3. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

“You down for a three-way?” Ghoul questions and wags his tongue at me like a dog. He’s disgusting. Physically, he’s not bad looking. He’s a little rough around the edges in that bad boy kinda way. Facial hair, longer hair, tattoos. It’s when he opens his mouth that he ruins it.

Tonya laughs it off, smacking his chest.

The fights haven’t even started yet and I’m ready to ditch this scene. I can’t stand this dickhead. Tonya could do so much better. She literally has the worst taste in men.

“So tell me about this friend of yours.” I change the subject. I’m already here. I may as well see how this plays out. Who knows? Maybe the guy will at least be hot.

“My man is a beast. He’s going to love you. You’re just his type.”

“And what’s that?”

“Dark hair. Blue eyes. Nice rack.” Tonya elbows him in the ribs at the last remark.

“What’s he do when he’s not pummeling the shit out of someone? ”

“Works on the road a lot.”

“Is he like a lineman or something?”

“Yeah. Something like that.”

My stomach sinks. I know not all men who work on the road cheat on their significant other, but the percentages aren’t favorable. Not that it matters. It isn’t like I expect to hit it off with this dude, whoever he is. I’ve not even laid eyes on him and already I’m imagining all the worst-case scenarios, like we’re getting married, and he’s determined to break my heart. I’m being ridiculous. I’ve always been this way. My brain is wired to automatically assume the worst about everyone. If I expect the worst, then I can’t be disappointed when people eventually fuck me over. I let my guard down with my ex and I have no plans to get burned again.

“You’ll love Creed.”

With those words, my heart drops to my feet and splinters wide open as a rush of emotions slams into me. My first kiss. My first everything was all with Seth Creed. Most of all, my greatest heartbreak. “Did you say Creed?”

Music blares from some speakers near the makeshift ring. The crowd erupts in a roar of cheers and expletives. Ghoul ignores my question. It’s possible I heard him wrong. He could have said Reed.

Bile churns in the pit of my stomach, threatening to race up my throat. The only Creed I know is Seth Motherfucking Creed. My jerk of a stepbrother. I should say ex- stepbrother since our parents divorced before my mother passed away.

He can’t be the only guy in the world people call Creed. Last I knew, he wasn’t even living in this state. And yet my heart flutters at the thought of seeing him after all these years. I knew it was wrong to crush on him when I was just a kid. He was older, hot, and dangerous. The bad boy type that you’re well aware you can’t fix but would give anything for the privilege to simply try.

And God, did I try to save him from himself.

In the end, I failed.

My love wasn’t enough.

I wasn’t enough.

I followed him and his friends everywhere. Got him in trouble many times because I was jealous of the girls he was fooling around with. I was never the kind of girl he’d ever look at, even if he wasn’t older than me. Back then, I was still fat and wore glasses. Then one day he looked at me like he could see past my weight and insecurities.

He looked at me like maybe he loved me. At least that’s the lie I fed myself when I’d go into his room and give myself to him in any way he wanted. I craved him until one day he was simply gone. He left without a goodbye, and when I did see him again, he fucked my best friend after my mother’s funeral .

It wasn’t until months after my mother passed away that I started dropping my weight and caring about styling my hair and wearing makeup.

None of that matters now. It’s all in the past.

Seth Creed is the past. And so is Cade.

And yet I can’t help but wonder where Seth is. How he turned out. If he found that beautiful life, he was always talking about having one day. What a foolish girl I was to dream that I’d be a part of that life. That when he talked about leaving, I thought he meant with me.

Sucking in a deep breath, I watch as the first contender is announced. Relief and disappointment both flood me at the realization this guy isn’t my Creed. I shouldn’t want to see him.

But I do.

I want him to see how I’ve shed my weight and lost my glasses except for when I’m vegging out at home. The rest of the time, I wear contacts. Especially when I’m working.

I want him to see with his own eyes that I’ve survived life without him.

That I didn’t need him.

Even if I wanted him.

The pain thoughts of him brings burns through me like a ring of fire. Threatening to consume me and suck me back under.

They say we only get one great love.

He was supposed to be mine .

Blinking slowly as if coming out of a daze, I return to the now desperate to escape those old wounds that linger in the back of my mind.

“Fighting out of the blue corner, welcome to the arena, Rage.”

“Oh no, Tonya,” mutters, her face stricken with horror. “I can’t be here,” she whispers to me as Ghoul chats with some other biker. The name on his cut says Rogue. He catches my eye and grins at me, but I don’t think he recognizes me. I’d know that smile anywhere because he was always hanging with Seth.

Which can only mean one thing.

He’s here.

I shouldn’t be surprised that he still hangs with the same crew or that they belong to a motorcycle club. I shift my attention back to Tonya as she shakes her head back and forth. “What’s wrong?”

“My ex. That’s what.”

“Husband?” My eyes nearly bug out of my head as I look back at the guy they call Rage. I’ve only ever glimpsed him in old pictures from Tonya’s Facebook page. The guy is huge and totally ripped.

