Page 75 of Acceptance

No hit could hurt more than those words. It pulls all the air from his lungs, and he just stares at her. How does he argue with that?

“The longer you sit here and deny this fact to yourself, the more time you give her to see this isn’t anywhere near what she signed up for. That you’re not the man she believed you were, and you’ll lose her forever.”

“Why do you say that?”

Stepping off the table, she walks towards the door. “Because deep down, we’re still just those little girls begging their daddies to love them. You had a chance to break the cycle like Colt did. Instead, you chose not to be a man.”

“How do I fix this?”

“I’m not certain you can.”

She walks inside, and he stands there. His eyes lock with the door, and he struggles to take in a full breath.

I didn’t mean to push Jamie to the side and forget about her. It was never my intention to make her feel that way.

“Whether I intended to or not, it’s still my fault,” Undertaker mutters.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Griffin’s Beach

Lex

Walking into the clubhouse, Lex sighs as Brock slams the laptop shut, and she shakes her head. “Guess I should have expected you’d all be listening.”

“Well, you did kind of slap the biggest motherfucker here and call him a lady when you ordered him outside,” Venom says. “Then slapped him silly. Kind of worth watching, babe.”

Jennings walks up and places a hand on Lex’s shoulder. She braces herself but looks at him, confused, when he asks, “You’re really in therapy?”

Damn you, Brock. As if it’s not embarrassing enough already.“Yeah, but I’m not saying anything that can be used against the club. Just high-level basics to help her understand—”

“I’m proud of you.”

Blinking, she stares at the former President. “What now?”

He smiles at her and gives her shoulder a squeeze. “There’s a lot more to what you went through than I think any of us ever realized. Shit you gotta work through.”

Is this a joke? Is he pacifying me because Colt’s in his vacated seat? He wouldn’t try and use this to take the spot back, would he?

“Uh… thanks?”

Moving to take a seat at a table near her, he chuckles. “I never really thought about it, but your reckless behavior was a cry for attention.”

“Yeah, I didn’t know, either, so don’t feel too bad,” she says with a shrug.

All eyes stay fixed on her, and she hates feeling like she’s under a microscope. Even though she’s not afraid to confront any and all of these men, it’s a different type of vulnerability right now, and she hates it.

“How long have you been going?” Shep asks.

The last thing she planned to do tonight was tell everyone about her personal life, but she’s the idiot for making a confession in view of the cameras. “Since the wedding that didn’t happen.”

“Does your mom know?” VP asks.

He’s the only one in the room who has a look of disgust on his face. It’s a look Lex expected more of when this finally came to light, but everyone looks surprised, intrigued, or indifferent. And then there’s her father.

“Yeah, she does. She’s come with me a few times.”

Venom gives her a small smile. “Looks like Colt’s the only one not surprised by this.”

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