Page 86 of Property of Legend

I nod.“You sure you don’t want me handling it?”

He waves a hand.“You’ve done enough, baby girl.Go enjoy your fiancé.I’m back in the saddle.”

Inside, James hovers.Always just behind dad, whispering in his ear, trying to rewrite our legacy.I see it.I feel it.But Daddy doesn’t.Not yet.

Everyone’s so happy for me.

Everyone but me.

Because they don’t know what I gave up.

They don’t know I traded the one man who made me feel wild and wanted and alive for peace, silence, and a ring I can’t stop twisting.

They don’t know that every night I dream of rough hands, stubble and ink.A biker who once told me I was his.

And I can’t tell them.

Because this is the life I chose.

And I’m gonna damn well pretend it fits.

I still run into the King’s women.Sometimes, I think I’m even more polite because they’ve seen me get my ass whacked.It’s something I don’t want to reach my daddy’s ears.

Lottie’s voice cuts through the hum of the diner like a butter knife through meringue.“You’ll never believe who Becki was with last Friday night at the clubhouse.Legend.Again.”

I stir my sweet tea, eyes locked on the amber swirl in my glass instead of her face.“That’s none of my business,” I say with a shrug that costs me more than I’ll ever admit.

Janie leans across the booth, whispering like it’s the hottest news since the Derby.“He’s been seen with a couple of the club bunnies, too.Not just Becki.One of the Arkansas girls, Madz, came for a spell, too, said she shared his bed for a week.”

Well, Legend not only has his pick of King’s club whores in Kentucky.He’s got the whole damn U.S.of A to choose from.My lips curve into a smile I don’t feel.“Good for him.”

Lottie smirks, tilting her head.“You don’t look like it’s good for you, sugar.”

“I’m engaged,” I remind them, showing off the diamond Sam slipped on my finger two weeks ago.It’s clean, perfect, maybe even a little too perfect.Like the man who gave it to me.

They both eye it like it's the star of the county fair pie contest.“Well,” Lottie says, raising her glass.“To happy endings.”

I toast them, but my tea tastes like ashes.

Chapter 49

Legend

I swear off women.

Every last one of them.

After Sophie rips my goddamn heart out and leaves it on the hardwood floor of Paradise Falls, I tell myself I’m done.Cold turkey.No more softness, no more chasin’ dreams that don’t belong to me.I’m an anarchist, president of a one-percenter outlaw club, and I need to start fuckin’ acting like it again.

But fuck if it don’t gut me.

Weeks bleed into months, and I throw myself into the only thing I could still control, the Kings.I ride hard, drink harder.Run guns through the back roads of Kentucky like the devil’s on my tail.But no matter how many deals I close or how many miles I put between me and her, Sophie still haunts me.

Every turn of my bike, every echo of her laugh, every goddamn reminder of horses and horse racin’, which is fuckin’ everywhere in the great state of Kentucky, is like an ad with her face attached.

It makes me want to lose it.

The boys notice.

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