Because I cared a fucking lot .
The best night of my life. The best day after. And the best week, ever. Two weeks really .
Probably the best two weeks in the history of the world. Up until the minute she disappeared anyway. Poof. Just like that she was gone .
We hadn’t gotten out of bed for days other than to eat and shower. I’d been crazy for her. Head over heels. Gushing like a fucking girl .
And she’d ghosted me .
Me. All 6’3” inches of solid muscle, slowly collecting ink. Girls threw themselves at me on the regular, even with my scars. But her ?
She turned tail and ran .
I was the rare guy who rode and still opened doors for a lady. Well, Dev, Donnie and Jack did too, but only once they met their ladies. Before that, they hadn’t exactly been gentlemanly .
I’d grown up doing it .
I still liked to raise hell though. I just didn’t do it around women. Not even the club skanks, who I felt worried for more than anything .
You had to wonder where their mamas were .
I blew the air out from between my lips .
Yeah, so she’d ditched me, and right before I did something crazy. Like propose. Not even joking, I’d been about to .
Yeah, after two weeks .
I’d been on the brink of asking Becky to marry me. Seriously. Not a crazed, sex-fueled thing, though the sex had been insanely fucking good .
So good, I hadn’t touched a woman since. I hadn’t even thought about it. If I couldn’t have paradise, I didn’t see the fucking point .
No word from her. Not even Kaylie knew where she was. And Mae wouldn’t tell me. In fact, she had stopped serving me altogether .
I still went in though. And drove past it multiple times a day. I always offered to pick up orders for the club .
Not even a hint about where Becky was. Or why she had left. And not knowing had kept me up nights. Just about all the nights. I’d spent every damn night staring at the ceiling since she disappeared .
What the hell had I done to upset her? Did she get spooked by how head over heels I was? Or maybe she just didn’t feel the same way ?
The crazy thing was, I was sure she did. I’d seen the same goofy love struck look in her eyes as I had in mine. We were two fools, that much was certain. Cooing over each other and talking in baby talk. We were sickening .
But there was no way she was faking that. She loved me, or she had while we were together. I knew it without a doubt .
Maybe… just maybe… she didn’t want to love me. So she put the breaks on, even though she cared about me so much .
Maybe it was because of what I was .
Who I was .
A dirty, fucking outlaw biker .
“Okay, ten more minutes. Have a shot .”
I ignored the shot Callaway poured for me and grabbed the bottle. Glug, glug motherfucker. I was getting shit-faced tonight .
Just like I did most nights .
Every fucking night since she left .
Chapter Two
Becky
“I s she sleeping ?”
Mae held her fingers up to her lips, indicating that she was .
My perfect little Petunia .
It wasn’t the baby’s real name of course, that was Eliza. But for some reason, Petunia had stuck .
I led Mae out of the tiny bedroom into the main room of the dinky apartment I’d been staying in. Calling it a one bedroom was a joke, but there was a quiet place for the baby to sleep, and it had been home for nearly a year .
The only person on the planet who knew I was here was Mae. She was more than just my aunt. She was pretty much my entire family. The best one I could ask for too .
After my folks died, Aunt Mae had taken me in. We’d been close ever since I was a little girl. She’d always doted on me. Mae didn’t have kids of her own and was more than happy to shower me with love every little chance she got .
She’d taken me in so I could finish high school. She’d even given me a job so I could save for college .
Of course, that particular dream had flown straight out the window after I got together with Whiskey .
It was the dumbest, and very best, thing I ever did .
Dumb, because I knew I’d get my heart broken. Whiskey was gorgeous and a core member of the local motorcycle club up where Mae’s diner was. He was sweet too, even though he looked like a bad ass. Girls flocked to him like bees to honey .
He was literally swimming in easy ass .