Chapter 5

Five

Fletch

I close my eyes and let my head fall back as London sucks my cock like a goddamn vacuum. "Jesus," hisses Nyx, moving faster. "We need to swap."

London releases me, and I growl in frustration, grabbing a handful of her hair and guiding her back to my erection. "I'll tell you when to stop," I snap.

Nyx grunts, shuddering through a release. "Fuck, man, I wanted to come in her mouth."

"Stop bitching. You're ruining my mood," I mutter, feeling the build-up of my own orgasm. I hold London's head, pushing my cock farther down her throat until I release, growling with each spurt.

I let go of her, and she coughs hard, digging her nails into my thigh. "What the fuck you gotta do that for?" she snaps, wiping her mouth on the back of her hand. "You don't gotta choke me, you dick."

Nyx laughs, moving over to the couch and grabbing his pack of cigarettes. London stomps out, not bothering to gather her clothes. "Moody bitch," I say, grabbing the sheet and pulling it over myself. "She's so uptight these days."

"Don't be falling to sleep on me," Nyx says, lighting his cigarette. "We're hitting the town."

"I'm knackered," I mutter. "You go without me. Have a good night."

"Brother, you've been a grumpy arsehole all week."

"I'm serious," I tell him. "I need some sleep."

I wake with a start. My mobile is vibrating across the bedside table, and I snatch it up, answering without checking the caller id.

"Brother," Nyx drawls.

"I told you, I ain't coming," I snap.

"You might change your mind when I tell you who I'm currently looking at," he pauses before adding, "your pig."

"Gemma?"

"Didn't you say she was getting married?"

"Yeah," I tell him, sitting up and reaching for the bedside light. I glance at my watch and see it's almost eleven.

"So far, she's stuck her tongue down three guys' throats. She ain't out here repping the married crew."

"Fuck," I mutter. "Send me your location. I'm on my way."

"No need, brother, we're in The Bar."

I disconnect, frowning. Is she looking for me? Why else would she be there?

I dress quickly and brush my teeth before heading downstairs. Lexi looks up from where she's lying on the couch. Luna is on the opposite one, and there are two empty bottles of wine on the table between them. "Where are you going?" they ask in unison then giggle.

"Business," I mutter, picking up the pace and heading out. The last thing I need is those two tagging along.

The Bar is packed out and I have to push my way through to get to the front where Grizz is serving. He glances up and grins when he spots me. "She's in a state," he tells me. "I had to stop serving her, and she ain't happy about it. I'd have kicked her out, but Nyx wanted to call you." He nods over to the far side of the room, where Gemma is hanging off some guy. It's clear she's drunk in the way she sways and grabs onto him to steady herself. "Thought this would be the perfect opportunity to start on that plan."

I watch as the man she's with places a finger under her chin and tips her head back slightly before kissing her. I roll my eyes as I push off the bar and head over. The man spots me first and breaks the kiss. "Can I help you?" He doesn't look impressed.

Gemma turns to see me and groans dramatically. "What are you doing here?"

"More like what the fuck are you doing here? Aren't you getting married?"

The guy takes a step back, and Gemma narrows her eyes. "Go away, Fletch. You don't know anything about my life."

She stomps out of the bar, shoving people as she goes, and breaks out into the fresh air. I'm right behind her as she takes a deep breath and practically stumbles. "Steady," I mutter, catching her, then she rightens and disentangles herself.

"What are you doing here?" she repeats, glaring at me.

"I don't know, Gemma, let me think," I say, my voice full of sarcasm. "Oh, yeah . . . my club owns this bar."

"I just came out for a quiet drink," she rants, "and here you are."

"Firstly, not quiet cos Grizz was ready to kick you out. Secondly, you've had your tongue down the throat of several men."

She gives me a triumphant look. "So, you've been spying on me."

"Ain't there some rules you coppers have to stick to? Are you even allowed in bars in this state?"

"I'm not in a state," she argues, swaying.

I arch my brow, and she leans against the wall. "I don't think you should be drinking in a place owned by people you wanna take down."

"Suddenly you care about my job?"

I shake my head. "Not even a little, but it's not like you to break the rules. What's going on, Snap?"

"Don't call me that," she mutters. She folds her arms over her chest and stares down at the ground. "I'm not that bad, am I?"

I sense the conversation is taking a serious tone, so I lean beside her against the wall. "Start at the beginning."

"Don't gloat," she warns before adding. "I'm not getting married."

"You lied?"

"Of course not," she snaps. "He's been cheating on me."

I allow the words to sink in. "Sorry to hear that, Snap."

"I don't snap," she says, irritation clear in her voice. "I'm the least snappy person ever."

I snicker. "Not how I remember yah."

"Well, anyway, I should go . . . home." The last word is spoken so sadly, it almost cracks my ice-cold heart.

"Will he be there?"

She shrugs. "I told him to get out, but he was never good at listening to me."

"Yah know, if you want, you could always come back to the clubhouse."

She scoffs. "Right, sure."

"I'm serious. If you need some time out, it's a good place to hide."

"I can't stay at the clubhouse," she mumbles, suddenly holding her hands to her stomach. "I feel sick," she adds, rushing over to the corner of the car park and vomiting onto the ground. I wince and follow, gently moving her hair from her face and rubbing her back.

"Stay one night, Snap. No one needs to know."

Gemma

My head is spinning as Fletch lifts me off my feet and carries me over to the waiting vehicle. He gently places me in the back and fastens the seatbelt. "I'll meet you back at the clubhouse," he tells the driver before closing the door.

I allow my eyes to close and picture times when I felt happy . . . times with him. Fletch .

