Page 596 of The Tempted
And I sure as hell didn’t imagine the way he smiled.
I couldn’t have.
I didn’t imagine the rhythm of his heartbeat that played for me when I laid my head against his chest or the way he looked at me like I was his savior.
Like I was an angel.
You’re no angel.
Maybe not.
But for a moment in time, I was his angel.
I don’t know what made me think back to that first night, but I remembered pulling up to the clubhouse and seeing Blackie’s bike knowing with every ounce of life in me he’d make it okay.
He’d take away my pain.
I chose to think my maker was granting me a gift by allowing me to recall the memory. I held onto it and I chased that memory all the way back to the clubhouse, hoping for a repeat.
It could happen.
Tell me it could.
Please?
I pulled into the compound, didn’t even bother parking the car and pulled it right in front of the Dog Pound. I climbed out of the car, slammed the door and spotted Riggs sitting on top of a picnic table in front of the clubhouse. He lifted his head and my eyes zeroed in on the bottle he was holding onto for dear life. His eye was swollen and a fresh bruise grazed his cheek.
“I should tell you not to go in there,” he mumbled.
“Are you okay?” I questioned, taking a step closer to him as he doubled over in pain clutching his ribs.
“Run,” he ground out.
I disregarded his injury and lifted my eyes to his.
“What?”
“Turn around and get the hell out of here Lacey. It’s a fucking war zone here—hearts are breaking all over the place,” he slurred, raising his hand from his abdomen to his chest rubbing the spot between his pecs.
“Heart,” he whispered. “What a joke.”
Listen to him.
I shook my head, swallowed the lump in my throat and forced myself to believe my heart and not my mind. I left Riggs to wallow in whatever misery he was succumbing to and walked into the clubhouse.
One day I will look back on tonight and wish I had listened to Riggs because the moment I stepped inside the Dog Pound I became a casualty of war.
I lost the war with my mind.
I lost the war with Blackie.
I lost everything.
Blackie lost too.
He didn’t even turn around to see who had walked in, too engrossed in snorting the line of cocaine off the bar to notice me.
Too busy fucking losing his battle with drugs.
