Page 10 of Break Me

And handpicked, personally, by my father.

Which makes him off-limits in ways that go far beyond age or reputation.

Sam’s always been a complicated man. A quiet storm wrapped in a stoic exterior. His family moved to Ashbourne when his father retired from the military. My dad, president of the club back then, brought him into our world as if he’d always been waiting for him.

One veteran trusting the son of another.

One day, he was helping out around the clubhouse and the garage, and the next, he was practically family.

Brotherhood works like that here.

It’s fast, fierce, and permanent.

I’ll never forget the first day I saw him.

I’d just gotten home from school. I was still in my uniform, my backpack half open and slipping off my shoulder as I walked into the kitchen, expecting to find Knox raiding the fridge or Pop sneaking cookies before dinner.

Instead, I saw him.

He was leaning against the counter like he belonged there. His dark hair was longer then and messy like he’d run his hands through it a hundred times. He was wearing tight jeans and a black T-shirt that pulled across his chest. Sixteen-year-old me forgot how to breathe.

But it was his deep amber eyes that ruined me.

They held a thousand stories. A thousand scars. A thousand things I longed to understand.

I remember thinking, naively, stupidly, that some people meet and something in the universe just shifts.

That’s what it felt like.

A silent click.

In that minute, I knew this wasn’t just some guy Knox brought home from the clubhouse. I knew he was someone special. That we belonged to each other.

Unfortunately, he only saw me as Knox’s kid sister—wide-eyed and too young. Someone to protect instead of want.

He never noticed the way I watched him. Or maybe he did and pretended not to.

Either way, it didn’t stop me from falling.

Falling hard.

Falling so completely that no one else ever stood a chance.

That was three years ago.

Somewhere along the way, things changed.

It wasn’t overnight or all at once. There wasn't a moment I can point to and say that's when it happened. One day, Samuel was just Knox's best friend—the guy who was always around, always fixing something, always treating me like an annoying little sister. Then, somewhere along the way, I started catching him looking at me differently when he thought no one noticed.

At first, I told myself I was imagining it. But then there were the little things. The way his gaze lingered a second too long. The way he pinched the bridge of his nose the first time we argued, like he was trying not to say something he'd regret.

Or maybe I've always belonged to him, and he just finally stopped fighting it.

Whatever the reason, the line he swore he’d never cross? We crossed it months ago.

It was the night Knox got jumped outside Murphy’s Bar. Dad was out of town, but the MC handled it fast. Samuel brought home a bleeding and furious Knox, who was pacing the living room like a caged animal.

He stayed after everyone else left.