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“Think you should know something before you all go running to welcome this woman with open arms,” Cash said, speaking for the first time. Everyone went silent, and his intense green gaze turned to me.
“You asked me to dig around on her. Find what she was running from. But Charleigh Lowe? The one upstairs? I couldn’t find one goddamn thing on her except for her place of work and her apartment here in Moonlit Ridge. Before then? She doesn’t exist.” His head barely shook. “Sorry to break it to you, brother, but she isn’t being honest with you.”
My spirit clutched. A fucking vise squeezing the oxygen from my lungs.
I didn’t know what the fuck possessed me, but I was on my feet,my hands planted on the table as I leaned his direction, words breaking off like shards of broken glass. “Then maybe you need to look deeper.”
Rationally, I knew it wasn’t his fault. But fuck, wasn’t sure I could handle it if Charleigh had been lying to me.
“I can’t give you that part of myself.”
Her words tumbled through my brain. Words I’d accepted, knowing she had secrets. How deep did they go? And how could I truly protect her if I didn’t know?
I was storming back upstairs without saying anything else, and the rest of my crew scrambled to keep up. The second Kane had the basement access closed, I hurried to unlock the office door and ripped it open, flying back down the hall and out into the mayhem of the bar.
It was crazy packed. A riot going down on the dance floor. There were more people here than I’d ever seen before. I started to cut through the crowd, shouldering through, the need to go to her so severe I could taste the adrenaline that pumped through my veins.
I broke through to find the girls all in a circle, dancing without a care. Trent and Jud were at a high-top table off to the side, watching over them, though none of us were close enough to intercept the fucker who came up behind Charleigh and put his hand on her hip, moving behind her like he thought he was going to rub his junk all over her ass.
I was there in a flash, winding an arm around her, sending the drunk fuck the growl of a warning as I pulled Charleigh against me.
Think he pissed himself scrambling to get away, and I breathed out the first real breath I’d had since Cash had given me the update as I wrapped her up.
Her aura all around.
Cinnamon and spice.
I started to sway, pulling her into the crowd, hugging her close and breathing her in.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
I was wrecked. Ruined. Destroyed.
Because I’d never felt so much relief than when I had her inmy arms.
Charleigh giggled as she looked up at the rage that must have been playing out in my expression.
“Ah, I see you do dance, after all. All you needed was a little…motivation.”
I buried my face in her hair and muttered, “Think you’ve becomethemotivation, Little Runner. You changed everything. Every. Fucking. Thing.”
It was about fifteen minutes after two when we all spilled out into the parking lot. The mood was light, everyone chatting and laughing, our women giggling from the amount of alcohol they’d slung back over the night.
I kept Charleigh close to my side. Close enough that it felt like there wouldn’t be any room for secrets between us. Like our spirits could reach out and read each other’s minds.
The lot had cleared out since the bouncers had ushered the rest of the crowd out at closing.
We all headed to the row of motorcycles that were lined at the front. Cash, Theo, and Kane swung onto their bikes and kicked them over. Trent and Eden and Jud and Salem walked to a blacked-out SUV so they could drive over to Theo’s motel where they were going to be spending the night.
Otto said he’d give Raven a ride home since her fucktwat of a date had gotten the hint that he didn’t fit and had scurried off hours before.
“Be safe,” everyone called as we said our goodbyes.
Otto cut a salute in my direction as he rode off with my sister on the back of his Harley.
I led Charleigh to mine, my insides rattling like chains, anxious to get her home so I could find a way to breach whatever cavern gaped between us. Reach into the places she insisted needed to be kept hidden.
But how could I blame her when I was keeping secrets of my own? When a million untruths were scattered between us.
