Page 2 of Chief's Addiction

“Hungry?” he asked, his voice low.

I bit my lip. “Starving.”

His lips curled into a knowing smirk. We’d had quite the workout the night before and before parting ways when the sun came up.

“Who the fuck is this bitch?”

My eyes widened at the woman storming across the sand with her narrowed eyes locked on the man standing beside me.

“Tonya, back the fuck off,” he growled, his entire body tensing.

My stomach dropped at how familiar he seemed to be with the woman.

“Is that any way to talk to your wife?” she asked sweetly before throwing me a smirk.

All the air rushed from my lungs as her shot hit its mark.

Wife?

He’d spent the night with me and…

I glanced beside me to ask Mason if what she was saying was true, but there was no need. I could tell by the look on his face that it was.

“Fuck,” he hissed, reaching out for me.

“Don’t,” I growled, yanking my arm away.

The surfboard I’d been holding slipped from my grasp, landing in the sand with a soft thud. The world seemed to tilt on its axis, everything I thought I had felt came crashing down around me.

“Uh, I’m going to get out of here,” I managed, my voice tight. I turned to Tonya and forced words past the lump in my throat. “I’m so sorry… I didn’t know.”

I saw my brother and Sierra rushing over, no doubt drawn by the commotion.

“Braxton, don’t be a stranger.” I was fighting to keep my voice steady. “Sierra, it was so good to meet you. Keep my brother in line.”

Without waiting for a response from either of them, I turned and fled. Tears blurred my vision, but I refused to let them fall.

Not here. Not wherehecould see.

“Cora, wait!” Sierra’s voice came from behind me, followed by her quick footsteps as she hurried to catch up.

Wait up?

That wasn’t happening. I had to get far, far away from here. I moved even faster and didn’t slow down until I reached the spot where I’d left my bag.

“Cora, I’m so sorry,” Sierra dropped to her knees beside me. “I swear I had no idea he was married.”

“It’s okay,” I cut her off, wiping at the tears that had escaped despite my best efforts to hold them back. “It’s not your fault.”

“What a complete fuckhead,” she began to fume.

God! I was so stupid. “Why the hell am I always attracted to the assholes?”

“Hey, no.” She gripped my shoulders. “Don’t blame yourself for his fuck up. He’s the one who lied. He’s the bastard who’s married. This is on him, not you.”

I nodded mechanically with a watery smile. My brother was so lucky to have found her.

“Thank you, Sierra. But, it’s not him that has me so upset. It’s...” I trailed off, unable to admit how easily it was to let myself believe we had something special. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter anymore.”

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