Blitz
Drifter had let him in without a word, and now both men stood in the kitchen with her, heavy and unreadable. She braced herself for shouting, for jealousy boiling over, but instead Drifter jerked his chin toward the table.
“Sit. We need to talk,” Drifter said to Monster. It sounded more like a demand than a request, and she wondered if the big biker would do as he was told. Monster didn’t seem the type of man who took orders from anyone.
Monster’s eyes flicked to her before he pulled out the chair opposite hers. He looked tired—more tired than she’d ever seen him, shadows under his eyes, shoulders heavier than usual. Drifter leaned against the counter, arms crossed over his chest, silent but watchful.
He dragged a hand over his face, but it didn’t hide the raw ache in his eyes.
“I buried them both the same day. That’s when I met Drifter.
I used his funeral home to handle the arrangements for me.
Hell, he did it all because I was useless by that point.
I bought Monster’s Madhouse and turned it into our club.
That club and my friendship with Drifter were the only two things to keep me sane. ”
The lump in Blitz’s throat burned hot, tears stinging her eyes. “Monster,” she whispered, reaching across the table before stopping short, unsure if he’d even want her touch.
Drifter’s voice came next, low and steady, though she caught the flicker of something like pain in his expression. “I was married once, too. I was nineteen years old, and I thought I knew what love was.” He gave a humorless laugh. “Six weeks in, she packed up and left. No note. Just gone.”
Blitz’s brows pulled together. “Why?”
His shoulders lifted in a shrug that looked like it weighed a thousand pounds.
“Guess she realized I wasn’t enough. Or maybe I married her for the wrong reasons.
I grew up without love, without anyone giving a damn about me, and I thought maybe if I tied someone down, I’d never have to feel that again.
Turns out you can’t force somebody to love you back. ”
The silence after his confession was thick, heavy with things none of them knew how to say. Blitz sat back, her heart aching for both of them—for what they’d lost, for the scars they still carried.
“We’re telling you this because you have a right to know why we refused to share you. We weren’t sure if that was even possible,” Monster said. “We’re both so damaged, we didn’t want to hurt you, Blitz.”
She blinked against the tears threatening to fall, her voice barely a whisper. “I know what that feels like. Growing up without love.” Both men looked at her then, like they hadn’t expected her to speak.
“I grew up in the foster system, and I learned quickly not to expect anything permanent, not to get attached. That’s why—" She hesitated, shame flooding her chest, but she forced the words out. “That’s why I let Reid into my life. He paid attention to me. He made me feel seen. I thought maybe it was real. By the time I figured out it wasn’t, that he was dangerous, it was too late.
” Her voice cracked. “And now he’s here, in this town, and I don’t know how to make it stop. ”
Monster swore under his breath, fists tightening on the table. Drifter pushed away from the counter, his arms finally dropping, his jaw set. “Then we stop him,” Drifter said simply, his tone leaving no room for argument.
Monster nodded, his gaze burning into hers. “You’re not alone anymore, Blitz. You got us. Both of us.”
Her throat tightened as she looked between them—two men haunted by their pasts, vowing to protect her despite her mistakes. For the first time in as long as she could remember, she felt something close to hope—and that scared the hell out of her.
Josie hadn’t shown up at the house after school, as she usually did, and Blitz was worried. It had been a few days with no sight or word from Reid, and she worried that he was just waiting for his chance. “She’s still not home,” she told Drifter, as she walked into the kitchen.
“Shit,” he said, tossing the coffee from his mug into the sink. “I’ll call down to the funeral home to see if she stopped by there on her way home.”
“Okay, and I’ll call Monster to see if she’s at the club,” she said.
The three of them hadn’t really discussed what had happened almost a week ago.
Blitz had sex with both of them, but not the way that she wanted, and that was going to have to be discussed at some point.
The guys seemed to avoid the subject every time it seemed to come up, and neither of them so much as touched her since their time together.
She was beginning to think that she had made a horrible mistake sleeping with first Monster and then Drifter.
Maybe they were worried that their friendship couldn’t handle sharing her, and that was a valid concern.
Her cell rang and she let out a breath when she saw that it was Josie. “Hey,” she breathed into the phone.
“You need to come out front,” Josie ordered. Her voice sounded shaky, and if Blitz wasn’t mistaken, she had been crying.
“Are you okay?” Blitz almost whispered, not wanting to alarm Drifter.
“No, and you need to come out alone, or he said that he’ll hurt me, Blitz,” the sob that filled the other end of the call nearly ripped her heart out of her chest. There was no way that she’d let Reid hurt Blitz. This wasn’t that poor girl’s fight—it was hers.
