Page 20 of Deceiver

Moving through what is already a large crowd, I notice Fury. His eyes flash when he sees me, and he quickly strides through the crowd until he stops in front of me. “I’ll give it to you, woman, you don’t back down.”

“I thought you would have already figured that out by now,” I say, crossing my arms. “You remember Luna, and this is her friend, Remy.”

Remy extends a hand, and Fury takes it, shaking it before moving his gaze back to me. “How’s the leg?”

“It’s fine, I recovered.”

Thankfully, it wasn’t a bad injury. After a few days, I felt a lot better and was able to bear weight on it once more. All the cuts and grazes have healed over and are on their way toward healing.

“Night ain’t goin’ to be happy about you bein’ here.”

“He’ll get over it. Where is the beer?”

Fury gives me a look, but I move past him, holding my head up high. Western might not want to see me, but I’m not giving him a choice. I want to know what the club knows, I want to know if we can recover from this, and I want to bring Bill and whoever he’s working for down so I can be safe again. I can’t do that on my own. I need manpower, and Western is the only manpower I can think of that might just be enough.

Remy and Luna follow me, and we find ourselves a drink. I put some money in the collections tin, doing the right thing and all, and then my eyes scan the crowd for Western. It takes me a minute to find him, but when I do, my heart lurches in my throat. He’s sitting against the back wall, back leaning against it, legs spread as he kicks back, a woman on his lap, her mouth against his neck. His eyes ... they’re on me.

I know what he’s doing, he’s making sure that I’m clear on the fact that he will never take me back, and the more he pushes it, the more frustrated I become. If he doesn’t want me back, then there is nothing I can do about it, but playing games is for children. The very least he can do is have a conversation with me. Remy steps up beside me, and Western’s eyes flash to him, his jaw tightening. Oh, he doesn’t like that? Good.

I turn, not giving him a moment of acknowledgement, and smile at Remy. “This is probably not something you do every day?”

He chuckles. “No, it isn’t, but I don’t mind trying new things. Do you come here often?”

“Not anymore, but I have business to take care of, and, unfortunately, this is the only place I can do that.”

“I won’t dare ask what kind of business you have with a biker club.”

I give him a nervous grin. “No, I wouldn’t ask either. But, I’m sure by now you’ve figured out that I’m in some hot water, so I’ve already taken a dark dive down a rabbit hole.”

He nods, because he knows.

He wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t in trouble.

Luna comes up beside us, two drinks in her hand. “I’ll never quite feel like I belong in a place like this,” she murmurs, glancing around.

“Want to take a walk?” Remy asks her.

Cheeks flushing, she nods.

Remy looks to me, and I can’t help but smile. “I’m fine here. Nobody is going to snatch me in the middle of a biker club.”

“You sure?”

“I’m sure. Go.”

Luna mouths ‘thank you’ and the two of them disappear. I drink my beer a little too quickly, trying not to let my eyes scan over the man still sitting against the wall, the woman on his lap making the monster inside of me rise up to the surface. I hate it. I can’t stand seeing someone else on him, touching him, and the more I see it, the worse it makes me feel. More and more alcohol slides down my throat as I try to keep my emotions in check.

I hate that I want him.

Life would be so much easier if I didn’t.

I push through the crowd in a desperate search for a quiet place. I need to talk to Western, but there is no way I’m approaching him right now. I’m going to need a few more drinks before I do that. Even then, I’m sure he’ll see right through my bravado. I find an old, chopped down tree near Western’s shed and nestle myself onto it, sliding my bottom back until my legs are dangling. In the dark silence, my head clears just a little. My breathing evens out, and my heart feels as though it isn’t so heavy.

“Why are you here?”

Western’s voice comes from the darkness, and my head whips around to see him appearing, alone. My voice gets stuck in my throat as I take him in. Every hard inch of him. I want nothing more than to run my hands over his body, to breathe him in, to feel his mouth against mine. My lust is borderline obsession, but I’m fooling myself if I think it isn’t more than that. I already know it is. I’m falling in love with him, day by day, even when he’s pushing me away.

It’s killing me.

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