Page 70 of Slayin Villain
I huffed.The audacity.“I only want honesty.Loyalty.Love.Not games and guilt and pretending I’m not dying inside every time I see you with her.”
His breath came slow, shallow.
I could see it.He didn’t know what to say.Villain, the man who always had a line, always had control…was speechless.
I pressed a hand to my belly.“I’m not the kind of woman who begs.But I loved you.And I let you claim parts of me no one else ever had.So, if you’re gonna keep choosing her, do it loud.Do it now.I won’t raise this baby in limbo.”
He moved like he wanted to reach for me, but I stepped back.
“No,” I whispered.“You don’t get to touch me when you don’t even know where your heart lies.”
He looked hollow then.Empty.
Good.
I turned for the door again.
This time, he didn’t stop me.
And that hurt worse than all the rest.
Chapter 30
Rachel
I didn’t make it to the car.
The tears started before I even hit the main hallway of the clubhouse, blurring the lights strung across the ceiling and the heavy wall of club laughter behind me.My hand grazed the wood paneling to steady myself, the other clutched my keys like they were going to anchor me.
I didn’t want anyone to see me like this.Weak.Wrecked.Pregnant and heartbroken over a man who couldn’t pick a side if his life depended on it.
But life at Royal Road didn’t wait for anyone to get themselves together.
The place was alive.Bourbon-fueled cackles echoed from the back rooms.Somebody dropped a pool cue, someone else howled about a busted bet.And then, there she was.
Ember.
Standing by the wall near the bar, talking to Eve.Her dark curls were back to their natural twisty state, eyes red like mine.She’d been crying too.
For a split second, our eyes locked.She opened her mouth like she might say something, but I didn’t stop.Couldn’t.I barreled forward, heels clicking like warning shots on the concrete floor.
“Hey now,” Eve’s sweet Southern drawl stopped me.“Hold up, sugar.”
I froze.
Eve Strick, Kingpin’s woman, boss lady of the outlaws in every way that mattered, walked right up to me with the confidence of a woman who’d seen too many fights end in tears and too many tears turn into war.
She handed me a tissue.“Let’s not ruin our pretty faces tonight, hmm?”
I took it, sniffled, laughed a little despite myself.“Too late.”
Ember still hadn’t moved.She stood there, eyes wide, mouth set in a line that looked like guilt or heartbreak, or both.
“I don’t think I can do this tonight,” I whispered.
Eve gave me a look.“Darlin’, you already are.”
“I’m not drinking.”
