A nuclear cloud explodes in my gut, mushrooming into my chest and then exploding out the top of my head as I picture her on some guy’s lap, the table filled with bottle service, best liquors available, Hannah wasted and trying to forget about me by getting under another guy.

“I’ll fuckin’ kill him,” I growl, trying to get at the stairs.

Andy and the bouncer hold me back, Andy warning me, “Call back your dogs, Tobias, call ‘em back!” He asks the guy, his voice urgent as they struggle to hold me, “Is she…on anyone?”

“Not yet,” he says.

I roar, “Not ever!”

Andy groans, “Fuck,” as I push them out of my way, taking the stairs two at a time, some three, while I grip the hand rail to launch myself to the balcony level.

My boots land hard, weight coming down so heavy the ground vibrates.

Yep. I was right.

Four tables down, Hannah’s table is loaded with the best vodkas, stacks of glasses, mixers and freshly cut limes.

The men they’re with are pretty-boys, model types, muscular and dressed in style. Fuck if I’m gonna let this happen. Sofia’s got her back to me, laughing at something. That must be Emma whose brown eyes are getting larger as she sees me coming. She leans over and quietly warns Hannah.

Pale green eyes flash to lock onto me as Hannah’s jaw clenches. Her long spine shoots up. Godammit she’s beautiful. My breath gets knocked right outta my chest as I make my way toward her.

All three guys have realized who I am, and now they’re rising up to form a wall with amazing speed, glancing from me to Andy.

Sizing us up. Ready to fight.

“You’re not getting near her,” one growls.

I’m standing here panting with jealousy, fists by my side, mind spinning, making no sense at all. I’m torched at the sight of her, everything ashes. She’s my angel. I can’t believe I’m looking at her. Never thought she’d be in the same city with me again, much less six feet away staring at me like I’m a piece of shit.

I can’t take it.

I need her.

I’ve gotta make things right.

She hates my guts.

I can see it in her gorgeous eyes.

They were so gentle with me, and now they’re spikes of pain. “Hannah,” I rasp.

My hesitation gives them an advantage. The tallest of the three clocks me with a punch that ain’t bad. But it’s not good enough either, not in the world I’m from.

I take the hit like the pro I am, not even swaying. Surprises the fuck out of him.

Then my arm chambers back and Hannah shouts, “Don’t!”

My fist freezes in the air.

She owns me. I am her slave.

I’m trying to hit the guy.

But I can’t do it, my eyes only on her.

One of the guys starts for me. Sofia grabs his arm. “This isn’t your fight, Gabriel.”

He growls, “She’s my sister!”

“Ben, stop Gabriel!” Hannah shouts.

Emma cries out, “Ethan, back off, he’s a trained fighter, just stop!”

Ben. Ethan. Gabriel.

What the fuck.

These guys aren’t after my Hannah.

They’re her family.

I step aside as Ethan throws a punch that doesn’t land. I push him backwards and he topples over. Ben goes to help him up and Gabriel takes a swing, which I duck and weave from, pushing him back on the cushy couch. His legs fly up as he goes over the back of it.

“Stop it!” the girls all yell. Not at me. They can tell I’m holding back. Just defending myself with the least amount of harm I can give these guys.

Can I dare hope they’re here to help her get over me? Is she hurting as badly as I am? Does she need me? Do I have a shot?

Or are they all just here for vacation.

“Let me just talk to her!” I grunt.

Andy shouts, “Let him talk!”

Sofia points at my friend and snarls, “You!”

He shouts, “Don’t go assuming shit, Sofia! You don’t know!”

“You should have told me! Gabriel! Him you can hit!”

I shove Andy out of harm’s way before I lock eyes with my girl. “Hannah! You’re not gonna give me a chance to speak?”

Her lips are tight as she glares at me. 

Ben rumbles, “Why don’t you go home to your wife?” Jeezus, how tall is this guy?

Hannah points at the stairs. “Get out of here! I don’t want to see you again.”

My chest expands as my breathing gets rapid. “Don’t say that, babe.”

Her face is cold and detached, but her eyes…they flickered when I called her that. So I try again.

“Give me a chance to explain.”

Gabriel leans in and motions to Ben and Ethan, “The three of us at once could take you. You don’t get the fuck out of here? It’s going to get bad.”

He doesn’t know how wrong he is. Except I’m not hurting Hannah’s family. Never would do that.

I turn to go. Nothing else for me to do than get the fuck out of here.

Looking over my shoulder I shout, “You don’t know what you’re talkin’ about.”

Andy follows me. I can hear his brain chomping. Under his breath he tells me, “Sofia was never gonna call me again anyway. Fuck it.” 

I get what he’s saying. If he can walk away, he should.

But for me it ain’t that easy. That woman got under my skin in the worst way.

Spinning around I nearly knock Andy over. His eyes light up as he sees me going back and he jogs after me. The tables of strangers around Hannah’s group have been whispering to each other and they all go quiet as I pass. 

