Page 36 of Breaking the Rules (Roaming Devils MC 1)

“You don’t have to worry about me.”

“But I do.” She shook her head. “It doesn’t just go away if you’re not in the picture either. It gets worse.”

“I can take care of myself.”

She snorted and sat up. “With a needle in your vein?” She tucked the towel tighter. “You cried. You broke down in my arms. They shoved that shit in your body and filmed you. You didn’t want to be part of that. We both know it.”

“Leaving the club isn’t an option.”

“I know.” She stared at him. “You have to see the man your father is. He would rather you suffer than be happy. That’s fucked up.”

He took a deep breath. “Would you be with me if things were different?”

“Different?” She shook her head. She was contemplating being with him now, with things the way they were. It was completely stupid on her part. But she felt it deep inside her that something about him was different. Something about the way he looked at her. The way he acted around her. He couldn’t fake his emotions and during that night, when he’d been high, she’d really understood him better than any conversation they’d had prior to that.

“Yeah. If I wasn’t part of the club.”

“The club isn’t the problem.” She stared at him. “I don’t give a fuck about the club. You’re not happy. When you were with me, you smiled and laughed. You joked around. And anytime I brought up the club, you didn’t want to talk about it. Not much has changed except your happiness. You’re mad at the world, and I completely understand why. But you have to know that that isn’t the way someone should live their life. You can have the club, but you should also have happiness too.”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“What makes you happy, Ryker?”

He gave a small smile. “Do you really have to ask me that?”

“Why is the club so against you being with me?”

“Because you’re a distraction.” He swallowed. “To be a leader, you have to be focused on the club. Everything you do is for the club. When other people outside the club start getting in the way, my grandfather said it clouded judgment.”

“How does it cloud judgment?”

He took a deep breath. “If Young Blood kidnapped you instead of your father and the result was the same, there would be one fucking massive war going on in this town. I’d risk everything to protect you and defend you. That’s what my grandfather meant.”

“So I’m a liability.”

“Not to me. To the club, though, yes.” He wadded his food wrapper and stood to throw it away. “If there isn’t anyone outside the club that means something to us, then virtually, it’s impossible to gain leverage.”

“So none of you have relationships outside one-night stands?”

He grabbed them something to drink and came back to the bed. “That’s the idea of it. Disposable women. We only have sex with club women, too, so that’s another reason you’re a problem. For a woman to make it to a higher rank, she needs to have fucked at least the top three members of the chapter. That way she’s not necessarily favorited by only one person.”

“Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?”

“Yeah. But I didn’t make the rules.”

“No, you just live by them.” She sipped her ice water. “Would you ever ask me to do that?”

He glared at her. “No.”

She smiled. “Jealousy getting the best of you?”

He shook his head. “You fucking the top three members is not an option. Never was. Never will be.”

She was glad for that. She stared at him. “Why’d you stay with me?”

“Because you needed me.” He leaned back on the bed, favoring his side. “And maybe I needed you too.”

“I could have taken care of myself.”

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