Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 56709 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56709 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
“You’ve never really dated. You’ve never had girlfriends. You’ve never been in love.”
Kayla gasps. “Ryan!”
“It’s the truth,” I say calmly. “Before you, I didn’t think I’d ever settle down. I stopped even trying to date years ago.”
“But you risked everything for Kayla,” Ryan says. “Our friendship. Your place in the club.”
“Yes.”
“So choose, Kai,” he says fiercely. “Kayla or me. I deserve that much. You’ve been intimate with my little sister. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had. I deserve an honest choice.”
I walk around the bed, standing near Kay, near the door. I’m ready to punch a hole in the wall. It’s my instinct. Those forest fights… I was never allowed to cry or show anything except teeth and blood, the will to keep going, and the will to hurt and silently suffer. Then Kay came along and cracked open my heart, my hope.
“An honest choice,” I say quietly.
Ryan nods.
Don’t make me, I almost say, but he’s right. He deserves better than that. He deserves the truth.
“Kayla,” I tell him, but I can’t wait for his reaction. Turning, I push the door open and stride into the hallway. I can’t believe I just did it. I ended the best friendship I’ve ever had. There’s no going back now. There’s nowhere to run and nothing to do except ride and get away. Too many fucking demons chasing me—demons chasing demons.
“Kai, where you heading?” Jimmy calls over.
I climb onto my bike, start the engine, speed out of the lot, and down the road, kicking up dust. I don’t know where I’m heading, except it has to be away from here. It has to be away from what I just did.
As I pick up the speed, I shout into the wind. I shout like I think my voice will crack the road down the middle and open a pit. Let me fall in. Let me forget. I want a life with Kay. I hunger for it more than anything, and I meant my choice. I choose her, but I’ve never imagined my life without Ryan. It hurts. It hurts badly.
I keep riding, not even thinking about where I’m going. Maybe the bottom of a goddamned ditch. That’s where I belong for doing this. It’s the only place that will stop me from doing it again. Kay belongs to me. Nobody, not even her blood or my best friend, can change my mind, but the pain is brutal.
So maybe that’s the only way. I pick up speed, surging down the long, lonely roads of our little piece of America. The wind rushes against my face. I’m not wearing my helmet. On the side of the road, hell, it’s like the phantoms of the old man and Ryan are looking at me. The old man who watched us fight and taught us, and now I’m here wanting his baby girl so badly I know only a bullet could stop me.
Faster, I push the gas, outrunning Ryan, but he appears ahead of me. I’m not losing it. I can’t really see him. It’s just all this agony inside, twisting me up. I blink, and he’s still there, but he’s a teenager now. He’s got that cocky smirk on his face. People said we could’ve been brothers. We had the same smile.
“I knew you’d betray me, Kai. I knew you’d grow up to be a bad guy.”
I push even harder, wishing there were more Bribones in the town so I could let out some of the rage. I’d take more than kneecaps this time. I’d take the pain out on them. Maybe I should keep going. Push past one-twenty, one-forty. Keep on and on until I hit something, and that cocky smirk gets wiped off my face.
Then another phantom appears. This is a feeling, not a vision, not madness. It’s the sensation of my woman’s arms wrapped around my waist, just like she has been the whole trip. I imagine her pushing herself against me. I remember each sweet moment we’ve ever shared, from the banter at the gas station to that golden field in Nebraska. With Kay in my thoughts, I slow down and bring the bike to a stop at the side of the road.
I’m panting hard, and there are tears in my eyes.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Ryan
“You’re probably wondering why I’ve gathered you all here today,” I say, looking across the main function room of the clubhouse. All the top-level men are here. Jimmy stands off to the side, leaning against the wall, watching me closely. Gathered here today… It sounds like a wedding already.
“Maybe you’ve heard the rumors,” I go on, “or maybe you haven’t, but I’ll set the record straight regardless. It’s true. Kai is with my sister, Kayla.”
I wait for that news to settle in. Dad always used to talk about never rushing ahead too fast as a leader. Before he passed, he gave me a lot of lessons, enough to set me up with what I’d need to lead this club into the future. The whole time he was dying, he kept it to himself. Man, life’s a bitch.