Page 5

The silence that descends in their absence is deafening. I fold my hands in my lap, unable to look at Powers. Once upon a time, this man somehow became my touchstone. Now, I might as well be in the company of a stranger, but then I suppose that’s true of him, too, isn’t it?

“Was any of it true?”

I look up. My eyes are still damp, but my tears are under control for now, at least. Exhaustion weighs heavily on me, and I don’t mean the kind that you get after a couple of late nights. It’s the kind of exhaustion you only get when you’ve been living on a diet of fear and survival for years. I’m surprised I haven’t given myself a heart attack.

“What?”

“What you told me. The things we shared? Was any of it true? Do you even know what the truth is anymore?”

I flinch away from him, turning to stare at the wall. “You can wait outside. I can assure you I won’t be shimmying out of a window anytime soon.” My voice sounds devoid of emotion, robotic even.

Now it’s his turn to flinch. “Lil…” He sighs, moving closer.

I keep my eyes on an imaginary spot on the wall, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of seeing the wounds his words have caused.

His fingers slip under my jaw before he turns my head so I have no choice but to look at him. “Baby.”

I suck in a ragged breath.

“That was shitty of me. I’m sorry. My head is fucked-up—has been since the moment I realized you were gone. You didn’t come to me. I could have helped you. I could have done something.”

I reach up and press my fingers to his lips. “I’m sorry. I did what I thought was best. I could never risk you or endanger the club. It’s the only family I’ve ever really known.”

He presses his forehead against mine, and for a moment, nothing else matters. I’m just a girl, and he’s just a boy with nothing but the future to look forward to, one that isn’t defined by our pasts and our mistakes.

All too soon, the moment is gone. He lifts his head and pulls back. He picks up the packet of discarded forms and hands them to me. “Better fill these in.”

I wait a beat before taking them from him. There’s a pen clipped to the top, so I lean back and pull my knees up, giving me something to lean against as I fill in the bits that need to be filled in, ignoring the parts that are none of their goddammed business.

When I’m done, I hand it to him. “You can hand this to whoever needs it. I think I’m going to take a nap.”

He flips through the pages. Clearly, any privacy I’m owed is out the window now. “You missed a shit-ton of info.”

“Can’t imagine why.”

“I’m not your enemy here, Lil.”

“And yet, I’m not sure it feels like we’re friends anymore either.”

“Friends? You think what we have is friendship?” He laughs without humor before he leans over me. “Friends don’t fuck each other.”

“We never fucked.”

“Oh, but we will, my little trickster. Let’s see how many lies slip from your lips while my cock is buried inside you.”

Chapter Two

POWERS

I pushed too hard. I knew it the second the words were out of my mouth, but I couldn’t control myself around her. Never in my life had a woman embedded herself so deeply under my skin. I equally love and loathe it. The relief at having her back, knowing she’s safe, is tempered by the anger and fear that’s been eating at me all the months that she’s been gone. The not fucking knowing if she was dead or alive. I swear I woke up in a cold sweat more than once, convinced I heard her screaming for me. To say I’m not in a good place would be an understatement. Finding out that she’s not even who she said she was was another kick to the gut. I felt like I’d lost her all over again. All that time spent getting to know each other, and for what? The woman is more of a stranger now than she’d ever been.

None of it did anything to dampen how much I want her, though. She’s still the most stunning fucking woman I’ve ever seen.

There is something about the contradictions that gets to me. How she is so inherently sexy and yet somehow seems so innocent. I want to peel back her layers to find what’s underneath, unravel her piece by piece until I reach her center. I want to know just who this woman is and what kind of spell she has woven over me.

I handed in her forms, filling in some of the missing information with made-up bullshit. She’d written a fake name—ironic, given that she was already using one. I wanted to know how and why, but I also wasn’t sure I was ready to hear it. Something told me it was going to flip everything on its head and not necessarily in a good way.

I assumed she didn’t have insurance, so I listed myself as her payment guarantor with the hospital billing department while Neveah helped her get changed and Havoc arranged transport to the airport and flights back home. He’d also have to call and let the local MC know we were leaving. We weren’t affiliated with the Sons of Purgatory as such, but we had mutual acquaintances.