Crunch.
“When they are dick-deep inside you before you get in the door.”
Crunch.
Lyla rested her head on my shoulder, and I froze. The weight of her skull digging into all the right places. I adjusted inward, reaching for clay, metal, fucking 2x4s, anything I could build a wall from to stop the pain from seeping in.
I knew they would move on the moment I moved out. It was supposed to happen.
But then why did this feel like shit?
The untamable heat of ice and sex hit me all at once.
Was I not enough for him last night?
Was I just… some fuck? To Wolfe?
Crunch.
“Oh damn, you didn’t come back with Threx. He was with that blonde before he left,” she said as if it was nothing. “So then, who was it? Nate?”
Wolfe knew how I felt about the club’s so-called rules on fidelity, and how I refused to be complicit. It was one thing when you weren’t labeled, but quite another when she slept in my goddamn shirt. Cheating was cheating, and I did not give a shit if their oath turned a blind eye to boundaries. I didn’t.
“Fuck,” a wind-stricken slow burn muttered from the other side of the kitchen.
I looked up at Wolfe watching his girlfriend snuggle against my shoulder, dead and unreadable.
Jessie. Kaden. A couple of recruits and club wives walked in behind him, creating chaos and chatter in the hollow I was trapped in, but I didn’t move. I just sat there on the edge of the counter like a hairline fracture, searching his body for some answer that made sense.
“Listen, asshole?” Thay’s voice echoed from the hallway. “I don’t give two shits about your excuses or where the fuck youwere. And your alibi about being home with Ava is a fucking lie. You want to know how I know?” He paused in the shadows, leaning into the phone like the goddamn apocalypse. “Because she was sucking my dick last night. All I can say to you is you better fucking run!” He warned, shoving the device into his pocket, and unlike the rest of them, clad in sweatpants and naked chests, he was still wearing the same clothes from the night before.
I watched Thay take a breath through his nose and turn slowly, as if he could smell me. But then again, he always could.
His eyes narrowed when he turned, breaking through the sea of bodies with a shove. My chest tightened when he stopped, staring at Lyla nestled into my side before shooting a look at Wolfe.
“You didn’t tell her?” he growled, but Wolfe said nothing, his jaw ticking twice before his eyes veered left. “I told you to fucking tell her! Shit. And you call me an asshole?”
Thay shoved Blade out of the way, nearly plowing over a couple of unknowns as he stepped between my knees.
“Get off her,” he demanded, shoving her away.
Lyla popped up, a rogue smile inching across her expression as she hopped off the counter and threw her ass into Wolfe. I gripped the ledge, watching her curl into his shape like she’d done it a million times and died.
Fucking died.
“You know,” Thay said, reaching into the front of my hoodie to grab my phone. “This shit only works when you use it,” he growled, the hard lines of his face running parallel to the way he held his body.
Everyone was looking now, but I didn’t care. This was why I left, not because of the violence, the crimes, or the horrible things they’d done, but because when it came to their rules, I always lost.
I met Thay’s eyes for a brief second before snatching the phone from his fingers to turn the camera on myself. Then, with my best winning smile, I flipped a bigfuck youand pressed send.
The room waited until his phone vibrated before erupting in laughter. But Thay didn’t care; he didn’t play games. He only stepped forward, closing the gap until I was straddling his hips. I held my ground, unflinching as he burned his death stare into me.
“Daph?” he asked, taking a sharp breath before the room fell quiet.
My stomach fluttered when his eyes dropped to my fingers, and then lifted them into the air.
“Thay,” I murmured, but he ignored my silent plea as his mouth swept over my middle fingertip in an unhurried roll before cocking his head in Nathem’s direction.