Page 36 of Surrender (Angels Halo MC Next Gen)

With how quickly things had happened between us, I’d thought he was growing addicted to me. That maybe he would catch my sickness. But not shutting her down told its own story.

And it hurt.

Chance walked around the table, eyeing his next shot. From my left, the college girls were still giggling, but I was deaf to the annoying sound with my head full of chatter.

Maybe I’d cut her brakes. Anything could happen on a long drive to Oakland. Or mess with a gas valve in her apartment. She would pass peacefully in her sleep from carbon monoxide. No one would know. No one ever knew.

But I didn’t want a peaceful end for her.

I wanted her to hurt like I was hurting.

And I wanted to stop loving a man who would never in a million years love me back if he ever found out how warped my mind was.

That wasn’t going to happen, however. As much as I’d tried in the past, I couldn’t stop loving him. I’d learned to live with it, and now I was working on making him love me anyway. I could hide my crazy. I could live with faking it, as long as I had him.

Only, I didn’t really have him if he was still telling Berkeley “not this time.”

Because there was going to be a time when he got bored with me and told her yes. Not this time. Or the next or the one after that. Maybe not even for months and months. But he would eventually.

Maybe I’d save a few drops of her blood and put it in a vial for him since he liked her so fucking much.

Don’t show your crazy.

I pushed it all down, drank the rest of the beer, took my next shot, laughed with Chance and Kingston when he brought us another round of beers, didn’t break my pool stick over the college girls’ pretty faces.

I could do this.

Don’t show your crazy.

CHAPTERTWENTY

elias

I didn’t immediately feelthe change in her. It was subtle at first, but when she stepped away from my touch when I went to rub my hand over her ass, I knew something was wrong.

Leaning back on the stool beside my dad, I watched the people around her a little closer, trying to figure out what I’d missed that could have made her withdraw.

“How about I get you a vodka soda?” Kingston offered. He was back. Again. It had to be the fourth time. Everyone else was lucky if he stopped long enough to take an order once. But since we’d gotten there, he’d been showing our section some attention, and it had nothing to do with the sorority bitches at the next table taking selfies as they pretended to play pool.

“Nah, but I won’t turn down another beer. Or six.”

“I’ll be right back,” he said, smacking a kiss to her cheek.

“Easy, boy,” Dad cautioned beside me with a snicker. “He’s just being friendly.”

“You like it when other people get friendly with Mom?” I gritted out, glaring after Kingston. He paused at a table, nodded, and then kept going to the bar.

“Fuck no, boy. I would lay a fucker out if they got close enough to sniff her hair.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, draining my beer.

“You getting a Russian in-law, brother?” Uncle Matt muttered to my dad, who grunted.

“Am I, boy?” I shot my dad a look that had Uncle Matt throwing his head back and laughing hard.

“Fuck, kid. You gonna be able to handle Anya Vitucci as a mother-in-law?”

“I’ll handle whatever I have to handle.” Pushing to my feet, I left them still cackling like old biddies as I moved up beside Samara.

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