“Why so serious?”
I slide my eyes to the right and see Sunny, a club whore, staring at me. Her bright red lips are curved into a smile, and hereyes are a dull green. She’s beenservingSoulless Kings MC for a few years now, and it shows.
“No reason,” I reply with a shrug before draining the rest of my beer.
Sunny reaches toward me and drags a long, pointy fingernail down my covered chest. “Keep telling yourself that, baby.” She licks her lips. “How ‘bout we go to your room, and I’ll help you forget all about what’s troubling you?”
Sunny isn’t my favorite club whore, but I’m not stupid. Fucking is the one thing guaranteed to override my memories, even if it is temporary.
“You think you can handle me?” I ask, knowing that if I take her to my room, I’m going to be rough, demanding, and on a mission to forget.
“Bring it on, baby.”
CHAPTER 3
ROXIE
I tried so hard to put it all behind me.
“Have a good night.”
Shutting the door behind our guests, I lock it before turning around. I don’t have time to brace myself for the slap Jace delivers. My cheek stings, and tears well in my eyes.
“What the hell?” I mutter.
“The next time we have people over for dinner, try not to flirt with anyone who has a penis,” he snarls as he reaches out to grab a fistful of my hair.
Jace drags me from the entryway and shoves me to the floor in the living room. He came home from work in a snit, and I was hoping that time with friends would improve his mood, but apparently it didn’t.
“I wasn’t flirting,” I insist, just as his foot connects with my ribs.
Jace wasn’t like this before we got engaged, but it’s like the moment he had a ring on my finger, a switch flipped. He became possessive, jealous, controlling, and, more recently, physical.
Shame washes over me as I curl into a ball to ward off more kicks.
If my brother could see me now…
Shuffle is the president of the one percent motorcycle club, Limitless Throttle MC, and he’d be disgusted if he saw his little sister not standing up for herself. He, along with the other brothers in the MC, taught me better than this. So much fucking better.
But you ran from them, from that life.
“Then what the fuck was that shit with Bradley?” he snarls. “You were all over him.”
I search my brain for what he’s talking about, and the only thing that comes to mind is when my hand brushed Bradley’s when I handed him the bottle of wine so he could top his glass off.
“Jesus, that’s what this is about?” I ask, knowing I should just keep my mouth shut.
He stiffens above me. “What the hell else would it be about? Oh, wait…” Jace leans down and yanks on the strap of my dress. “Maybe this slutty scrap of cloth.”
The strap snaps, and he pulls the material down my body until I’m in nothing but the black thong and kitten heels I’m wearing. Jace bought me the outfit a few weeks ago when we planned tonight’s dinner, so I don’t know what his problem is with it now.
I try to cross my arms over my bare chest, but he kicks my arms to stop the movement. Bending to grab a fistful of my hair, he drags me across the room toward the stairs.
“Get up,” he demands after releasing me. I scramble to my feet, and he shoves me forward. “Fucking walk.”
“I’m trying,” I snap as I take the first step, then the next.
Unsatisfied with my speed, Jace pushes past me and grabs my arm to pull me up the steps behind him. “I don’t have time for your shit,” he snarls.
