Page 44 of Hard as Stone
“Poppy, wait!”
She whirls to face me, tears streaming down her face. “Did you know?” Her voice cracks. “This whole time, did you know what my father was doing?”
“Poppy…”
Her hands ball into fists at her sides. “Did you know?” she shrieks, the words sounding like razor blades tearing from her throat. “Answer me, Axel!”
I take a step toward her, but she backs away. The hurt and betrayal in her eyes cuts me to the core.
“We knew,” I admit quietly. “But we didn’t have proof until recently.”
She lets out a bitter laugh. “So all those times you warned me about Summit, about the town not being what it seemed... you were investigating my family the whole time?”
The truth sits heavy on my tongue. “Yes.”
Her sob hits me like a physical blow. “So what was I? Just a way to get information about my father?”
“Never, Poppy. Everything between us is real.” I try to reach for her, but she holds up a hand to stop my advance. “I love you?—”
“Don’t.” Her voice and body tremble as tears smear mascara down her face. “You let me fall in love with you while you were building a case against my family. You knew what this would do to me, and you did it anyway.”
“I was trying to protect you?—”
“By lying to me?” She wraps her arms around herself like she’s trying to hold herself together. “I trusted you. I was ready to give up everything for you.”
“Poppy, please?—”
But she’s already turning away, wiping tears from her face. “I can’t... I can’t even look at you right now.”
She runs, and everything in me screams to follow. But the sound of raised voices from inside reminds me of my duty to the club. To the truth we’re exposing.
The truth that’s costing me the only woman I’ve ever loved. “Fuck!” I roar to the sky as I rush back into the building to stand with my brothers.
13
POPPY
I’m going to destroy his bike. That’s what women do in movies when men betray them, right? They go full revenge mode on their ex’s precious vehicles. And since Axel loves his damn Harley and everything it stands for more than anything—more than me, obviously—it seems like the perfect target for all this rage burning through my chest.
Except, nobody in those movies mentions how heavy motorcycles actually are.
“Come on, you stupid thing,” I grunt, shoving against the chrome and leather beast with all my might.
My arms already ache from tearing apart Dad’s office an hour ago. The satisfaction of ripping through his files, of spray painting ‘ASSHOLE’ across his pristine walls in red paint, had felt amazing in the moment. But now, standing in the MC’s lot with my car stuffed full of everything I own, that satisfaction feels hollow.
I hadn’t planned to come here. Was going to drive straight out of town, leave all this betrayal behind me. But those damn road blocks—the ones my father arranged, I now know—forced me to detour past the compound. Something in me snapped when I saw all those bikes lined up, gleaming like they were mocking me.
This was supposed to be my big moment. My dramatic ‘fuck you’ to everyone who lied to me. Instead, I’m sweating and panting, barely able to rock the massive bike an inch while a group of bikers watch from the doorway with barely concealed amusement.What is this thing? A tricycle?
“Come on,” I mutter, shoving harder. My hands slip on the chrome, and I nearly face-plant into the handlebars. “Why. Won’t. You. Just. Fall!”
The growing audience only feeds my frustration. Hawk elbows Duck, whispering something that makes them both snicker. Even Stone’s lips twitch beneath his beard as he folds his arms and leans against the doorframe.
Great. I can’t even get revenge right.
I look up to find Axel heading my way, Lee and Cash flanking him. When they all stop nearby, Axel folds his arms while the other two just wear those infuriating smirks that only make my anger flare hotter.
“Come to watch the show?” I snap, giving the bike another useless shove. Sweat drips down my back and makes my hands slippery. “Because I’ve got to tell you, when this goes down, it’ll be like watching dominoes fall. One bike after another.”
