“You are not here.”

Sasha opened the door, and as soon as she saw me, she pulled on her mask and shut down. I refused to stay away. Particularly tonight. I was pissed that it had all come out like this. I wanted to tell her. I wanted to sit her down and tell her what was happening. My way. Not to be forced by O’Leary, and especially the way he’d done it. Did I feel like an asshole for keeping her in the dark for so long? Of course I did. But my only thought was to protect her. What had started as a job had transformed into something spectacular. Sasha was my future, and I was not going to let the bullshit surrounding us steal that.

After she left with Missy, the four of us sat and discussed the issue. Something wasn’t right. O’Leary was too cocky. He knew we were watching, he knew Carson was undercover, and he didn’t hide the fact that he knew. He’d thrown it in our face. Someone was bringing drugs into Hamilton’s and dealing. Someone linked to O’Leary. It had the same feeling of the shit that went down in Salt Lake. The only difference was that women weren’t involved . . . yet. Our time to figure it out was quickly coming to an end. There was only so much time Captain could give us before he had to take it further, and taking it further would mean the possibility of Hamilton’s being investigated, Drew and Sasha being interrogated, and the bar shut down.

So, what the fuck was going on?

And why?

The only thing I knew for certain was that I wasn’t going to get a warm reception turning up at her place. So, I got right to the point.

“Tonight, you’re either coming to my place or I’m staying here.”

She scoffed. “You’re joking, aren’t you? Did you not hear a word I said at your place. I don’t want to see you. I have nothing more to say to you. You need to forget me. Forget us.”

“Seeing us together today would have pissed off O’Leary. Austin, Drew, and I together would have really pissed him off. The three of us going to Salt Lake would have majorly pissed him off, so I am not letting my girl spend the night on her own when that motherfucker is pissed off.” I stepped toward her and she looked up at me with wide eyes. “So, you need to choose. Am I staying here, or are you coming home with me?”

“He’d come for me?” she whispered, her voice wavering.

My jaw clenched. “He’d have to get through me first.”

Her gaze dropped to the floor, and I could practically hear the argument she was having with herself. When she looked back up, I knew she’d made her decision, although she struggled with it.

“You’re on the couch,” she declared, before swinging around and storming into her house with her hips swaying and her hair flying behind her. She was pissed, and it was rolling off her in waves. She had every right to be pissed. We’d kept important things from her. I thought I was protecting her, but in the end I’d hurt her, and that was on me.

After stepping inside, I locked us in and switched off the front light. In the background, the television provided a soft hum and lamps offered a light glow. I unloaded my keys, wallet, and phone as I passed the kitchen counter, then I made my way into the living room. Sasha sat on the couch, one of her throw rugs wrapped tightly around her shoulders, providing a barrier between me and her body. Her stare moved from the television to me for a split second, before the television won and regained her attention.

I sat beside her and pulled her feet onto my lap. She stiffened and tried to pull them away, but it just made me hold on tighter. An uneasy silence rolled through the living room, both of us lost in thought and mindlessly watching the television. Without knowing it, she was calming me down. It took everything not to go on a rampage to find O’Leary and tear him apart. But the blonde bombshell beside me, the one that had crawled so deep within my mind, heart, and soul, and who had wrapped herself in her throw rug instead of my arms, was my only priority. Nothing else mattered. This was where I needed to be, where I’d always need to be, and where I was going to stay.

“I should have known it was too good to be true. The warning signs were clear as day: stupidly handsome, great smile, exceptional cock, life-altering bed skills, and could kiss to the point of bringing on an orgasm. Those men aren’t real. Those types of men live in my kindle, not in real life. I should have realized you wouldn’t be real.” She turned toward me and the look of complete distrust in her eyes nearly killed me. “I am so pissed off at you. I won’t be able to move past this. I promised myself long ago that I would never allow anyone to make me feel like I do right now. I am so hurt, Ben. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this hurt before.” That was when she turned around to face me, and I saw just how hurt she was by the tears swimming in her eyes. “When my mother left, that hurt. It broke me. But over the past thirteen years, I’ve learned that I’m okay. When life throws you bullshit, you have to wash it off and shine brighter. That’s what I did. Then Dad died, mine and Drew’s lifeline, and that cut me deep. That wound was one I never thought would heal. Then you turned up. You gave me something I never wanted, something I tried so hard to avoid, but you showed me it was something I needed. You gave my heart the chance to start over. But look where it got me.”

She shook her head and furiously wiped away a single tear that had fallen over her cheek.

Then she gave me her eyes. The defeated look staring back at me made me feel like I’d been stabbed in the gut and the knife dragged up to my heart.

“I’m done, Ben.”

“Well, I’m sure as fuck not.”

“Your alphaness isn’t going to work this time,” she scoffed, rolling her eyes, and putting her hands on her hips. “What kind of information did you think you’d get out of me by having sex with me?”

“It was never about my cock wanting your pussy, so get that out of your fucking head.”

She glared at me, and I glared back at her. We were going around in fucking circles, and I was getting tired of her thinking I used her. Sasha was not the kind of woman you used. Sasha was the kind of woman you claimed as your own, kept satisfied, and worked on giving her the world and so much more. So, I laid it out to her.

“You accused me of knowing everything about you. I knew about ten fucking percent of you. I knew the things someone could learn with a google search. I knew things anyone on the PD could know by searching you. What I didn’t know were the important things. I didn’t know what you looked like first thing in the morning, how you took your coffee, or how much you loved cake. I didn’t know how your pussy tasted, or the way you sounded when my cock was balls deep inside of you, or what you looked like humming my name when you came. And Sundays, fucking Sundays, Sasha. I never knew how incredible they could be with you beside me. So, no, I didn’t know everything, and I still don’t. I still have a lot to learn, and I will learn it, because we aren’t done.”

“I can’t do this,” she said, before turning and rushing down the hall and disappearing from my sight.

I leaned back against the couch, closed my eyes, and sucked in a deep breath.

This was beyond fucked up.

If I wanted to ruin O’Leary before, now he had this on his hands, and I would not stop until he was wishing he was dead.

Mess with my family, and you had me as an enemy.

Mess with my woman, and you had a death sentence.