Page 18 of Living Without

The men all looked to each other. Pick said, “Josie would do it, but we want her to keep busy with the kids. It takes her mind off everything for a while, and if we asked her to call them, we’re not sure she won’t crack under the pressure.”

Christ, I had to remember the shit Josie had been through as well. It was lucky she had two men who had her back. The strength they had in their relationship would be enough to help her through yet another fucked-up situation.

Wished I was with Nary so I could help her through hers.

Hell.We’re coming, angel.

Talon nodded to Dive and ordered, “Do it. Go grab her now.” Dive stood and left. Talon then looked to me and said, “Go and get somethin’ to eat and drink. Take a goddamn nap. I don’t give a shit if it’s for five minutes. Just trust we have shit covered while you do this. We’ll get her back to you, Vicious, but while we search, lean on us as well. You and Stoke need to know we have your backs. No matter how ugly things need to get.”

My jaw clenched. This was what family was supposed to be about.

With a nod, I walked from the room just as Dive, with his woman, was coming back down the hall.

“Hi,” Mena offered shyly.

“Yo,” I mumbled and kept walking past them.

When I reached the common room, I didn’t have a fuckin’ clue what to do. I stood there and looked around. Only a few brothers were present and they were eating, talking. Women of the brothers were fluttering around, checking on everyone. Hell, even the kids were quietly playing.

Everyone held a solemn look upon their face.

They were feeling it.

Feeling what I was. The loss, the pain.

Nary meant a hell’va a lot to all of us.

I look to the car pulling up to Dive’s place in Halls Gap. I can clearly see Pick and Billy in the front with their sunglasses on. Josie is the first to get out, and then fuck me, Nary. Turning to Dive, I say, “Headin’ in. Got some beer, brother?”

Dive searches my face, a smirk on his lips. “Yeah, in the Esky out back.”

I quickly move around the house to the backyard.

Shit. It had hurt seeing her and knowing she was taken, more than when I knew she was available. She had come to me a few months earlier than that day asking what I thought if she took up the offer of dating Jerimiah, or as I called him, dickface Fang. Wished I had yelled at her and said it was a fucking stupid idea because I wanted her for myself.But I hadn’t.

I raise my upper lip at her and say, “What in the fuck are you asking me for? I don’t give a shit what you do in your life, and I wish you’d stop thinking I do.”Then I’d walked off.

Fucking hell, I was a cunt.

Back then, I thought she was better off with him anyway. He wasn’t fucked up.

It was impossible to be around her because every time she laughed, spoke, Christ, or blinked, I wanted her.

I wanted her to be mine, and I wanted to kill Jerimiah for ever meeting her.

Only a dude could tell where my true feelings lay, and as soon as Jeri-fuckin’-miah saw me around Nary, he knew my act was a front. In fact, he’d approached me before he made it certain Nary was off the market and asked me if I was gonna be a problem.

I sat in a coffee shop near Nary’s uni, wanting to make sure she got home safe, when Jerimiah, who I’ve seen sniffing around Nary for some time, walks in. He spots me and stalks over. I lean back in my chair and bring a smirk to my lips. He glares, pulls out the chair opposite to me, and sits.

“I’m asking Nary to be mine,” he states.

Slowly, I lean forward and bring my arms to the table. He stiffens. I smile. “What makes you think I care?”

He snorts. “Nary’s blind to it because you’re a prick to her, but I’m not. I want to know, Vicious, are you going to be a problem when I claim her?”

I clench my jaw because what I want to do is to punch the dickhead flat to the floor. He wants her. He makes her smile and laugh. I’ve never done it before.

I have no right to her, which kills me.

---