Page 49 of Property of Legend

“You think she’s the one?Wait till she finds out what we buried behind the chapel, Legend.You think she’ll still kiss you with that dirt on your hands?”

“Becki, don’t you dare.”

She trembles, then sneers.“She’s gonna leave you.Just like your momma.Just like all the rest.”

Before I can say another word, Oaks rounds the corner, catching the tail end of that emotional sucker punch.He doesn’t say much, just takes it in like he always does.

“Becki,” he says evenly.“Go cool off before you regret more than you already should.”

She stares between us, burning holes into my chest.But finally, she spins on her heel and disappears into the dark like smoke.

Oaks watches her go, then looks at me.“You good?”

“Fuck if I know,” I mutter, dragging a hand down my face.

He grunts.“She’s in love with you, brother.And women like that?They don’t walk away clean.”

“I know,” I say quietly.And I do.I just hoped it wouldn’t get this messy.

I lean on the porch rail, staring into the dark.The fight outside’s quiet for now, but inside?It’s a warzone.One woman’s gone.Another’s waiting upstairs.And I’m starting to wonder if I’m the one who’s poison.

“What you gonna do about Brittany and Bethany?”I ask, changin’ the subject to Oaks’ love life.No reason I should seem like the only one by the balls.

“Fuck, thought about takin’ Brittany up on her offer tonight.”

“That ain’t you man,” I say.It’s the truth.Oaks is steady.He’s married.Unhappy or not.

“Can’t leave Bethany, and you know why,” he says through his teeth.

“I know.The club owes you one, too.You piss her off, and we’ll all pay.”

“It’s almost like the girl was sent to test me…”

“Now, that’s something to think on another day.”

“You sayin’ a young, hot thing like her couldn’t want me on her own?”

“Oaks you’re older than me, she’s twenty.She probably wanted the first guy the locked eyes with when she walked into The Lockup.Lottie shouldn’t have brought her.Fuck… Oaks, we ran the Sinners out of Hell.I’ve gotta get back to celebrating man.”

We bump fists.

But Oaks stops me.“I’m goin’ over there.”

“Where?”

“To Britnany’s.”

“It’s three in the mornin’… look.Fuck, I don’t want to know.I don’t give a god damn.Just make sure Bethany doesn’t catch wind.Ya here.That’s an order.”

When I make it back upstairs, Sophie’s awake, wrapped in the blanket, eyes searching my face like she already knows.

“That was her,” she says.

I nod.“Yeah.”

She looks down, then away.“So, you bikers all cheat?I’m the other woman now.”

I kneel beside the bed, take her hand in mine, and make her hear me.“No.You’re the only one that’s evermattered.She was a mistake I didn’t end soon enough.That’s on me.”

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