"Snap, wake up." I force my tired eyes open and stare into Fletch's. He smiles. "You need some water." Sliding his hand behind my head, he lifts me slightly, placing a glass of water to my lips. I take a sip, glancing around to find myself in a bedroom. "Don't panic, I'll sleep on the chair," he tells me, placing the glass on the side and laying me back on the soft pillows. I lift the sheets slightly to find myself in an unfamiliar T-shirt. "You were sick and you got some on your clothes," he says, noticing my frown. "I gave you one of my shirts."

"Who undressed me?" I ask, noting my voice is now raspy from the vomiting.

"I've seen it all before," he replies casually. "Besides, I didn't take off your underwear."

I roll my eyes and tuck the sheet under my chin. "I shouldn't be here."

"Don't overthink it."

"If my boss knew . . ."

"How will they find out?"

He's staring at me expectedly, like he wants me to confess to something. "If you're asking if I have this place watched, no . . . not yet."

"So, there's no way anyone can find out then." He settles back in the chair, getting himself comfy. "What are you gonna do now?"

"About?"

"Your boyfriend. Do you have a mortgage together, a dog?"

"He's my ex," I state, "and no to all of the above. I'm not that stupid to invest so much in someone only to get my heart ripped out all over again."

"A dig at me?"

I sigh but refuse to answer his questions. "I need to find uglier friends and a man who doesn't feel the need to fuck around behind my back." I push to sit up and fix him with a glare. "Is it me?" I demand to know. "Am I the problem?"

He shrugs. "I have no idea, Snap. I don't even know you these days."

"Back then . . . was it my fault back then when you shagged my best friend?" The words just tumble out like they've been there all along. Maybe they have. Since seeing him again, I've wanted to ask what I did wrong to make him do something so cruel. I don't even know why it bothers me so much, it was so long ago.

"Do we really need to drag up the past, Gem?" he asks, exasperated. "I don't even remember why I did what I did."

Disappointment sinks my stomach. Never having the answer means I can't truly close this door. "She's married now."

"I don't care."

"She's got a great life. Perfect."

Fletch sighs heavily. "Yah know one thing I've learned, Snap? Those who portray a perfect life are usually talking shit. No one's life is perfect." I've often thought the same. Kate is all smiles and fabricated chatter whenever I see her, not that I see her often as I avoid her at all costs. "How does it work, especially at Christmas time?" asks Fletch with a slight grin. "Like get-togethers with the family must be weird, right?"

"Pete's mum adores her, as they all do. She's the centre of attention whenever they're together. I, however, well . . . I'm just the deranged cop who lured poor Pete into a bad relationship." I scoff before adding, "If only they knew."

"So, why'd yah stay so long if it wasn't a happy relationship?"

I shrug. "Fear of the unknown . . . proving his family wrong . . . proving my father wrong . . ." I trail off, wondering why the hell I'm talking to Fletch about things I never really talk about at all.

He sits straighter. "So, everyone in his family and yours were waiting for your relationship to fail?"

"Pretty much."

"And you stuck it out because you wanted to prove a point?" He looks amused again.

"I don't like failure," I admit, picking at the material of the sheets.

"Sometimes things just have to fail so you can progress."

"Is that why we failed?" I ask, again wincing inside because I'm being way too open and forward.

He thinks over my question before pushing to stand and making his way over to the bed. He lowers carefully onto the edge and takes my hand. "I was a young lad, Snap. I thought with my dick . . . most of the time, I still do. I wish I could take back what I did, and you have every right to be pissed about it, but it was nothing you did. I was just a prick."

I bite my lower lip and lower my gaze. "I hate that I let you hurt me."

"I'm sorry," he says. "I am truly sorry."

"She laughed when I confronted her."

"Kate was a piece of work. She was always jealous of you."

"Did she pursue you?"

He sighs, dropping my hand. "Snap, you seriously want to go over all this, fourteen years on?"

"I need to," I admit. "Maybe what you did is setting up a pathway of destructive relationships because I . . ." I blink away tears. "I really loved you, and you broke my heart. I haven't been able to move past it."

When I raise my eyes to his, he looks guilty. "I've never had to face up to shit like this," he tells me, shifting until he's sitting beside me. "I'll be honest, Snap, I don't like it." He gives a small laugh. "Kate was easy. I was horny. It was as simple as that. She was there. It's a shit reason, but she made it clear she was interested, and I stupidly took the bait. She knew you were gonna turn up to hers, Gem. It was a setup."

"If I hadn't have turned up, I probably would never have known."

He gives a nod. "Maybe."

"You wouldn't have told me?"

He shrugs. "I don't know. Probably not. But we would have come to an end anyway."

"Why?"

"You were embarrassed of me."

I twist so I'm looking at him. "What?"

"We were hiding our relationship from your family, Gemma. We were sneaking around like what we were doing was bad."

"But you know what my father was like—he'd have ruined it."

"He ruined it anyway. Men like Pete are the ones women like you should be with. Your father would take one look at my tatts and arrest me." He adds a laugh, shaking his head. "Maybe I was hurt too. Maybe I did what I did so we'd just come to an end. I wasn't brave enough to just tell you. I couldn't deal with the fallout of it all and the hurt in your eyes. Turns out, I had to see that anyway."

"I wasn't ashamed."

"But you weren't proud either, and that made me feel like I was shit. Like I wasn't good enough, and God knows I'd had enough of feeling like that from everyone else."

"I'm sorry," I mutter, my brows pinching together. I'd never really thought about how he was feeling. "It wasn't intentional."

He gets up from the bed. "You need some sleep," he says, bending down to place a gentle kiss on my head.

I grab his hand before he can walk away. "I'm sorry," I say again. "I really am."

"It's all good, Snap," he says with a wink. "Sleep." And then he leaves the room.