Page 54 of War
I share a look with my girls, and Lu crosses her arms over her chest. “You going to hear him out?”
“He won’t stop until I do,” I grumble.
“Why don’t we sneak out and get the test? You chat with War, then we make a plan,” Xanthe suggests, and we all nod.
“How are you going to sneak out?”
“We’ll find a way.” Lu smirks.
“Ora!”
Here we go.
Unlocking the door, I stare at the man I’ve fallen in love with. The one I pleaded with not to hurt me.
Opening the door wider, he steps inside, and my friends leave, throwing him dirty looks as they go.
“We’ll be back,” Lu calls out, but it sounds more like a threat than anything.
Time to face reality.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
WAR
I fucked up.
I thought I had more time to drop in the wholeSarah thing, but never once did I expect her to show up here. Our lawyers are the only ones who have had contact with each other, and since Sarah moved away years ago, I haven’t laid eyes on her. She looks the same as she always did, but I don’t feel anything when I look at her.
Ora sits on the edge of the bed, her elbows on her thighs, and her defeated stance makes me want to break something. Anything.
I sit next to her and swallow hard. “I was with Sarah for a year, and we got married just after I got arrested.”
I reach out to try and comfort her, but she pushes my hand away. The rejection hurts, but I know I haven’t been honest, and she has every reason to be furious at me right now.
“I married her mostly because I didn’t want her to have to testify against me if it went to trial because she knew too much. And yeah, at the time I thought we were in love,” I explain, not wanting to hurt her but wanting to give her the truth. “She was the daughter of a woman Prez was with, so she was around the club, and that’s how we met.”
Ora winces at that, wrapping her arms around herself in some sort of protective stance, and I feel it down in my bones.
“When I went to prison, she came to see me for the first few months, and then visits and contact became less and less. She said she was going to wait for me, but she didn’t. I found out that she found someone else straightaway and had him in my house, which I bought and paid for.”
Yeah, that was an ego hit.She showed her true colors, and I had to learn the hard way that you can’t always trust women.
“Prez went to my house and told her toget the fuck out,” I continue, my eyes locked on Ora’s beautiful profile. “So she moved across the country to be with hernew guy. And that was it. Legally, we are still married because she’s being difficult. But her name isn’t on anything I own. I’ll likely have to pay her out for my house, but I’ve put everything in my sister’s name, so she can’t touch it.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me this, War? You made me look stupid,” she says, looking down at her white-painted fingernails.
I want to tell her that’s how I felt when it came out she was Prez’s daughter, but I won’t throw that in her face. I don’t want to upset her any more than she already is.
“I was going to… I just…” I trail off, clenching my jaw. “I wanted to try and get the divorce sorted first. I had kind of let it go until I met you. After that first night I spent with you, I called Suit straightaway and told him to handle it.”
“Is that why she’s here?”
“I don’t know why she’s here,” I answer honestly and with a grimace. “When she walked up to me in the clubhouse, she said she wanted to talk, but like I said, I’ve had no communication with her, and I have no feelings for her. You’re theonlywoman I want.”
She nods slowly, lost in thoughts.
“Can I hold you now?” I ask in a low tone.
