Page 77 of Prey

It was the same man.

“Roman?”

“Yeah?”

Saliva built in my mouth. He told me he wouldn’t lie to me. Not anymore. Perhaps it was stupid of me, but I believed him. I believed he would tell me the truth, no matter how gruesome.

But he also told me to only ask questions if I could handle the answers.

I didn’t know if I was capable of handling this.

Could I accept a man who did very bad things with some very questionable people?

I might not know much about being in the one percent of motorcycle clubs, but I knew that once you were in, you stayed in.

And Roman was high up in rank, it wasn’t like he could just walk away.

What was more, I didn’t think he wanted to.

I swallowed. “I made baked salmon and salad. It’s not much, but I hope you’re hungry.”

The look in his eyes told me he knew that wasn’t what I had been about to say.

He smiled at me, his eyes soft and tender. I couldn’t help but smile back at him, just as everything I had come to think of myself shattered into a million broken tiny pieces.

It was so loud in my mind, I wondered if Roman could hear it.

“That sounds perfect. I’m starved.”

I let out a small chuckle, tears burning my eyes, not because of who he was but for who I was now.

He stood and pulled me up along with him.

He started to walk toward the kitchen. I stayed where I was. He looked back at me. “Ryleigh?

It felt like there was a line I was about to step over that would forever distinguish between past Ryleigh and the one I would be from now on.

My heart skipped a beat, and I crossed over that line, letting him lead me to the kitchen.

13

ROMAN

Fuck,but I was beat.

The investigation into Dylan Brown was more of a nuisance than I expected.

They wouldn’t be able to tie me to Ryleigh’s apartment, I made sure of that, but I was sure half the cops on the precinct would have recognized me on sight, and so for the past three days, it was mostly me trying to bypass them in the building without being seen.

Ryleigh hadn’t asked me, though I knew she had put two and two together.

I was surprised she let it go, and perhaps that was her way of telling me she would be willing to not only accept but overlook thislittleaspect of my life. Forget that I was a bad man who had done a lot of bad shit, but see that I could be good to her.

For her.

There was also Kai’s initiation coming up, which depended on whether the kid succeeded in his mission.

I leaned back against the cushioned chair at one of the nightclubs we owned.

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