Page 66 of Deserter

The sound of a motorcycle drowned out whatever he was about to say and the man across the street jumped up from his chair with a frown.

Jamie observed the entire scene within seconds, his eyes narrowing in anger. “Celia,” he growled.

Ryan held his hands out in front of him. “Grey, I didn’t know she was your girl, I swear. I just gave her a ride.”

I wanted to vomit.

“We don’t need trouble in this neighborhood,” the man across the street yelled. “Leave them alone or I’ll call the police!”

“Fuck off, old man!” Grey snarled, not even bothering to turn around.

“Jam—Grey,” I began, before he cut me off.

“Get your ass inside, Celia.”

Another truck pulled up and a biker got out with a large cardboard box in his hands. “Everything okay, Grey?”

Ryan ran a hand over his face, looking about like I imagined I did, and I gave him a regretful smile before obeying my new master.

Lucy had been pretty straightforward about how I was meant to act if I wanted to fit in.“Apologies don’t exist in our world, Celia. We live and die by code.”

I pulled open the screen door, just as our neighbor went inside, shaking his head and muttering to himself. Any visions I had of neighborhood get-togethers were actively being crushed under a certain blond biker’s motorcycle boot.

If Jamie and I were a normal couple, I would’ve stayed to defend myself and the poor guy whose only sin was offering me a ride in the rain.

I placed the books on the coffee table and sat down on the couch, waiting to accept my fate. Their voices were too low to make out anything and I couldn’t decide if it was a good or bad thing.Yelling would typically be a bad sign, but with bikers, who could say?

The door swung open and I wrapped my arms around myself protectively as Jamie strode in with the cardboard box in his arms. He dropped it next to my books before glaring down at me. “What the fuck was that?”

I tilted my chin up at him defiantly before remembering Lucy’s words and lowering it again. “I walked to the library and Ryan gave me a ride home. That’s it.”

He ran his tongue across his teeth with a menacing grin. “Oh, it’s Ryan now? My apologies. So, did you tell him you were knocked up before or after you fucked him?”

I jumped up from the couch and stormed over to him, running on pure adrenaline. I jabbed my finger into his chest. “Do not speak to me like that! I didn’t do anything, and you know it!”

I was a lethal combination of angry and scared, and my brief Ol’ Lady training went right out the window.

“Do I?” he roared in my face. “Your fucking nipples are showing through your dress—”

“Because it’s raining, Jamie! I was walking home when the storm hit. Ryan offered me a ride. That’s it!

I turned to go into the kitchen, needing to put some distance between us, when his strong arm caught my elbow, pulling me back. “Where the fuck are you goin’?”

I tugged against his grip. “I’m getting away from you until you calm down enough to think rationally. Let me go.”

“Ain’t letting you go until you tell me why you’re accepting rides from strangers. He could’ve been an enemy of the club’s; you don’t fuckin’ know.” His icy blue eyes still glinted with rage and something else I couldn’t identify.

“It was raining, and he said he worked at your tattoo place. I thought if I was going to get a ride from anyone, he was the safest bet, okay?”

He loosened his hold on me and I saw the look in his eyes for what it was—fear. He thought I’d already changed my mind—about him… about us.

What did they do to you, Jamie?

“Can we just agree that it’s been a very emotional day and call a truce? I’m exhausted.” A tear slipped free and I swiped at it in frustration.

“I just thought when I saw his truck—”

“I know what you thought, and I get it, but if this is going to work,” I gestured between us. “You have to trust me. It may come as a surprise to you, but I don’t like being made to feel like a whore in front of your friends. You’re the only man I’ve ever been with and you are the only man I’ll ever be with.”

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