I reach out and rest my hand on her knee. “I hate to break it to you, baby, but that girl still exists. You’ve just hidden her away and now she’s dying to break free.”
Roni rolls her eyes and looks back toward the kitchen, not wanting to face me at all. “You’ve killed every boyfriend I’ve had over the past twelve years. At a certain point—I just stopped trying.”
I scoff. “Come on,” I laugh. “Give me credit. I only killed one of them because he was an ass and doing you wrong. The rest were pussy enough to run at the first sign of a threat. If they had the balls to stand up to me, sure, maybe I would have let them hang around a little while longer.”
Her eyes flash to mine. “What are you talking about? Every single one of them disappeared, and I never heard from them again—not even their families heard from them. Don’t lie to me. You killed them.”
“I swear,” I tell her. “Seven years ago. I slaughtered one like the fucking pig that he was. Wearing my fucking mark while fucking my girl and doing her wrong. I wasn’t going to stand by that shit.”
“What are you talking about?” Roni demands. “I never dated any Widows.”
“Yeah, baby,” I laugh. “You sure fucking did. Edmond Travers. Once I found you in Bellevue Springs, I put him in your life to keep an eye on you. Only he snuck his way into your bed and your heart and then fucked every hooker that came through my clubhouse. I wasn’t going to stand for it, so I waited until he fucked-up one of my deals and ended him. I didn’t realize that you’d fallen for him. If I knew, I would have only fucked him up a bit.”
Roni sucks in a gasp, her eyes finally coming back to mine, but she slowly starts shaking her head. “I … I wasn’t in love with him. With any of them, actually.”
I narrow my eyes at her. “Then what’s the problem?”
“I just … you can’t just go around killing whoever you want.”
“And why not?” I question, pulling her down and rolling on top of her, bracing myself with my elbow to not squish her. I dip my head into her neck. “You just did and don’t try to deny how good it felt,” I say, grinding down against her and loving the way she squirms beneath me. “You fucking loved it. It made you feel alive. I saw it in your eyes. You, baby girl, are just like me. Right down to the bone.”
Roni presses her hands against my chest and forces me back, putting a bit of space between us. “You’re an asshole.”
“Never claimed that I wasn’t.”
She keeps pushing until I’m completely off her, and she slips off my bed. “I have to get some air.”
I nod, watching as she gets up from the bed and takes two steps toward my dresser. She opens the top drawer and pulls one of my shirts over her head. It falls right to her knees, and I struggle with the devastation of not being able to see her body opposed to the joy that rushes through me at seeing her in my clothes.
She makes her way to the door, only glancing back at me once, but the look in her eyes speaks volumes.
I stay where I am as she walks out of the bunker. If she were running, she’d have worn something else and gone for her shoes or the car keys, but as it is, I feel that I can trust her and some part of me is screaming that she doesn’t want to leave. She wants to stay right here and see where this roller coaster is going to lead.
Ten minutes turn to twenty, and when the thirty-minute mark starts approaching and she’s not back, I climb out of bed and go after her. It’s nearing the middle of the afternoon, and I don’t doubt that she’s hungry. The Roni I knew back in high school could eat a fucking horse and still have room for dessert, not to mention the way she used to throw back coffee. She’s got to be dying for one of those.
I make my way out of the bunker, and the first thing I notice is the empty space on the floor and the lack of blood spread out over the concrete. The boys must have come to get rid of that dickhead’s body. Usually, they would have stopped by to let me know, but judging from the timeframe, I would have been balls deep with Roni screaming my name while they were here. Maybe it’s a good thing they didn’t stop to chat.
I glance around the warehouse and raise my brow as I look out the back entrance to where sunlight is streaming in, and the big roller door is wide open for the world to see.