My angel is the only one seated now, her family standing guard around her, all of them waiting to see what I’m going to do. She’s the one I’m looking at, the only one who matters. That fucking sadness is there again, masked by anger and self-protection.

But I see it, and I need to make it go away. 

Lowering my voice so the whole club doesn’t hear this, I confess, “I didn’t cheat on anybody.”

“You’re married,” she snaps. Her family is waiting to shove me out of here if she gives the word.

“Yeah, I am. But it’s not what you think.” Her eyes narrow, head shaking like there’s only one way to think.

But the world isn’t always black and white.

In fact, it rarely ever is.

Keeping quiet so this doesn’t travel past this group, and with tension gripping every cell in my body, I let out the truth I’ve been carrying alone. Only Andy knows what I’ve been through.

“I helped Carla get her green card. I married her to make her legal. She begged me to. She’s a second cousin, came here from Greece. But I can’t tell nobody that, because it’s fuckin’ illegal and she could get deported, and I could go to jail. We’re not together. Never were.” Hannah’s stunned, blinking like she doesn’t want to let go of her rage. With my eyes never leaving hers, I go deeper down the rabbit hole. “She’s with Vance. Fuckin’ betrayed me by talkin’ me into marrying her when she was with him, and I didn’t know. He wouldn’t do it, so she cried and begged me, too, said we were family, but she left out the part about her and him hooking up right after he took my title. She was staying here to be with him. He took my title. She lied and took my freedom.”

Sofia mutters, “Wow.”

They all shift their weight. I can feel them taking this in, but I’m still holding Hannah’s stare because I need her to hear what I’m sayin’.

“Carla and I have to be married for three years before we can file for divorce or she gets kicked out. You think I can do that to my family? Deport her? Believe me I thought about it but I can’t. It makes me sick how she took advantage of me. I tried to make her do the right thing. Even went to Greece to beg her mother to talk some sense into her, but she was so happy her daughter was in America she barred me from coming around. So I stayed with my grandma until all my options were gone. Carla’s living with him, had his baby. They even bought a dog and two fucking cats. But that ain’t how it looks, right? Nah, it looks like I’m the one who cheated because no one knows they’re together except for their close friends.” 

Gabriel mutters, “What the fuck,” and runs a hand through his hair. 

Ben and Ethan lower their eyes as they take in how fucked this situation is now that the layers have been exposed.

Hannah rises like gravity has left the room and her eyes flit to Andy. “Is this true?” 

“You don’t have to ask him!” I rasp. “I’m telling you. You think I’d humiliate myself like this if I was lying?”

Andy mutters, “Yes, it’s true.” 

“Shut up!”

“Sorry, but I had to say it. He gets worked up. You understand.”

“Jeezus, Andy, shut up!”

“Sorry.” 

Hannah throws up her arms. “We talked about so many things.” Her voice is low, too. She’s honoring my right to keep this information safe within the walls of the people we can trust with it. “Why didn’t you tell me about her? This makes no sense!”

“I didn’t want to ruin a perfect night. What if you didn’t believe me? When we met I thought you were leaving town soon. I had no clue how much you were going to get under my skin!”

“Oh shit,” Ben mutters, sitting down.

Hannah blinks at me, her hand suspended with nowhere to go.  

Ethan tells her, “Hannah, he’d just beat the guy in that fight, took back his title.” 

“He didn’t say anything because that night he just wanted to put it behind him.” Gabriel mutters, “We do that. It wasn’t about you.” 

She whispers, “Excuse me. I just need a minute.” Her shin bangs into the table as she hurries to get out.

Emma grabs a glass before it hits the ground. “Got it!”

“Tobias,” Sofia whispers.

I glance over to see her motioning for me to follow Hannah. She doesn’t have to tell me twice. As I make quick strides I growl at a table of nosey fuckers, “Show’s over. Go back to your booze.” They avert their eyes.

Holding onto the railing and looking down at the dance floor with distant eyes, Hannah is absolutely stunning in a short black skirt and sleeveless blouse.

My throat’s closing up again.

I want to touch her so badly.

I clear it and mutter, “You thinking of jumping?”

She blinks a few times. “Not funny.”

“I saw what you said to those reporters.” 

“Yeah?” she whispers, her mind spinning.

“It was pretty great.” 

Her gaze is still locked as she tries to process everything I just told her, eyelashes low. “I was trying to forget you.” 

“Me too.” 

Her lashes flutter up. “Something happened between us, didn’t it?” 

Taking a step closer I rasp, “Fuck yes. Something big.”

No more anger.

Just that fucking sadness.

“Babe…”

We come together, both of us stepping closer, reaching for each other. She tucks into my shoulder like a little girl.

“I’m sorry. I was going to tell you. I needed more time. Those fuckers who posted that video, they took something from us.” She pulls her head back to listen. I slip my fingers into her soft hair. “They took our beginning.” 

Searching my eyes and looking more beautiful than ever she smiles, “No, they didn’t.” 

