Page 16 of Zeus's Ruin

“You need to leave.”

“Hang on a minute, brother,” the Prez says.“I say she and the brunette stay.”

Brother?That’s why I thought this man was Zeus, that’s why they share the same features.

“No.”Zeus’s tone brooks no argument.For the first time tonight, he glances at me with pity and remorse in his eyes.“You need to get out of here.”

“They stay,” the Prez says, and Zeus’s shoulders deflate.“That’s a fucking order.”

Why does it also feel like a death sentence?Zeus inhales sharply through his nose and takes a step back from me.

Zeus’s double holds out a hand and I slip mine in his—more to prove a point to Zeus than anything.“Come on, sweetheart.Let me show you around.”

I let the club president lead me away from the crowd and I glance over my shoulder at Zeus.His face is a cold mask of fury.Two can play at that game.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Sugar

Six months later

“And I promise to rideyou more than my bike,” Scorpio says as he kisses me.A holler goes up from the rest of the club, and the entire Vegas chapter of the Saint’s Outlaws—who’re all gathered in the little chapel on the Strip.Elvis nods and gyrates in only that way that an overweight Presley impersonator can.

I toss my bouquet and wait to see where it lands, but the smallest movement of Zeus’s throat bobbing as he swallows catches my eye from mere feet away, and the flowers are forgotten.He claps with the rest of the club, but his eyes never leave mine the entire time, and they’re not full of pride or happiness, they’re black as death, and just as empty.

He approaches the dais, swarming us along with the rest of the club, and everyone pulls us into hugs.Zeus’s arms wrap around me, and he squeezes tight enough to lift me off my feet.My breasts ache with the pressure and as he buries his head in my neck for the space of a heartbeat, I understand what a colossal mistake I’ve made.

“Congratulations, darlin’.”His voice is thick with sadness, with longing.That can’t be right.He doesn’t feel that way about me.I mean, I’ve seen the way he looks at me, but it’s the way any of the hot-blooded club brothers look at anyone with a pussy, like he wants to own it, conquer it, make it his and only his.But Zeus had plenty of time, an overabundance of opportunity, and never made a move.I would have been his, a million times over.If he’d asked, I would have made him my whole world, but he never said a fucking word.

I pull away, just an inch, so I can read his expression as I look up into those dark eyes, but the moment is stolen from us, like it always is.

“Jesus, brother, quit pawing at my wife.”

That word hangs heavy between us, suddenly the cheap ring on my finger and the scratchy veil on my head are a little too heavy a sentence.I laugh, but there’s no humor in it.My skin prickles under the leather jacket, and the clip holding my veil in place digs into my scalp as Scorpio throws his arm around me, the weight on my shoulders pulling at the wretched tulle.

“Can you blame me when she looks like that?”Zeus offers his hand and Scorpio steps away from me to shake it.The two men embrace with enthusiastic pats on the back that are entirely too audible.

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