Page 98 of When You Stayed
Spinning around, I pushed past him, heading for the door. Ford’s hand came above my head, keeping it against the door so I couldn’t leave.
With my back against the wood, I crossed my arms over my chest.
“I need to go get dressed. I want to get medicine, and I’m hungry.”
Ford’s sad gaze searched my face, as if he needed to see me up close to ensure I really was okay.
“Would you let me take care of you? Please?”
I hated how badly I wanted to curl into his chest and let him hold me. I hurt physically and emotionally, and his strong arms around me would feel so good. But as I tipped my head back and met his sad stare, I remembered that exact moment when I realized he’d been lying to me.
“What happened to Rodney?” I asked.
Ford’s jaw tightened as his free hand came up and gently tugged on a loose piece of hair that fell near my ear. “I killed him.”
I wasn’t sure why it mattered that Rodney died. Deep down, I already knew it, but part of me worried that Ford would lie to me again.
“Good. Maybe now I can have his job.” I tried to joke, but my voice came out broken and pathetic. I’d known Rodney my whole life…once upon a time I thought of him like an extended member of my family. Then he’d started being a jerk about the promotion and giving me that ultimatum. It was all planned…he’d played me, and I danced so easily. Dad had lied as if it were the easiest thing in the world, and Ford…he’d just not cared enough to share that part of his life with me.
“I’ll buy it for you, Rose. If that’s what you want, I’ll buy it and you can run it.”
I shook my head as a tear fell from my lash. “No, I don’t want that. It’ll be tied to the club. I don’t want anything tied to the Stone Riders.” There was enough mirth in my tone that he knew how angry I was with him.
“That club is in your blood, Royce.”
I lifted my chin defiantly. “And yet I was lied to by that very club, and the man who said he loved me.”
Ford’s chest heaved. “I do love you, Royce. I didn’t have the freedom to tell you. There was too much on the line, and the people we’re in business with…lives were at stake, including yours.”
I didn’t want to think that through because logic had no place among my heartache.
“Let me go to my room,” I deadpanned, staring over his shoulder.
“Will you please let me take care of you at home? Come be with me and Gus.”
Yes, that was all I wanted actually, but he’d lied to me. “Why do you want me there? I’m not going to fuck you.”
He gave me a nasty glare which nearly made me apologize, but I held firm. “You really think that’s all I want from you? After everything?”
I smiled up at him, tilting my head back. “Well, you don’t want to be honest, so, yes. Fucking me is all I think you care about.”
My hand went to his chest, shoving him away, and this time he let me. I escaped to my room with a set of tears in my eyes and a dull ache in my chest.
TWENTY-EIGHT
ROYCE
I facedthe wall as I slept or rather tried to sleep.
Every time I closed my eyes, I’d go back to the grove where Rodney pointed that gun at me. I’d go back to that moment I started running, stupidly assuming he wouldn’t shoot me. I’d slip back to that tiny second of time that I worried it was my life he’d claimed instead of some stupid dream I’d had my whole life.
Someone would stop me if I tried to go to work. I heard what Rodney said about them toying with me. They were watching my every move, and since he was trying to take me to the Murdoch Devil Rider’s, it meant we still weren’t safe. In the grand scheme of things, me wanting to run the Hollow seemed so frivolous. It was a dumb dream.
Just like being with Ford once was.
That tender spot at the center of my chest ached. It felt as if the bullet landed there instead of grazing my arm, and the longer I held off talking to Ford, or replying to his texts, the worse it felt. So far, I had withstood five days without him.
Five whole days where he’d come in and out of the house, checking on me, trying to talk to me, but I wouldn’t give him the time of day. Each night, I heard something hit my door, almostas though a head had fallen back against the wood, but I was too nervous to check if it was him. If it was, then that meant he’d been sitting outside of my bedroom door every night.
