Love Betrayal

Chapter Eighteen

River

I know I should have played it smarter, but when Romeo told me Mark was found creeping around our clubhouse, I just grabbed him and lost my shit. How dare he come here? He either has balls of fucking steel or no sense at all, and I’m thinking it’s the latter.

He gave up the information pretty quickly, and knowing he doesn’t work for the FBI anymore makes me feel better about what he has on Bella. I have a feeling there’s more to this story, though, and he’s not leaving until we get to the bottom of it.

Do I hate that Bella saw me hitting him?

Yes.

I wanted to hide that side of myself from her for as long as I could. It would kill me if she’s scared, or thinks that I’m a monster.

She hasn’t asked to leave, though, so maybe it didn’t scare her too much. Although she seemed too worried about her ex-boyfriend for my liking.

Fuck.

Is this being in love?

Overthinking every damn thing and constantly wondering if you’re good enough?

Just fucking great.

If I were a better man, I would have left Bella well alone, but I’m not. She’s in bed when I leave the bathroom, and I get in next to her. I’ll deal with Mark tomorrow, and I’ll figure out what the fuck we’re going to do with him. But for now I should try to get some rest.

I don’t know if I should hug her like I usually would, or if she’s mad and doesn’t want me to. Man, I hate this shit.

I slowly get closer to her, and when she doesn’t move away or tell me to leave her alone, I pull her against my body, spooning her from behind, feeling relief that she’s letting me. I don’t know what I’d do if she ever decided to walk away from me.

I’d do anything to keep her.

When I wake up in the morning it’s to an empty bed, and I have a moment of panic wondering if she left on her own and went home. I run out in my boxer shorts, but come to a stop when I see her in the kitchen with Julianna, having coffee, the two of them chatting among themselves.

“I heard you had a busy night,” Julianna says when she looks up and sees me standing there. “And nice of you to get dressed up for breakfast.”

“Where’s Romeo?” I ask, but my eyes are on Bella, who is now looking right back at me.

“He’s with the prisoner. Still can’t believe I slept through all that,” Julianna grumbles, taking a sip from her mug. She then stands up and walks past me. “I hope you have a plan for the ex-boyfriend.”

I don’t, but thanks to her for pointing that out.

“Are you okay?” I ask Bella when we’re alone. “I’m sorry about last night. I know it must have been scary for you and I should have handled the situation better.”

She nods slowly. “It could have been handled better, yes. But I understand things work differently around here, and I just want the whole thing to be over with. Did I like seeing you hurt someone? No. Did I like seeing Mark get hurt? No. And not because I care about him or anything like that—I wouldn’t want to see anyone I know get hit. I don’t...enjoy seeing that stuff.” She pauses, and then asks, “Do you? Because you looked like you were in your element.”

I don’t know how to answer that, because I’m not sure if I’ve ever admitted the truth about it, or even fully understand how I feel about it. “I do what needs to be done. That’s my job as club enforcer.”

“And you enjoy your job as club enforcer,” she presses, and I don’t know what she wants from me, but when I think about it honestly, yes, I do enjoy it.

“And if I do?”

“Then you’re being honest,” she replies, standing up and walking over to me. “I just wanted to hear you say it.”

“And does that change anything for you? How you feel about it?” I ask, holding my breath as I wait for her reply.

She frowns. “I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about it, and struggling with it. But I know that you’re a good man. To me, anyway, and to those you love. I see how you love those around you, how you love me. I know you’re a complicated person, but I trust you. And I feel safe with you.”

She hugs me tightly, and then goes back into our bedroom to get ready for the day.

Without knowing it, she’s just given me the best gift ever.

Acceptance.

I’ve always thought I’d be seen as a monster, and no one, especially women, ever got to know the real me. I kept all of that hidden. But Bella is slowly seeing everything, and she’s not running. In fact, she only seems to love me more. Corey was right.

I’ve really hit the jackpot with her. She’s not just a woman I love.

She is the woman.

I get dressed and head down into the garage, where Romeo is sitting with Mark, who has been untied. Romeo’s even given him some food and water, obviously onto the good cop routine. Mark freezes when he sees me, and the fear in his eyes is a familiar look.

“Someone has kidnapped Mark’s fiancée,” Romeo says to me, “and told him if he wants her back alive, he needs to bring me down.”

Fuck. So he isn’t married, but close enough.

“Same person who put out the hit on you? Was it a woman?” I ask Mark, who nods. “Is that how you found out about the forgery?”

“No, actually. I found the forgery by looking at public documents. I know Bella’s signature and that the person who signed her name was definitely not her. I found it on dumb luck. But it is a woman who’s blackmailing me,” he replies, swallowing hard. “Now that I’ve told you both the truth, are you going to help me or not? I can’t let anything happen to Sarah.”

Shit.

We are up to our neck in our own problems, and now we’re going to help the love of my life’s ex-FBI agent ex find his fiancée? Oh, and our own grandmother, who we can’t locate, might have her.

Wonderful.

Romeo looks over at me and I shrug. I mean, he did tell us the truth about everything. And we do want to find Cathy anyway.

But I don’t trust this Mark guy one bit.

Romeo nods, as if he can read my mind and understand, and we’ve known each other so long he probably does. “We’ll see what we can do. But we’ve already been looking for this person with no luck, so don’t get too excited. And if you double-cross or betray us in any way, I will let River do whatever he wants to you.”

Mark gulps and agrees to the terms.

So I guess that’s what we’re doing now.