Drifter
He didn’t look at her. Didn’t trust himself to. Just dragged smoke into his lungs and let it out slowly, hoping it would dull the ache in his chest. But he knew better.
“Something happened today,” she said quickly.
“Yeah, I picked up on the fact that you fucked Monster. What happened to the whole, ‘If I can’t have both of you, I don’t want either of you’ speech you gave?
Has that changed now? You and Monster are together, and I’m what—just left out in the cold?
If you didn’t want me, Blitz, you should have just said so.
” He sounded like a jilted lover, and they hadn’t been that for each other—and probably never would be now.
He knew the code—she belonged to Monster now.
His club Prez had made that very clear when he burst into his office and found the two of them cozied up together.
“Why was it so important that I rush down to the club?” he asked, trying to change the subject. It didn’t matter if she still wanted him. He couldn’t go against Monster’s claim to her. He wouldn’t do that to his Prez.
“I have a stalker,” she blurted out.
“You have a what?” he asked.
“I have a stalker, and he’s followed me here. I saw him outside the grocery store today. He was just standing there, watching me. It scared me, Drifter. I’m scared for me, for Josie—”
That did it. His head snapped toward her, fury tightening his gut. “Why the fuck didn’t you tell me right away? How long has this been going on?”
Her voice trembled. “I’m telling you now. I didn’t know how—”
“We’ll handle it,” he bit out, crushing the cigarette against the armrest of his chair until it hissed out. “He won’t touch you. Not here. Do you know the guy personally?”
“Um, yeah,” she said, “we lived together. Everything happened so quickly—we met, he told me he loved me within days, and I asked him to move into my tiny apartment.”
“Do you love him, Blitz?” he asked. He had no right to feel jealous about a man from her past, but he did.
“No,” she almost shouted at him. “I felt bad that I couldn’t give him back the words and foolishly asked him to move in with me—you know, to keep the peace.” He knew that Blitz didn’t like conflict. He’d seen that about her in the past weeks that she had been living under his roof.
“I take it you two broke up and that’s why he’s stalking you now,” he guessed.
“Yes,” she breathed, “he asked me to marry him, and I thought that he was kidding. He didn’t take my laughing at his proposal very well, and I told him that I wanted him to move out. That was when he hit me.”
Drifter stood from his chair, unable to keep his hands off her any longer. “He hit you?” he asked, pulling her from her chair and looking her over as though there would still be signs of the abuse that she had suffered.
She nodded, “A few times, until my neighbor called the cops. Reid took off then, but he promised to see me again soon. I knew what he meant. He had been following me around town, showing up in odd places, stalking me, before we even broke up. I ignored all the red flags—God, I’m such an idiot.
I believed that he actually loved me, but I should have known better.
Love doesn’t really exist.” He wrapped his arms around her, tugging her close to his body.
He wanted to tell her that she was wrong and that he had fallen in love with her in just a few weeks, but after everything that she had been through with her ex, he wasn’t sure that she’d believe him.
“You don’t have to worry about your ex, honey,” Drifter insisted. “He won’t touch you ever again. I’ll keep you and my sister safe from that asshole.”
Relief softened her expression, but then her mouth parted, guilt flashing across her face. He knew what was coming before she said it. “And about Monster,” her voice cracked. “What happened in his office—”
Every muscle in his body locked tight. Heat flooded him—jealousy, rage, the image of her with Monster playing on repeat. He released Blitz, still looming over her. “Don’t. Don’t tell me about it, Blitz.”
“Drift—”
“You made your choice,” he growled, his throat raw with emotion. He pushed past her into the house before she could see just how much it wrecked him. He’d never let her or anyone else see that in him again.
Hours later, he was still wrecked. He was exhausted but couldn’t sleep. Josie had called to ask if she could stay at her friend’s house, two doors down, and he agreed. The last thing he wanted was for her to come home and feel the heavy tension in the house between him and Blitz.
The ceiling fan spun in lazy circles above his bed, the shadows shifting across the room, but sleep refused to come. Every time he closed his eyes, all he saw was her—Blitz with Monster, Blitz spread out on his desk, Blitz looking at Monster the way Drifter wanted her to look at him.
He tossed and turned until frustration had him throwing the sheets off with a muttered curse.
Maybe a beer would help numb the noise in his head.
But when he opened his door, he stopped cold.
Blitz stood there in the hallway, her hand up in a clenched fist as though she was about to knock on his door.
She wore one of his t-shirts, the hem barely covering her thighs, her damp hair clinging to her neck from her shower. Her eyes were swollen from crying, cheeks streaked with tears, and her lips trembling like she’d lost all her fight.
“Blitz.” His voice came out rough, more of a growl than a word.
She wrapped her arms around herself, stepping closer. “I don’t know what the hell I’m doing, Drifter. But I know I can’t lose you. Please, just give me a chance.”
His chest squeezed so tight it hurt. God, she was beautiful like this—raw, wrecked, standing in his shirt like she belonged here with him.
He should’ve told her to go back to her room.
He should’ve sent her away. Drifter knew that she belonged to Monster now, but for some reason, none of that seemed to matter.
It was as though the world had stopped turning, and it was just the two of them left in existence.
It only took two strides to close the space between them. His hands cupped her face, his mouth crushing hers in a kiss that was all teeth and hunger. She whimpered against him, fisting his shirt as he backed her into the room, kicking the door shut behind them.
“Goddamn you,” he rasped against her lips, his hands shoving beneath the thin cotton to find bare skin. “You drive me out of my fucking mind.”
“I’m sorry,” she gasped, tears mixing with her breathless pleas as his mouth trailed down her throat. “I just—I need you, Drifter.”
The sound of it broke something loose deep inside him. He ripped the shirt over her head, drank her in, then eased her down into his bed. His hand lingered against her cheek, his voice low and harsh.
“Mine tonight,” he swore. “Every damn inch of you.”
When she didn’t argue, he took her—slow at first, savoring every gasp, every desperate clutch of her hands.
Her body was warm, perfect, wrapped tight around him, and the way she sobbed his name had him teetering on the edge from the start.
He buried himself deeper, faster, harder, claiming her in every way he knew how.
Drifter forgot that his friend had already laid claim to Blitz.
He meant what he said—tonight she belonged to him.
They could worry about the rest in the morning.
When she shattered beneath him, crying his name, he followed with a guttural groan, grinding into her as if he could anchor himself inside her.
Afterward, he didn’t move. He couldn’t. Her head rested on his chest, her breath uneven, her skin damp with sweat and tears.
He pulled her closer, pressed his lips to her hair, his arm a steel band around her.
Tomorrow, there’d be questions, fallout, maybe even a war brewing between him and Monster. But tonight, in his house, in his bed—she was his.