20. Cleo
Just when I thought Shawn had given up, he starts calling again. He doesn’t leave a voicemail. I ignore him and smile over at Peyton and Lizzie. I’m helping them shop to restock the clubhouse. Not that they need my help. Their invitation was out of pity and obligation. Nitro was an ass last time we talked. This is his weird way of making it up to me.
“Are you settled back in your apartment?” Peyton asks.
“Yep. So, you can let Nitro know I’m fine.”
She laughs. “He worries about you. You know that.”
“With good reason,” Lizzie says. “Please tell me you came to your senses and stopped seeing the Widow Maker.”
That’s the way they know him. The Widow Maker. Enemy of the Rebel Souls. Despicable guy. Unredeemable.
But that’s not the way I know him. He’s just Zeke to me. The man who makes me laugh. The man who brings me food and gives me foot massages. The man who makes me cry out his name in ecstasy.
“I don’t call him that.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to lie. It would’ve been easy to tell them what they wanted to hear. Peyton could report back to Nitro that he has nothing to worry about. He’d get off my back and I’d go about my business.
“Cleo, no. He’s such a bad guy,” Peyton warns. “I get that he’s great in bed, but you don’t know him.”
“That’s what I hear. I don’t really give a shit about his reputation.”
“It’s not a reputation. It’s facts. I thought you’d have more loyalty to the Rebels.”
I don’t know Lizzie all that well, and I understand why she’s not a fan of Zeke. She has every right to hate him. He kidnapped her. Put her child in danger.
“I appreciate the warnings. Neither of you know him the way I do. And let’s face it, neither Nitro nor Torch are angels. As for the club, I am loyal, but I’m not a member or a member’s old lady. I don’t have to answer to the Rebels.”
I don’t have to answer to anyone except for myself.