? Never mind. I’ll call Ridge instead.”

“What? No way. We both know he gives shitty advice.”

“He’s an artist. That automatically makes him more emotionally mature,” I say.

“I got this. Just give me a second.” Our friend group is competitive to a fault, and if I don’t let Wilder give me advice, that would mean he loses, and none of us like to lose.

“Fine. What do you got for me?”

He blows out a breath as he thinks, then gasps a little when whatever bonehead advice he comes up with pops into his head. “I think you gotta spend this time with her, see if what you had back then is still there. If it is, you gotta fight for her, bro. You’ve clearly been hanging on to her because she was something special to you, and if that’s still true, you gotta fight.”

My brows pinch together. “Damn, that’s actually good. You thought of that on your own? Or did you Google that shit?”

“Fuck no. That came straight from the heart,” he says, sounding way too pleased with himself.

The pipes bang, letting me know she moved from the tub to the shower, and I still haven’t put the soup on or finished picking up. “I gotta go. Thanks, though. I think you’re right. I’ll put off signing the papers until I’m sure I won’t regret it.”

“Good man.”

“Talk to you later.”

He stops me before I can hang up. “Hey, if she sticks around, you should bring her by. I’d like to get to know the woman who has the unflappable Walker all up in knots.”

“Fuck no. Your ugly ass will scare her away.” I hang up on him and get back to work. Suddenly, I’m feeling some pressure to impress Skylar, to show her I’m still the guy she fell in love with all those years ago.

Chapter Six

Skylar

God,I wish this was my life. I won’t pretend to think living here would solve all of life’s problems, but how bad can things be with this view? I’d even suffer the cold for it.

As I towel dry my hair since I can’t find a blow dryer, I stare out the window. Everything is so quiet and peaceful. I don’t think I’ve had a quiet or peaceful moment since. . . actually, since Vegas with Walker. He was the only calming figure in my life.

Growing up the way I did, chaos is all I’ve known. With Dad being the president of a 1%er MC, the Broken Rebels, there was always a time when someone was coming home bloody, or the cops were banging down the doors, or the club was mourning a life lost. I could throw a punch that could break a nose by twelve, shotgun a beer like a pro by fourteen, and by the time I was eighteen and of legal age for the cops to talk to without a guardian, Dad made sure I knew the importance of loyalty.

---