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“Good thing I’m nutless then,” she said without emotion, but he could see that her pulse jumped, that her lips parted, and that she breathed a little harder, a little faster. For a second, they just stood there. Neither speaking. Neither moving. Their gazes locked on the other.
“You remember last night?” He didn’t miss the way she licked her lips or even that her pupils dilated. He was attuned to everything that was Claire.
“What do you think?” she asked with a challenge in her voice.
“Given the fact you’ve fucking avoided me since you got here and the way you’re acting now, I guess I know my answer.”
She didn’t respond, just held his gaze, strength pouring from her.
Big contemplated bringing up the fact Mayhem told them about why she was really here, although he was sure she knew they’d already found out. But maybe he wanted to just bring it out in the open to break the ice?
He was angry with that motherfucker touching her, and the bruise on the side of her face—even though it was healing, thank fuck—made it harder to keep his cool. Big wasn’t known for his patience or controlled manner when it came to taking care of business, especially when who he held dear was hurt.
And Claire was someone he held really damn close.
Claire and he might not have spoken for the last two years, but she held his heart whether she knew it or not and whether or not he’d ever told her that. He’d be lying if he didn’t admit that he still wanted her—loved her. The situation had been so fucked up and too much time had passed between them. The longer he stood there, the more he was finding the control to not touch her crumbling.
“Why are you just standing there watching me?” She tried to have a strong voice, he could tell, but she shook slightly. Her knuckles were white as she held the wine bottle.
“I’m just wondering if you planned on telling me about your little prick boyfriend hitting you.” He paused a moment. “Or if you just wanted your brother to tell us. I mean, you got the shiner to prove it, came here, and spoke to Mayhem, but you were just going to ignore me while you were here?” He saw the way her face turned red and knew that little spitfire she housed inside of her was coming out.
Good. They needed to get this all out in the open.
“What I do and who I fuck isn’t any concern of yours, Big. You lost that right when you didn’t want anything more from me than some pussy.”
He clenched his teeth and forced himself to let her finish.
“I knew you’d find out because of the club, and that’s fine. But I don’t owe you any explanation. Not anymore. I came here to tell my brother since he’s the VP. I figured if anyone could help, it was my twin.”
He had his hands clenched into tight fists at his side. “And this fucking club. Don’t forget that you’re here not only because of Mayhem but because you know this club will protect you.”
A part of him wanted her to say, maybe admit, that she still wanted him, that she’d been thinking about him this whole time, too.
She swallowed, snapped her mouth closed, and took a step back. The glower on her face was intense, but he was feeling just as pissed as she was now that they were talking about this.
“Yeah. This MC is just as much my family as it is yours. These guys are like family, and in trouble, don’t people turn to their family?” She wasn’t shouting, but she did raise her voice. “I wanted the club protection in case shit got any worse.”
They looked at each other for several moments, neither speaking nor moving.
“If you would have just spoken to me like a damn human being—”
“Don’t go there, Big.”
“I wouldn’t have to fucking go there, Claire, if you hadn’t taken off two years ago, and you didn’t reach out …” He shook his head, stopping her when she was about to say something. This conversation had escalated pretty fast, but he’d expected it to. “I didn’t reach out either, so I’m just as much to blame, but you’re here now and pretending like I’m not here, like what I said last night doesn’t change anything.” He let that hang between them.
“I don’t want to get into this right now, Big.”
“You don’t have a choice. This has been a long time coming, Claire.”
They glared at each other. “But you don’t want to talk about that right now. Fine. We can talk about that fucker touching you and you coming here because you’re afraid. I can talk about that shit all day long.”
“Big—”
“You knew we’d protect you.” He cut her off and moved closer to her, invading her space. Instead of her retreating like he assumed she might, she came toward him, getting up in his space, too. Her anger was tangible, but he knew so was his.
