Page 35 of Full Throttled

“I don’t love you.” I cross my arms over my chest and my heart breaks.

Gregg stalks toward me slowly and I feel my muscles quiver. He looks like a hunter approaching his prey and for the first I’m scared. “Yes, you do,” he tells me, as he slips one of his large hands around the back of my neck. His fingers wrap around the strands of hair. It’s gentle at first, but then he yanks my head back with such force that I yelp. My purse falls to the floor. His other hand takes my chin, roughly, forcing me to look into his eyes. “You love me as much as a biker whore can love anyone.” His words cut me. I grip his wrist holding my chin, silently pleading for him to let me go. “I’m doing this for you, Baby. Why can’t you see that? I love you and I’m doing this for you. I’m sorry I yelled and messed up with the rent. I’ll do better. Please, help me do better,” he says, as his grip on me loosens. He runs his finger along my jawline to my ear. “I love you, you know that. I’m just a screw up.” He kisses my cheek, then my temple before meeting my eyes. “You still love me, right?”

My heart is torn, but I do the only thing I can. I nod as much as I can. “Yes, I still love you.” My voice is quiet, but he places a bright yet threatening smile on his face.

“There’s my girl.” He releases my hair and steps away from me. “Now help me pack.”

My heart is racing at the memory. Tears slip down my cheeks, mixing with the water from the shower. How can I be sure that Drake’s love won’t change? Maybe, we just spoke too soon. I just won’t bring it up if he doesn’t. The water starts to turn cold, so reluctantly I get out of the shower and get dressed for the day.

Once I’m done, I exit the bathroom and head back to my room. I'm running the towel through my long strands when I open the door and see a figure sitting on the bed. I yelp in surprise and drop my bag of toiletries. “Shit, I’m sorry!” Drake says, as he stands up on his crutches and makes his way over to me.

“It’s okay,” I tell him. Normally, seeing him wouldn’t have startled me like that, but after the memories resurfacing, I don’t know. I guess I’m a little jumpy.

“I really didn’t mean to scare you.” Drake looks sincere, but instead of speaking I just nod my head. My phone starts ringing again. I growl in frustration as I stalk over to my pillow and yank my phone out from under it. “That’s a curious place to keep your phone,” Drake teases with a chuckle.

I pinch my nose to keep my emotions from getting the best of me. “He just won’t stop calling me.” My voice cracks and I collapse onto the bed. I feel the weight of everything on my shoulders.

Drake takes a seat next to me. His masculine scent engulfs me and puts me at ease. I look up and meet his beautiful blue eyes. “I know, but I’m going to fix that.”

I shake my head, no. Drake can’t get mixed up with Gregg, especially not over me. “Just leave it alone. Engaging with him will only make things worse.”

Drake smiles. “I didn’t plan on talking to him. I meant, I was going to fix it with this.” He holds out a phone to me.

“Drake I can’t take this.”

Drake slips into my hand anyway. “It’s an old one of mine. I get a new one every year with the contract I have, so I just keep my old ones because usually they are still in good shape. Aubree has one just to play music on. This was last years, but still has a ton of memory and it’s like new. I activated it and put it on my account. Now you can just slip the battery out of that flip phone and be done with it and him.”

Fresh tears fill my eyes. This is too much. He’s always coming to my rescue. “Thank you,” I tell him quietly.

He reaches into his pocket again and pulls out my set of car keys. “Also, your car is ready which is perfect since you start your job this afternoon.”

“What job?” I ask, stunned.

Drake smiles. “At Surf’s Up, of course.”

“But I ruined that interview.”

Drake shrugs. “It pays to know the owner. Seth is my uncle, remember?”

I did remember that, but in the midst of everything I had forgotten. “Drake, you didn’t have to do that.”

“I know.” His hand reaches out and caresses my check softly before pulling my mouth to his. “But I’d like to keep you around for a while,” he tells me, as he pulls away. My heart does a happy dance, but the memories of my past are still there, nagging at me.

I give Drake a smile. “I’d like that, too.”

Twenty-Eight

Drake

It’s been nearly a week since I first kissed Zoey and I wish I could say that was long enough to soothe the needy ache to be in her presence but it’s not. I still crave her in the most common ways as well as others. It’s been a long damn week. Both of us had a hard week at work and my spare time tied up with Aubree, not that I’m complaining, but I can also feel that Zoey has placed some of the distance between us. I’ve asked her three times this week for her to join Aubree and I for dinner, but she always has an excuse as to why she can’t come along. Something is bothering her, weighing heavily on her, but I don’t know what it is and Zoey is notorious for handling everything on her own.

I’m standing on the job site. We are down to our last two weeks so it’s been busy. Halloween is just around the corner which happens to be Aubree’s favorite holiday, so there’s preparation going on for that as well as her upcoming dance recital. Londynn is holding a‘Spiders,Ghosts, andGhouls,OhMy!’ dancerecital two days before Halloween, but that’s only threeweeksfrom now. I need a breather.

Gunner, one of my employees and brother from the motorcycle club, makes his way over to me. “Lost in thought?”

I chuckle. “Kind of. What’s up?”

Gunner shakes his head. “Nothing really, just wanted to make surewe'restill on schedule. The electricity is on track.”

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