Page 59 of Slayin Villain
“No,” she said, shaking her head.“You’re trying to keep one foot in each world.In each bed.”
“I didn’t ask for two babies,” I snapped.
“Neither did we,” Ember whispered.
That cracked something in me.I looked between them, two women who deserved better.Better than a bastard who couldn’t stop chasing the ghosts between their legs.
“Do you even want us?”Rachel asked, tears finally threatening to fall.“Or is this just guilt?”
“I don’t know what I want,” I admitted.“I ride to outrun it.I drink to drown it.And when I’m with you, Rachel… I feel safe.Like I can breathe.”
She blinked but didn’t smile.
I turned to Ember.“And you?You make me burn.You make me forget who I’m supposed to be and just feel.You’re fire, and I keep sticking my hand in.”
Ember stepped back.“Then stop blaming the fire for getting burned.”
“You both lit me up,” I whispered.“And now I’m scorched clean through.”
Nobody spoke.
Rachel shook her head.“I won’t raise my baby in this mess.You get one shot to prove you’re a man worth keeping in their life.And if you don’t show me that… I walk.For good.”
Then she turned and walked out the door.
I didn’t follow.
Ember didn’t speak.
She sat down, slowly, on the edge of the couch.The moment was soft and electric at once.
“What do you want me to do?”I asked.
She looked at me like I was already too far gone.
“Leave,” she said.
“Em…”
“I can’t be the girl in the middle anymore.”
“This is my place.”
“Leave,” she screamed.
I nodded.
And walked out.
Only this time, I didn’t slam the door.
Chapter 25
Rachel
I didn’t cry until I reached my car.
Not when Villain told us both what the club decided.Not when Ember stood in my peripheral, her arms cradling her stomach like she was already more mother than rival.Not even when he confessed.Again.That he cared about both of us.
