“The same thing you’ve done to me. You’ve ruined me.”
“It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”
“Shit happens.”
I laughed and turned my face to his. He kissed the laughter off my lips and my traitorous body melted into his.
Boom!
There went another piece of my heart.
Falling.
* * *
“You already have a boyfriend,”Deacon said, taking the phone out of my hand to read the messages after my group chat blew up.
Deacon and I were lying in bed, with our backs resting against the headboard, watchingSons of Anarchyon my laptop. I was wearing the blue T-shirt he’d tossed on the floor earlier that smelled like him, and he was wearing black boxer briefs.
Two giddy weeks had passed in a lust-filled haze since the night he had cooked dinner for me. We were still trying to work each other out of our systems. Which meant that we’ve had sex in the shower, on the sofa, against the wall, on my kitchen counter and every other available surface.
It was a Sunday and I’d spent the day hanging out with Ava, eating tacos and catching rays in the courtyard of Trinity Bar. Eden worked there as a part-time bartender when she wasn’t working on the murals she was commissioned to paint, and it was clear from the moment I arrived that she and Ava had hatched a plan. His name was Eli and he was a musician slash bartender. A drifter with a gypsy heart, he claimed, and quite possibly one of the coolest looking guys I’d ever seen. He had long, wavy brown hair and tattoo sleeves that even Connor, the tattoo snob, had to admit were works of art. Eli smoked skinny cigars and had a devil-may-care look about him. His boots looked like they’d journeyed the world and had stories to tell. In short, Ava and Eden had chosen a cool guy for me and he had asked me out for coffee at a record store which sounded like fun. The only strike against Eli was that he wasn’t Deacon. Whether I wanted to admit it or not, my heart already belonged to Deacon. I knew it but was still trying to fight it, even though my attempts were feeble at best.
I snatched the phone from his hand. “Asecretboyfriend I can’t tell anyone about.”
He let out a frustrated sigh and we watched Jax Teller shoot a federal agent. Secretly, I thought that Jax Teller, who used to be my ideal man, had nothing on Deacon.
His eyes were still trained on my laptop as more messages lit up my phone.
Killian: If it’s Eli, that’s a hell no.
Eden: You don’t even know him
Ava: He’s hot
Connor: Stop ogling other men
Ava: I’m only doing it for Keira
Connor: Stop matchmaking. It never ends well
Killian: I met him. He’s shifty.
I snort-laughed at the wordshiftyas I typed out a reply: Shouldn’t this be my decision? If I want to go out with him, it’s not your concern. Butt out, Killian.
Before I could hit send, Deacon snatched the phone out of my hand again and read the messages. “Are you fucking kidding me? You’re with me and nobody else.”
I didn’t deny it but still felt the need to assert myself. “That doesn’t give you the right to make decisions for me.”
Deacon ignored my protests and held my phone out of arms-reach, typing a reply on my behalf.
Me: I’m not looking for a boyfriend. And I agree he’s shifty. Thanks for looking out for me, Killian.
He pressed send and tossed my phone on the bedside table. It skittered off the edge and hit the hardwood floor with a clunk. I crawled over him and retrieved my phone, waving it in his face. “You’re lucky you didn’t break it.”
“I would have bought you a new one.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me down onto the bed, moving over to make room for me in the space he’d previously occupied.
We watched a sex scene onSons of Anarchy,and I chewed the cuticle of my thumbnail, trying to sort out what had just happened and how I felt about it. For Deacon, this was over, and the matter had been dealt with.By him.
