Page 30 of Ruined (The Knights of Ruin)

‘He’s got shit going on with the police chief, though. He won’t want to rock that particular boat.’

He wouldn’t. Fucking politics. It was a necessary evil, though, especially with Keep trying to get us legit. But that came with its own problems. Justin fucking Grant being the main one—though hopefully Cat being mine would make him think twice about coming for Annie.

‘So what are you going to do?’ Tiger asked without waiting for me to respond. ‘Move her in here? Can’t see that happening, bro. She hates this place.’

‘I know.’

I had my own plan about what I was going to do. Sure, I could make her move in here with me, but the clubhouse was no place for kids. Which left me with only one option.

‘Thought I’d move in with her.’

I hadn’t talked to Cat about it and I wasn’t going to either. No point when she wasn’t going to get a choice. If we wanted it to look real, I was going to have to live with her like a real couple would.

Tiger laughed. ‘Oh, man, she’s gonna hate that.’

He and Cat didn’t get on. He thought she was uptight and a control freak, and she thought he was a dick. Neither of them was wrong.

I shrugged. ‘She’ll have to suck it up.’

‘Yeah, I’m sure she’s going to have to do a lot of sucking.’ He gave another laugh and drained the rest of his beer.

I said nothing to the stupid joke. Tiger had his demons, and being a tool was all part of his don’t-give-a-fuck deal.

‘So when are you going to break the happy news?’ He slid his hand beneath the blonde’s skirt and she shifted around, flushing.

‘The party this weekend. I’m bringing her along.’

Cat wouldn’t like that either, since I knew she hated club parties. Yet more stuff she was going to have to deal with.

The blonde nestled herself into the crook of Tiger’s arm, her face pressed into his neck. It looked like things were only going to go downhill communicationwise, so I said, ‘Catch you round, brother...’ and got to my feet. ‘I’ve got a few things to do before Saturday night.’

Like getting a property patch for my best friend.

‘Can’t wait for that.’ Tiger grinned.

Then his gaze focused on someone behind me and his grin became wider.

‘Good luck, man. Looks like you’re gonna need it.’

I turned in time to see a curvy brunette coming across the room towards me, swinging her hips and giving me a sexy smile.

Fuck. It was Hannah. Blow Job Hannah.

She and I had an understanding. With her long dark hair and her delicate face it was easy to see—if you were looking—what I liked about her. She was my go-to girl when I couldn’t get my goddamn best friend out of my head.

Probably I should have felt guilty about using her as a Cat stand-in, but I’d always figured it was better I do that than cut Cat out of my life completely. Yeah, I was a selfish fuck. I couldn’t face the thought of doing that.

Cat was the one I turned to when Dad’s fists had been harder than the walls he’d thrown me into. She patched me up, listened to me as I raged, and she gave me no judgement that night I ended those fucking hits forever.

Not seeing her ever again was not an option.

‘Hey, Smoke.’ Hannah sidled up. ‘Been meaning to catch up with you...see if you want to carry on where we left off, if you know what I mean.’

She gave her lips a surreptitious lick, to be sure I understood.

‘I’m free now, if you are.’

Normally I would have been tempted—especially seeing as how it had been a week or so since that blow job and I’d been frustrated and on edge because of what was going on with Cat.

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