Page 80 of Havoc

He glared at me for a moment, and then his eyes softened, revealing something twisted but sincere.

He took a step closer and lowered his voice to a sultry whisper. “I never stopped thinking about you. Even after you ran to that pack of bikers and pretended like I didn’t exist.”

I reminded him irritably, “You threatened me and tried to rape me.”

“I loved you and protected you as well,” he insisted. “You just need to be with me one time to get over your fear. Just one time.”

“I’m gonna have to call bullshit on the whole idea that you love me.”

“I didn’t used to be this way,” he lied. “Want to know what broke me? You.”

I wasn’t about to fall for this nonsense. “That was all in your mind. None of it was real.”

“Not true. You and I have a history together. You seem to have forgotten about it.”

I looked at him in confusion.

“You don’t remember Jewel?”

Shock rolled through my gut as he mentioned a client of mine from years ago. Jewel had been in an abusive relationship, and I tried to help her get over it. “You’re the dirty cop she was seeing? She never told me his name, as she was my client my focus was on teaching her coping mechanisms.”

“You fucked up my entire world.”

“That was a long time ago, and you fucked up your own world,” I told him. “Don’t put that on me.”

“Listen up, Riley.” His tone shifted, turning calmer and darker. “I’m giving you one last chance to make it up to me, to be the woman you’re meant to be. We could be good together—or you can keep hanging all over that biker trash until he kicks you to the curb.”

“I don’t like you, much less love you,” I said between gritted teeth.

“Then I need you to know that things are about to get ugly for you. You led me on. Why the fuck did you do that and then try and act like you were too good for me?”

“I was just trying to be polite. I told you no, and you didn’t listen.”

“How do you think it made me feel to see the way you smiled at that fucking biker like he was a man worth having? You thought you were too good for a man of the law, yet you opened your legs for a damn biker. Once you met him, it was like I didn’t matter anymore. Like everything I did to protect you meant nothing.”

“That’s a messed-up thing to say. You were the only thing I ever needed protection from.”

“You aren’t a very good judge of character, Riley. You’re naive about that ignorant biker, just like you are about your friend.”

“Wait,” I stammered. “What in the world are you talking about?”

He looked over my shoulder. “You should ask Maritza.”

I blinked, trying to work out what he was talking about in my mind. “What?”

I whirled around and saw Maritza standing behind me, all the way in the back of the room. She looked fine—no bruises or scratches.

That’s when it hit me, and my blood ran cold. She wouldn’t meet my eyes.

“Ritz?” My voice was hoarse and strained. We’d known each other for years. Why would she betray me to a degenerate asshole like Slater?

Maritza jerked her hoodie up and pulled the drawstring to make it tight around her face. “Look, I didn’t want to do this.”

I stepped back. “Yet, you did. What I want to know is why. Did he offer you money, drugs, police favors? What made you betray our friendship?”

“You did. I had to do something,” Maritza yelled. “You don’t understand. Aaron approached me, told me about Havoc and all the dangerous biker shit he was pulling you into. I thought if I helped him talk to you, he could talk some sense into you.”

“What dangerous biker shit?” My hand came up, and I pointed at Slater. “He’s the only dangerous thing in my life, and you led him right to me like a naive little girl.”

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