“I heard about the pregnancy,” he murmured in her ear. Cole was never one to beat around the bush.
She sucked her lips in. Crap. She couldn’t help wondering if he knew the rest, too.
“Babe, you should have told him,” he admonished her softly.
She nodded. “You’re right. I should have.”
He squeezed her hip. “He would have stepped up.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah. I do.”
She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter now.”
He nodded. “Yeah. I’m sorry about you losing the baby.”
She looked down at the hands in her lap, and then met his eyes. “Thank you, Cole.”
He studied her, and she knew he was trying to read her, read between the lines.
“You happy now?” He lifted his chin toward where Max and Liam stood.
She twisted to look and caught Max’s eye. He lifted his drink to her. Turning back to Cole, she saw the concern etched on his face. She nodded. “Yes. I am. I’m happy.”
He nodded back. “Good. I guess. We all miss you, though.”
“I miss all of you, too.”
“Crystal, I want to ask you something. And I want you to be straight with me about it.”
“Okay.” She frowned, wondering where this was going.
“Did Mack run you off?”
She shook her head. “No, Cole. I left all on my own. I...I needed to leave. Put some distance between Wolf and I. You know?”
His hand came up to cup her face for a brief second before dropping away. “I know, sweetheart.”
****
A man sat hidden deep in a corner of the bar. He’d just had another girl look at him in horror when he’d tried to hit on her. He knew his disfigured face was terrifying. He had a fucking mirror. He didn’t need some fucking whore to sneer at him. He was contemplating cornering the bitch in the back hallway later and showing her the meaning of the word horror, when his attention was distracted by the flash of a patch on the back of a cut. An Evil Dead patch, the club of the man responsible for his damaged face. The man he’d sworn revenge on.
The crowd was thick, making it hard to see, but eventually a brief path cleared, revealing the man himself sitting at a table. Cole Austin, VP of the San Jose Chapter. He had a woman on his lap. And the tender way he was touching her face, she had to mean something to him.
She wasn’t his ol’ lady, and she wouldn’t be the major payback that was part of that plan, but she’d be a start. An evil smile formed on his distorted face. She’d be a real good start.
****
Crystal watched as Wolf returned with four bottles and passed them out. Cole kicked a chair out for him. Wolf sat, took her hand and pulled her from Cole’s lap to his, looping an arm around her waist. On one hand it felt awkward to be sitting on Wolf’s lap, especially with both Cole and Crash grinning at her as they sipped on their beer. On the other hand it felt so right, exactly where she belonged.
He made her feel like it was the most normal thing in the world, like there hadn’t been any split between them, like he wouldn’t be riding out of town later in the week and leaving her behind.
He seemed happy, grinning to his brothers, and them grinning back, like everyone was happy to have her back in the fold. But she wasn’t, was she?
A few minutes later, she felt a presence at her side and looked up to find Max looking down at her with Liam beside him.
“Hey, guys,” she said.