Page 45 of Old Flame

“Getting ready now,” I replied.

Micah glanced over at the closed door where Pepper stayed when she was here, then back at me. “You gonna be good with that?” He nodded his head in the direction of the other room.

If he was pressing for details, he wasn’t getting any.

“Good with what?” I asked, not admitting shit where Salem was concerned.

The way he cut his eyes at me made me think he wasn’t fooled.

“Yeah, okay, then I don’t have to deal with you causing issues. Lick’s unpredictable when unprovoked. Don’t need to light any fuses. We have enough shit outside the club fucking with us.”

My gaze narrowed. “What’s Lick got to do with this?”

He’d given her a fucking ride on his bike, not proposed marriage.

Jesus, Micah, not the back of every man’s bike is sacred.He should know that. Dolly had been on the back of mine when she needed a ride before he went apeshit over her ass.

“Just seems, of all the brothers, I wouldn’t have thought it would be Lick she gravitated to. Hell, even the club sluts keep their distance out of fear, unless he asks for them.”

If all my muscles hadn’t already been tensed up, they were now.

“What do you mean, gravitated?” I asked.

Micah shrugged. “I mean, gravitated. She doesn’t want to draw attention to herself and is quiet, except with Lick. When he talks to her, she converses with him.”

Salem had been talking to Lick?

My temples throbbed. She was naive and hadn’t been around men like Lick. She didn’t know the depraved shit he wasthinking.

“She doesn’t belong here. She’s not like us,” I said tightly.

“And Dolly is?” He chuckled. “Don’t think it matters, Tex. She’s in danger outside of these walls.”

Dolly was different. She had been Pepper’s best friend since grade school.

I needed to talk to Salem. Warn her about things…Lick. Fuck, did she have to reel in men everywhere she went? My skin felt as if it were too tight. A restless energy pulsed through me, and the idea of putting my fist through the wall was appealing.

“I’ll be down in a few,” I said and closed the door as he turned to leave me the fuck alone.

Telling myself that I shouldn’t care who she gravitated to was bullshit. I cared. Even when she had been thousands of miles away, living another life, I had cared. I’d drunk her memory away so many nights that I couldn’t count them. Fucked so many women, only seeing her face when I closed my eyes, that it should be a damn crime.

So, yeah, Micah, this is a motherfucking issue.

19

Tex

Twenty-One Years Ago

Someone in the junior or senior class had money this year. I was sure I could get it right on the first guess.

I climbed out of my truck and stared at the historic white barn that had been modernized and turned into some fancy event venue. There was a water fountain out front, and twinkling white lights covered every fucking tree. Music poured out into the night from the two doors that stood open.

My prom at the same high school had been in the gym. This was an entirely different budget, and I knew the school couldn’t afford this.

Not that any of that mattered. I had other things to focus on, like why the hell I was here and what my plan was now. I’d come with my fucking guns blazing as some possessive beast had taken over my actions. But having a moment of reality, seeing the place, realizing that Salem was probably having the time of her life, getting to do one of the things she’d missed out on before…

I questioned this decision.

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