“This wasn’t supposed to be like this. I was supposed to meet Emma when I was holding some fancy drink in my swim trunks under an umbrella so you didn’t get your pretty skin all burned. You and me were supposed to sit around and be lazy, make out all day long. And maybe she and Andy could have had a threesome with Sofia.” 

Hannah’s eyes go big before she laughs. “Emma would never say yes to that.”

Happy I made her smile, I joke, “Why not? I can fuckin’ picture it.” 

“Well, stop picturing it!” she laughs, reaching up to cover my eyes. “Don’t think about my cousins like that.” 

Grabbing her hand I kiss her open palm and search her eyes. “Babe, you’re the only one I see.”

Her eyelashes flutter closed as I lean in to kiss her. The second our lips touch relief and happiness takes me over. I know she feels it, too, because she whimpers a little.

Touching her face, I groan, “I never thought I was going to see you again. You care about me?”

She nods. “Maybe a little.”

Our jaws unlock in a hot, forgiving kiss, and I push her against the railing, doing my damndest to keep this family-friendly since I know her people are probably watching. And probably the rest of this balcony, too. But she feels so good I can’t stop kissing her. 

Andy’s voice comes up behind me, “Hey.” 

Hannah and I tear away to look at him. “I’m busy here!”

He jogs his thumb over his shoulder, smiling. “Your family wants to blow this popsicle stand. Get some food. You guys up for getting out of here? Also, haven’t you had enough P.D.A. pics taken of the two of you? Might want to clear this mess up in the Media before canoodling in public again.” 

I cock my eyebrow, “Canoodling?”

Hannah’s hands drift over my chest. “What are you trying to do to my reputation?” 

I bite her bottom lip and grab her ass, “Make you an honest woman, after what you told those reporters.” 

She laughs and pushes me off. We head back, the three of us, and her brother is first to shake my hand. “Great fight. Glad you knocked that piece of shit to black out. I’m Gabriel, her brother, but I guess you got that.” 

This feels weird, going from wanting to take them out to greeting them like old friends, but I’m so happy I embrace it with everything I’ve got.

“Tobias. Thanks. He deserved worse.” My arm stretches out to shake Ben’s hand next. “How tall are you?”

“Six-six. I’m Ben, Hannah’s cousin.”

“I heard. Good to meet you. You’re the one with the ranch?”

“Just got my own. But you probably heard the stories from childhood. That was my Dad’s.”

“Lots of ‘em. I also heard about this one pushing someone down.” I point to Emma and go to shake her brother’s hand. “You’re Ethan, right? Heard she took you out?”

His brown eyes narrow in confusion. “When did Emma push me down?”

Sofia and Emma answer, “Myrtle Beach.”

“Oh right!” he laughs. He crosses his arms and nods to me. “We’re going to need to verify your story.” Off Hannah’s look he gives her a lopsided grin, “Kidding! It’s so fucked up it can’t be fake. Sorry about the uh…” He motions to where they’d formed a wall to protect her. “We Cockers take care of our own.”

“No worries, man. Andy, you pissed?”

Andy laughs under his breath, “Furious.”

The fingers on my left hand are entwined with Hannah’s and I feel like I’ve been given a second chance at a good life. I graze a steady glance over the men, respecting them. When I lock eyes with Sofia, she gives me a wink and squishes her mouth up like she’s sorry. I’m not sure if she and Andy had words or buried the hatchet while I was gone, but that’s between them. 

Hannah officially introduces her best friend, “This is Emma, Tobias.” 

She’s got a sweet face and a lot of shyness. I shake her delicate hand. “Heard all about you. You enjoying the city?” 

“Now I can,” Emma says, glancing to Hannah. “But her dad had to go and call my brother, Gabriel and Ben to watch over us…so how am I going to meet anyone?”

Ethan laughs, “I’ll be meeting lots of women, so do what you gotta.” He turns and mutters to Gabriel, “Anyone touches her you let me know.”

“See!” she shouts. “What kind of a vacation am I going to have with these guys here?” Locking eyes with me she smacks my arm, her soft brown eyes glittering. “Your fake marriage ruined my vacation.”

Hannah rests her head on my shoulder. “I think we should go night-paddling.”

“Oh fuck yes!” Ben and Ethan shout.

Andy’s voice is all business as he steps closer, his voice low. “Let’s get out of here. Get some food. These two are going to hide until I can make some calls in the morning.” At the raised eyebrows he explains, “Tobias is going to come out and say Carla left, won’t grant him the divorce.” 

“The hell I am,” I growl.

He looks at me. “You are and you will.” 

Grumbling obscenities under my breath I tighten my fingers with Hannah’s.

She looks worried, she and Sofia staring at each other.

“Should we leave the club separately?” I ask her.

She holds my eyes, strength pouring from hers. “I’m not afraid of the Press anymore. This is my life. I do what I want. Fuck what they say.”

A slow grin spreads as I cup her chin. “I’m so into you it’s wrong.”