Page 116 of Undone

“What?”

“Roque. I called in a favor. We went to college together.”

“You knew him?”

Smith nods his head.

“It was a set-up?”

“No babe, I didn’t set up your friend and her husband. It was sheer luck, though, that she was marrying an old ‘friend’ of mine’s brother.”

“Funny, I haven’t felt less lucky since the day we met.” I duck under his outstretched arms just as the timer on cooker goes off. Steam comes from the pot and from me. I reach for a ladle, banging pots and bans. Open and slam drawers.

My heartache was on the front burner but while the background—I’ve been on a slow simmer.

He fooled me… again.

I thought he was my end game. Then Roque…. he made me feel beautiful, even desired again—when all he was doing was a favor. “I think you should leave.”

“I’m sorry, baby. So sorry.”

“It’s too late. A lifetime of ‘sorry’ won’t fix what you did.”

“What can I do?”

“Besides, leave? Talk. You owe me an explanation. I did more than just sleep with you—I gave you every piece of me. You had everything. All of me. And it wasn’t enough. You left me multiple times. Without a word; without explanation and you have the nerve to just show up at my doorstep again?”

“It was. It was more than enough.”

I can’t look at him any longer. Not when he’s still everything I want. I bend my head, staring at my empty bowl. “I can’t do this.”

“Luce,” he exhales, “my life isn’t black and white. There’s never been a woman that meant more to me. I have enemies… enemies that got close to you, while we were lost in each other.”

“What are you talking about? Nothing’s happened to me. I haven’t seen anyone suspicious around. Besides, Rog said the threat is over.”

“The threat to Devon is. But not to you. When you were mine—,” he closes his eyes, clenching his fists, “it made you an easy target.”

I throw my hands up in the air. “You didn’t think of that before we fell in love? Before you stripped my soul bare and drove a sword through my heart? I knew who you were—the President of an MC. I knew what that could mean. But I never felt unsafe with you… not until now.”

“I’d never hurt you.”

I shake my head, “Roque was right. He knows more about relationships than you ever will.”

His nostrils flare, “Stay away from him.”

I lift my chin, “Or what? You’ll break my heart again?”

“Dammit, Luce. This isn’t a game.”

“I never thought it was.”

“I stayed away for you. For us. That night, when I found you covered in paint… I was in a bad way. We lost one of my guys. I needed your light, angel. I needed to feel you, hear your heartbeat, and know you were still alive. That they hadn’t taken you too.” He looks so sincere as he crosses the space between us. I open the pressure cooker. The delicious smell of the beef stew wafts out. I close the lid and open the fridge taking out the bread rolls I was going to pop in the oven to eat with it when my foot catches the rim of Trapper’s water bowl.

“Shit.”

Fresh tears smart.

Smith takes out his cell and taps a few texts while I clean the spilled water. He helps himself to the bottle of Chivas Regal I had bought for him last fall but never got the chance to open.

---