Page 59 of Reckless Pawn

But it not only stopped, it crashed and burned and then blew up in my face.

"Izzy, baby. Are you okay? Fuck. I'm sorry. I know I'm a pig with no excuse for my behavior, but you need to come out here so we can talk."

I blinked at my reflection as the devastation at his words tearing through me morphed into anger all over again. I swear to God I had to be on some sort of runaway emotional roller coaster and I wanted nothing more than to get the hell off of it. If that meant telling Houston where he could shove his apology then so be it.

I stomped over to the door, unlocked it and jerked it open. Coming face to face with Houston wasn't easy. Not with the fresh feeling of humiliation still burning up my face. But being angry helped. As long as I held on to that feeling, I could survive.

"You're sorry? Seriously? For what? Making me happy? Giving me pleasure? Making me feel alive? Or because I acted like a desperate whore?" I crossed my arms over my chest and glared, heedless of the tears still streaming down my face. I wanted a damned answer. "Which is it? Because I really want to know."

He stood there speechless, horror having morphed into irritation which was even worse. As much as I wanted answers I knew I couldn't stand there and take that look much longer. Every single second I did, another piece of my heart burned away, turning freedom into ash. In the face of that reality one thing turned crystal clear. In the eyes of Houston Reed I would never again be whole.

I was broken. Something that needed to be fixed.

"Take me back." I brushed past him and walked over to his motorcycle. As much as it would kill me to be wrapped around him after this, I had no choice. Not only did I have no idea where we were, but there was no other way for me get back to the compound. I didn't even have a cell phone, let alone a number I could call for help.

I could try to run, but we both knew I had nowhere else to go.

"Izzy, I’m going to fix this."

I turned a glacial glare on him. "You can't. Don't you get that? Now take me back to the compound right this fucking minute."

He looked like he wanted to argue but he nodded instead. “We’re going back, but that doesn’t mean this is over. I fucked up. So we’re gonna talk and get this straightened out when you’re ready.”

When I was ready? I mashed my lips together to keep my response to myself. He thought I was a broken thing, that he had hurt me. It was all over his face. This wouldn’t work. None of it would work if every time we got close he sabotaged it.

Yes, he fucked up all right.

When I climbed back onto his bike I got lucky and found a couple of metal handles next to the jump seat that allowed me to hold on for the ride instead of having to be wrapped around him again. God, what had I been thinking?

In what felt like an excruciatingly extended period of time, but was probably only thirty minutes or less, Houston pulled to a stop at the compound gate while he waited for one of the prospects to clear him through. I took that moment when the gate started to swing open to jump down and begin my long walk of shame back to my cabin.

"Izzy. Get back on the bike," he demanded, his voice low and tight.

I didn't bother to answer. Whether he liked it or not, we were done talking. As I neared the clubhouse I could see another party going on outside in the courtyard or maybe one still happening from the night before since it was still pretty early in the morning. I scanned the crowd until I found the man I was looking for, who at the moment had a half-dressed voluptuous redhead wrapped around him with his hand blatantly under her skirt.

Did everyone in this club have sex on the brain syndrome?

I rolled my eyes and stalked toward him. I didn't care if I was interrupting. This kind of shit was never happening to me again.

"Axel!" Yeah, so his name came out sharp and loud and I could only imagine what the men around him thought it meant. Again, I didn't give one rat's ass.

It did, however, catch Axel by surprise as he dropped the redhead on her ass and came to his feet.

"Izzy?"

He looked at me and then somewhere over my shoulder. I imagined Houston wasn't far behind me so I got straight to the point.

"I need a cell phone and I need it right now."

He looked confused. "Okaaay? Why, what's up?"

"What's up?" I tried to keep my voice calm, but it grew shrill anyway. "What's up is if I ever again find myself stranded in the middle of nowhere on the side of a highway with an asshole, I want a way to call for help."

Axel again looked over his shoulder and this time his expression hardened. "Sure thing, babe. I'll have a prospect get you one now. I can have it delivered to your cabin inside of an hour. Work for you?"

"It'll do." I started to turn as much of the anger fueling me began to wane.

"You want to tell me what happened, princess?"

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