“Do you want to leave?”

“Why do you look like someone just kicked your puppy?” Ghoul asks, wrapping an arm around her waist, kissing her neck .

“Fighting out of the red corner. Welcome to the arena, Creed!” The deep voice booms over the microphone.

I gulp and watch my past and present collide. Seth Creed’s arms are thicker and more inked than I remember. His murderous expression is focused on the man in the gray shorts who is staring at Ghoul like he wants to pound him into hamburger.

Tonya squeezes my arm, digging her nails into my skin in crescent-shaped grooves.

“What the fuck?” Ghoul mumbles as Rage charges straight for us, yelling, “You whore!”

I yank Tonya out of her ex’s path as his fist connects with Ghoul’s jaw.

All hell breaks loose. Everyone around us is screaming and throwing punches. I lose hold of Tonya as she lurches herself forward and climbs on Rage’s back like a flying monkey of chaos .

“Fuck you, Mateo. Fuck you.” She cries and hits him on the back of the head.

Another biker gets hold of Tonya as I’m shoved to the ground in the mayhem.

I’m down on all fours, hoping my ass and breasts aren’t hanging out of this teeny dress and that I’m not about to be trampled.

“Are you okay?” A deep voice sends shivers throughout me as I stare up into a pair of green eyes I could never forget.

My words refuse to leave my tongue as we continue to gaze at each other.

Time seems to stop and all the noise and fighting blurs into the background.

I can scarcely breathe as Seth Creed stares at me like he wants to devour me.

My body and my heart remember all too well what that feels like.

His taste. Cinnamon toothpaste and sin. His touch. Rough and greedy.

“Do I know you?” His lips curve into an intrigued smile.

Not this version of me, I want to tell him yet refrain. He doesn’t recognize me. My heart cracks in two and I do my best to mask my disappointment.

I don’t respond but accept his offered hand. “Thanks,” I answer, praying he didn’t notice the way my knees wobbled on my way up.

“Name’s Creed.” He waits a beat for me to reply. “And you are?” he presses.

“Sorry, I’ve gotta go. Tonya?” I step around him as the crowd further separates me from my friend.

Seth smiles bigger as he blocks my path once more.

“Don’t you have a fight to get back to? Faces to punch or something?”

“Nah. That dumbass just forfeited his part of the purse.” He licks his bottom lip. “Want to get out of here?”

“Not with you. ”

He rewards me with a deep belly chuckle that sends me back in time to when our lives were so different, but connected.

“You going to keep pretending?” he states, but the words come out in question.

My pulse thrums against my temples as he continues to stare at me, and I wait for him to work my identity out.

“Maybe I have one of those faces.” I make my way to where Tonya is struggling against the arms of a large man as Creed and an even larger guy with just as much ink as him separates Ghoul and Tonya’s ex.

“You okay?” I ask, though I already am aware she’s anything but fine.

“What gives him the right? Where does he get the fucking audacity?” She shudders and bursts into tears.

“Oh, honey.”

The biker holding her back releases her into my hold, and I wrap my arms tight around her. “You want to get out of here?”

Tonya sniffs and wipes her nose with the back of her hand. “Is my makeup ruined?”

I swipe the pads of my thumbs under her eyes, removing her smudged eyeliner. “Good as new.”

My bestie squares her shoulders, pushing her chest out. “He doesn’t get a say in who I fuck.” She marches through the part of the crowd, going toward where Ghoul and her ex-husband are separated. Flipping Kaydence’s father off, Tonya then wraps an arm around Ghoul’s neck, pulling him in for the world’s most sensual kiss.

Rage or whatever his name is stomps off, shoving people out of his way.

Creed whistles and I give Tonya a wave.

Time for me to go.

“Lottie,” my name is called in a growl, and I freeze in place, closing my eyes at the sound of his voice.

He remembers and part of me wishes he wouldn’t. His tattooed hand grips my hip and the heat of him washes over me from behind.

“Where do you think you’re running off to, hellcat?”

I spin around at his use of the nickname he gave me years ago. “Don’t call me that.”

“All right then. What should I call you? Liar?”

“What?”

He licks his lips, and my brain instantly wants to know how they’d taste. “Back there. I asked you your name and if we knew each other. Why’d you lie?”

“You had no clue who I was?”

“Bullshit. Like I could ever forget you. Why’d you lie to me?”

My heart stutters in my chest. Like I could ever forget you . “Because I wanted to avoid this conversation.”

“You mean the one about how you threw yourself at me the last time we saw each other after you were the one who ended things? ”

“Can we pretend that never happened?” Tears threaten to fall as my cheeks burn. “I never ended things. You ran away.”

“I’m not the only one who disappeared.”

“I’m not talking about this.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. What the fuck was up with that?”

“I was drunk and grieving and you were there. I was embarrassed. After.”

“Fair enough.”

“Are we done here?”

“Not even close.”