Page 55 of Bitten By Zombie

Denying Sweet Zombie was way harder than Mad Zombie. Anger she could deal with and deflect, but raw emotions? That was a whole different situation.

“I know you do. I feel it here.” He slid one of her hands over to his heart which was thumping rapidly in his chest. “So why are you denying me those three little words? Do you not want to be with a man in a club or a man that isn’t whole so desperately that you’d deny your own heart and break mine?”

“No.” Her denial was swift. She would never let him believe that he was less than for any reason. “Your foot doesn’t matter in the least. You’re whole, Wayne. I know you see that too. And there is nothing wrong with your club. It’s a beautiful family, and only people on the inside get to feel that kind of love.” She was one of the lucky few people who got to feel it for a short period of time, and it would leave a void that could never be filled. Just like Zombie would.

She was crying again. She wasn’t just leaving Zombie to Sherry. She was leaving her new family and that hurt too.

“Then why, Rabbit?”

Heidi bit her tongue and said nothing.

Zombie’s body tensed under her hands. When he spoke, his voice had the hard edge it held earlier. The warmth was gone.

“If you want to leave, lie to me. Lie to me, Heidi. Tell me you don’t love me, you don’t want me, want this.” He looked around the room, but she knew he meant a life with him and his club. “Tell me,” he practically shouted, “and I’ll ride you over to Johnny’s right fucking now.”

She swallowed hard. The lump in her throat the size of a watermelon. “Zombie.”

“Don’t fuckingZombieme.” He let her go and reached for his jeans. He pulled them on, not bothering to even button them. “Tell me, Heidi. I need you to say it. Because if you don’t, I’ll cling to this. I’ll hold out hope and it’ll destroy me. So just tell me you don’t love me already and we can go.”

When she said nothing, his shoulders slumped and his eyes shimmered. He slipped on his cut. He was getting dressed to take her where she wanted to go. It broke her heart to see him so defeated. She was torn. She couldn’t leave him like this.

“I can’t.”

“You can’t what, Rabbit? Leave or lie?”

“Neither.”

He stopped tugging on his boot at her whispered confession.

Standing in front of her, he brushed a tear away from her cheek so tenderly before wrapping both palms around the back of her neck and bringing their foreheads together. “Then tell me you love me and put me out of my misery.”

“I love you, Wayne. I’m so in love with you that it hurts, but I can’t stay.”

He pulled from her personal space so fast, she almost toppled over.

“WHY THE FUCK NOT?” he roared.

“Because I can’t come between you and—”

“Don’t you dare fucking say Sherry.” His voice was guttural. “I’ve already told you a million times, there is nothing there. As soon as she’s released, she’s gone. She’ll never come between us again.” He finished with a plea.

“You can’t do that.”

“Well, this patch says otherwise. I can and I fucking will. It’s done. She’s on the fucking street. Matter of fact…” He grabbed his phone and started punching the screen. “I’ll have Outlaw collect her and take her straight from the hospital to whereeverthefuck she wants to go.”

“Zombie, stop.” She grabbed his phone.

“Why are you against this? I thought you’d be pleased.”

“You can’t kick her out when she’s having your baby, Wayne.” Heidi dropped his phone and her hands flew to her mouth. She hadn’t meant to blurt that out. It wasn’t her place. She was basically the other woman.

“The fuck she is.”

She heard a similar curse come through the phone on the floor. The call to Outlaw had apparently gone through and now everyone was going to know that she told before Sherry was even back.

“She is, Wayne. I’m sorry I told you, but now you see why I have to go.”

The room stilled momentarily. It was as if the air itself froze.

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