Page 69 of Choices

“Yeah, I probably will, but I don’t give a fuck because this needs to be said.”

“So say it.” Christ, this prick is pushing on a raw nerve.

“You need to stop fucking around with Kitty.”

And there it is. My heart pounds in every part of my body.

“Why—because you want her?”

Tension coils every muscle. This is dangerous territory. Shut it down.

“That’s irrelevant.”

“Is it?” I seethe.

Blowing out a breath, he grimaces. “We’re friends. She’s made it clear that’s all we’ll be.”

The wires in my brain take a second to compute the information, then a weight lifts off my chest.She’s not fucking him.

At my pause, he takes the opportunity to continue. “I don’t know what’s going on between you two. I just know she’ll never be able to move on if you don’t release the hold you have on her.”

“I thought you said she just wants to be friends.”

The flash of pain in his gaze is perversely pleasing. “She did, and I accept that. I mean move on with anyone else.”

I don’t want her to move on, and that makes me the biggest piece of scum walking the earth.

“She’s not your fucking woman. Claire is.”

Like I need a fucking reminder of who I sacrificed my life to. “You don’t know anything about me or my situation, and you sure as shit don’t get to tell me what Kitty is to me.”

“Do you seriously not see her drowning?” He arches a brow, shaking his head in disgust. “If you cared about her?—”

“We’re done,” I grit, stabbing a finger in his direction.

“Cutter—”

“We’re fucking done,” I repeat, turning my back on him.

I’m not talking to this prick about her. Fuck him.

“Cutter!”

Ignoring him, I swing my leg over my bike, slip on my helmet, and bring the engine to life, leaving him in my rearview.

I maneuver my bike through the streets, his words slicing me to pieces as they reverberate in my mind. The audacity of him dictating what I need to do. He doesn’t know our history, why I’m with Claire.

“Do you seriously not see her drowning?”My heart punches against my ribs. I told myself I couldn’t be with her, she was better off, then I kept her anyway. In secret. A woman like Kitty should never be hidden. She’s the sun my soul revolves around, and she doesn’t even see it. What a fucking mess of my own making.

Fuck.

Swerving the machine around a bend, I hit the throttle, eating up the road, and find myself pulling into Twenty-Four-Carat Gold without even remembering the journey. Idling the bike, I kick down the stand, a fist squeezing the air from my lungs. No matter how much I toss everything around in mymind, I keep coming back to the same conclusion: I hurt Kit. The web of lies and secrets pushed her over the edge, and I owe it to her to fix things.

Heels tapping against the asphalt fill my ears before Claire’s voice calls out, “That wasn’t ten minutes, Cutter. I’m freezing my tits off out here.”

It’s not cold. She just wearing fuck all to keep her warm. I paid for those fucking tits. Claire isn’t a bad person, but no matter how much she tries, she isn’t my person.

Dismounting my bike, I gesture toward the club. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

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