“Me, personally?” I requested, confused.

Riptide’s nostrils flaring, he nodded.

“Not Viper.”

As I instructed all about seducing his brother Tex, his response was telling. His grip on my thigh tightened, a transparent indication that his ideas have been veering into territory I hadn’t meant to discover. The undercurrent of jealousy was unmistakable, an absurd response given our advanced historical past.

“It’s clear you’re extra fascinated with what I did together with your brother than the precise related info,” I noticed, a notice of disdain coloring my phrases. “However let me make one thing clear. I’m an enormous woman, Hudson. I do what I need, with whoever I need.”

His response was instant. Riptide’s hand moved from my thigh to cradle my cheek, forcing me to fulfill his gaze. The vitality in his darkish eyes was a pressure unto itself, a silent command that allowed no argument.

“You gained’t be doing that anymore,” he proclaimed, his voice low and laden with a possessiveness that despatched a drizzle into my panties.

I opened my mouth to ask however couldn’t kind phrases.

He answered anyway. “As a result of I’m again in your life now. You’re going to be mine, Star. Similar to earlier than.”

The phrases hit me like a bodily blow, a chilling echo of a previous I’d fought arduous to maneuver past. Recollections of him saying these precise phrases, adopted by days of public ridicule and personal tenderness, flooded again. It served as a recap of the cycle of his manipulation and need that had as soon as held me captive.

The juxtaposition of the boy who’d whispered these phrases at midnight and the person who now growled them, with the identical conviction and expectation of compliance, simply underscored the facility dynamics that had all the time skewed in his favor.

For a second, I used to be that woman once more, caught within the throes of a poisonous attraction. I briefly melted right into a puddle of goo in his palms as his lips lingered on my throat. However the years had tempered me, had taught me the worth of my independence and the energy of my will.

Tearing away from his grasp, I met his gaze with a defiance born of hard-won battles and a dedication to by no means be anybody’s possession once more.

“I’m not the identical particular person I used to be again then, Hudson,” I stated, my voice agency and devoid of the feelings threatening to finish me. “And I don’t belong to you. I belong to myself.”

Attending to my toes, I deserted him there within the moonlight, a symbolic gesture of the space I’d put between the woman I as soon as was and the girl I had change into. The evening, as soon as a backdrop to our tangled previous, now stood as a witness to my assertion of autonomy and a refusal to revisit the chains of a bygone period.

After leaving Hudson, Riptide, alone within the cool evening, I stormed again into the bar, the warmth of anger and defiance burning via me. Inside, the raucous ambiance of the Roost was like a special world, one the place the issues of my previous with Riptide appeared to vanish. To drive my level residence, to him, to myself, to anybody who was watching, I made a decision to push the envelope additional than I had in a very long time.

The Hell on Heelz MC all the time had a wide range of males round, from the tough-as-nails varieties to the extra submissive ones who have been simply in search of a wild experience. Tonight, I selected the previous, settling into the lap of one of many meanest-looking guys on the bar. A person with huge burly arms and an enormous bushy beard, whose identify I didn’t even know. Urgent my breasts in his face was an announcement of independence, and a transparent message to Riptide that the woman he as soon as knew, the one he stored secret and managed, was lengthy gone.

As Riptide moved on to query my sisters, I performed together with the stranger’s flirtations, my laughter pressured and hole. Regardless of the act, my consideration was cut up, one a part of me partaking on this superficial dance of attraction, the opposite half watching Riptide work together with my membership sisters.

And sure, a little bit of me was flattered that Hudson needed to nonetheless personal me in a roundabout way. The audacity of him, outright declaring I used to be his, each enraged me and fascinated me. Actually, I used to be greater than interested by Riptide, the person he’d change into and felt an plain pull in the direction of the biker president greater than something. But, the fact remained unchanged. The Seville Slayers have been the enemy, a truth Rage had so not too long ago and vividly jogged my memory of.

However curiosity was a robust pressure, and a part of me couldn’t assist however surprise what might have been, what may nonetheless be if circumstances have been totally different. That line of thought was dangerously attractive, a temptation I wasn’t certain I used to be sturdy sufficient to withstand.

My musing was abruptly interrupted when the person I used to be perched on turned too handsy, his intentions shifting from flirtatious to overtly aggressive as he grabbed my ass. My protests have been loud, drawing the eye of these round us, however he solely grew bolder and was sticking his greasy hand down my cleavage. It was a scenario all too acquainted, but this time, I used to be now not the weak woman I as soon as was. With a swift transfer and a well-placed punch, his lights have been out. The massive man hit the ground with a thud that rebounded via the bar.

Within the ensuing silence, Riptide was instantly there, beside me, his eyebrows excessive. “I used to be coming to your rescue,” he joked, his eyes glowing with amusement. “However it appears you’ll be able to deal with your self simply fantastic.”

His phrases, meant to tease, solely served to confuse me additional. Right here was Hudson, Riptide, the boy who as soon as made me really feel so small, acknowledging the energy I’d fought arduous to say. It was a second of validation, of recognition, but it was tinged with the bittersweet realization that our worlds have been nonetheless irrevocably at odds.

Because the laughter and chatter resumed round us, I used to be left to ponder the unusual, twisted journey that had introduced us so far, a spot the place the previous and current merged, the place previous wounds and new insights mingled to color an image of a future that was something however clear.

Riptide, together with his traditional smug assurance, crossed his large arms and relayed what my sisters had unwillingly divulged below his questioning.

“It was enlightening,” he mused, his eyes scanning the group, touchdown briefly on his brothers who have been completely distracted by the native girls who frequented the bar. “Appears there’s a brother of mine I didn’t know was enjoying on this mess, and one other man, a stranger. Your woman, Tank, talked about my brother was final seen with a member of your membership, however she clammed up about who. I’m heading out to seek out solutions.”

The informal drop of this bombshell, his point out of a possible hyperlink to the Hell on Heelz, ignited a way of responsibility inside me. Rage would need to know, would need this adopted up on by considered one of her personal.

With no second thought, I provided, “I’ll go together with you. If it includes one other Heel, I must be there.”

His response was a mixture of amusement and incredulity, a smirk dancing on his lips as he laughed off my supply. “My brothers and I can deal with it, Brat. No want so that you can tag alongside.”

However I stood my floor, my resolve steeling. “If it includes a Heel, I’m going. That’s non-negotiable.”

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