I was the lowest I had been in a long time. Times like this were when I missed my bestie Hayley the most. In the last five years I hadn’t met anyone that I clicked with the same way we did. Kat was my co-worker, but after that night in Providence and the biker fight she sort of wrote me off, and since then I didn’t have the heart to try and make new friends again.

Sitting on my balcony, curled up in a ball with a blanket wrapped around my shoulders, I let the sorrow overtake me. Usually not one to feel sorry for myself I was both pissed and sad. I shouldn’t be in this situation. None of that crap that happened five years ago was my fault and yet I was the one suffering for it.

Part of me felt like calling up Detective Sims and telling him I didn’t care if I wasn’t supposed to be in Providence I wanted to find my best friend. Why should I live in fear? Why did I have to be the one to give everyone and everything up?

Agitated I began to pace my balcony.

Not five minutes later I was determined to follow through with my choice. I didn’t care anymore. Nothing was as bad as being alone and forgotten. If the Outlaws still wanted me dead there was nothing I could do to stop it but my life was at an all-time low and even rival MCs wasn’t enough to convince me to stay here a minute longer.

Paul was on my speed dial. I didn’t remember adding his number to my I.C.E. list and had a sneaking suspicion he did it when I wasn’t looking. Frowning, I waited for him to answer.

It rang twice.

“Hey Rae, you alright?”

“Yep,” I answered curtly. “But I need to talk to you. Now!” I hadn’t taken that tone with him before, and it seemed to put him immediately on edge.

“What’s this about? Are you in trouble?”

“No, but you might be if you don’t get here ASAP.”

“Shit. Give me ten minutes.”

He was at my front door in eight. I opened the door before he had a chance to knock and I ushered him in, pacing back and forth in a rare display of temper.

“Do I get to know what this is all about Rae?”

I sighed, leveling him with a serious stare, “I’m not staying here any longer. I need to go home.”

His eyes widened and he shook his head, taking several steps toward me, “No way.”

Sorry? Did he just tell me no? “I don’t care what you say I’m sick of living my life alone. I’m done.”

“Done? What happened? I’ve never seen you like this before. Did someone threaten you? Bother you? Just tell me –”

I cut him off with a snappy attitude, folding my arms across my chest in agitation, “Does something have to happen for me to want to leave? Can’t I just want to find my best friend and live a normal life? Hayley is the closest thing I have to family. Everyone else is gone.”

My voice broke, and I turned on my heel, practically running through the door and out on my balcony.

I needed the fresh air, gulped it into my lungs as I leaned over the black metal railing, squeezing the bars so tight my knuckles turned white. My chest heaved as the first tears filled my eyes but I wouldn’t let them spill. Not anymore. I’ve cried so many times the last five years I lost count.

“Rae? I’m sorry. I should have understood where you were coming from. I forget sometimes . . . how young you are and how much you’ve lost.”

I didn’t answer him as I turned around, afraid all of the emotion I kept bottled up would overflow.

“Rae, honey?” he was right there, so close we could nearly touch. “You aren’t alone. Not ever. Don’t you see that?” he tilted my chin up until our eyes met. “There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you.”

“Sims, this isn’t the time.”

“Paul, remember?” his lips twitched with a small smile.

“Paul, whatever you think this is between us, it’s not –”

I was going to say it would never happen but he cut me off . . .

With a kiss.

***

I STRADDLED MY HOG, sitting as the heavy engine rumbled beneath me, staring up at Rae’s balcony from a distance. Whirling from my afternoon at the hospital with Bryce I left with only one destination in mind. Today I had been reunited with the brother I never knew I had. That shit was surreal, but for once I was actually sort of happy. I knew my mother was a good person so I wasn’t upset with her choices. Who knew what she had to endure with Striker? He was Bryce’s father but also a dangerous prick. Maybe she left him for my dad. Who knew?

A hundred questions floated in my head for Mack, but there was one thing I had to do first. Even if I failed and Rae rejected me, I decided once and for all that I wasn’t going another day without her in my arms.

No matter what.

So here I was, nervous as fuck, looking up at her apartment and hoping I had the courage to tell her how I truly felt. Sitting in the late afternoon shade, hidden off to the side behind a long stretch of trees, I rehearsed the words I wanted to say in case I got tongue-tied.

She had that effect on me when I was near her.

Consumed with memories of Rae I let out a shaky breath and tried not to let all my regrets and stupid choices convince me to walk away. In the background played a rock version of “The One That Got Away” from my phone. I wasn’t sure how that song made it onto my playlist, but I’m pretty sure this was some kind of sick joke from one of my brothers and really shitty timing.

Sighing and gathering my courage, I glanced up at her balcony one last time to see if she had gone inside. Instead, I was witness to some asshole pull her into his arms and force a kiss on her lips.

What the fuck?

Who was this motherfucker and why the hell was he kissing my girl?

Off my bike in two seconds flat I ran for her building and slipped into the reception area right as a couple was leaving. I barely acknowledged their look of surprise as I darted past and sprinted for the stairs, not even bothering to wait for an elevator.

That’s the fastest I’ve run in a long time, but I wasn’t short on breath. Oh no.

I was short on fucking temper.

Stomping down the hall to her apartment in my heavy, clunky boots, I pounded on the door as it swung open and slammed against her wall with a loud crack. The air sizzled with my anger as I headed right for the tall fucker who was touching my old lady. Without a single thought in my head other than he was going down, I swung a meaty fist and connected with his jaw so hard I laid him the fuck out. I enjoyed the thud of his body hitting the ground a little too much.

“Get away from my fiancé you bastard!”

“What the hell are you doing here Edge?” he was down but not out, his hand on his jaw as he tested it, groaning lightly in pain.

Good.

“I could ask you the same thing. Since when do detectives and RICO agents show up and make house calls? How long have you been coming here and making a move on my girl?” I loomed over him menacingly absolutely certain I would end up hitting him again when he answered.

“Damn Edge she’s single. You aren’t together and haven’t been in years. What did you think was going to happen?” Yep, he was going down a second time.

I darted forward to hit him again, but Rae jumped in front of me and slapped her hands on my chest, pushing hard. It was sort of cute how she thought she could stop me. Pissed but slightly distracted by the feel of her soft hands on my body, I growled, “Get out of my way Rae.”

“No. Who the hell do you think you are Peter Harding?” her voice was high and borderline screeching, but I didn’t care. I was settling this shit here and now. My girl. My old lady.

And she was going to accept it even if I had to stay here all fucking night to convince her.

“You’re fiancé,” I retorted, watching as shock filled her eyes and then blazing anger.

Shit, this was going to be bad.

“My fiancé? You bastard!”