“I’m on my way,” Blitz whispered. She pocketed her cell phone and ran to the front door, wanting to waste no time getting to Josie.
“Where are you going?” Drifter asked from the kitchen. She didn’t bother to turn around to answer him. She gave him no answer at all. Blitz could only focus on getting out to Josie and convincing Reid to take her instead.
She was just about to Josie when Reid stepped out from behind the teenager, gun pointed at her side. She knew that if she spooked Reid, he’d end up shooting Josie, and at that range, he’d kill her.
“Let her go,” she ordered.
Reid’s laugh was mean. “You’re not the one calling the shots here, honey. You tried that once when you told me to move out and look how that turned out.”
“I’m the one you want, Reid. Just let Josie go, and we can talk this all out,” she lied. From the smirk on his face, he knew it too.
“Liar,” he sneered. Josie sobbed, and he shoved her at Blitz.
“Here, she can go. I’m sick of her whining anyway,” he spat. “You and I can have a nice private chat once the brat is out of the way.”
Blitz pulled Josie in for a quick hug and whispered into her ear.
“Run to the house.” Josie nodded against Blitz’s shoulder and took off for the house, right into Drifter’s arms, who apparently watched the whole thing.
She shook her head at him when he made a move towards her and Reid.
That was the last thing she wanted—for him to get tangled up in her mess even more.
“I see you still don’t follow directions very well, do you, honey?” Reid asked.
“I didn’t know that he’d follow me,” she insisted.
“Please, just lose the gun, and we can talk. I promise to do whatever you want me to do, Reid.” She had told him that same thing the night that she kicked him out, and he beat her.
Blitz knew that she wouldn’t have been able to endure much more, and she begged him to stop hitting her—promising him that she’d do whatever he wanted.
“I don’t believe you,” he said. She didn’t bother to look back to see if Drifter was still standing on the front porch. She knew that he was. She could feel his eyes boring into the back of her head. Blitz needed to play things cool or she’d give herself away.
“But I mean it,” she insisted, taking a step toward him. She went up on her tiptoes and gently kissed his lips, allowing him to take over the kiss. She felt sick every time he let his tongue swipe into her mouth. She wanted to gag, but she needed him distracted enough to get the gun from him.
“See,” she breathlessly said, “would I kiss you like that if I didn’t mean it.
Just put the gun away, and we can talk everything out.
” He looked her over as though trying to decide if he wanted to believe her or not.
When Reid finally put the gun into his waistband, she blew out the breath she didn’t know that she was holding.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“Come on,” he said, grabbing her hand. “We’re going for a little ride. He turned around, her hand in his own, and ran right into Monster. He was like a brick wall, and Blitz had never been so happy to see anyone in her whole life.
“You again,” Reid hissed, seeming to remember Monster from that day in the parking lot.
“Yep, me again, asshole,” he sneered. Monster took a menacing step toward him, and Blitz gasped.
“He has a gun,” she shouted.
“Yeah, so do I,” Monster said, pulling his cut to the side to show off the gun in his hip holster. “I told you that you won’t touch her again. She has my protection.”
“And mine,” Drifter said from behind her. “Now take your hands off of our woman.”
Reid sneered, trying to stand taller. “She doesn’t need protection. She needs someone who actually loves her. The two of you can’t give her that. I’ve been watching you with her, and neither of you really wants her.”
Monster’s fist slammed into Reid’s gut before he could finish the rest of what he was saying. Reid doubled over, choking on the air ripped from his lungs.
Drifter stepped in smoothly, grabbing Reid by the collar and slamming him against a tree so hard that he groaned.
Drifter’s grin never faded, but his eyes burned cold.
“You listening now?” Reid moaned his answer.
“Good. Because this is the only warning you’re gonna get.
You so much as breathe near Blitz or Josie again, you won’t be walking away. ”
Monster loomed close, his presence heavy, his voice a growl in Reid’s ear. “She’s ours to protect. Not yours to chase. You so much as show your face again, and you’ll regret it.”
Blitz stood behind them, her heart hammering, fear and relief tangled together. She’d never seen two men look so united, so terrifying in their resolve.
Reid stumbled when Drifter finally released him, clutching his stomach, his eyes wide with fury—but he didn’t argue. He didn’t say anything, just started for his car that was parked a few houses down the road.
“You’re just going to let him go?” Josie shouted from the front porch.
“I fucking told you to stay in the house, Josie,” Drifter yelled back. Josie’s gaze drifted back to where Reid was getting into his car, and Blitz knew that something was wrong. She turned to find Reid running toward the three of them, pointing his gun at Monster.
“Shit,” Drifter shouted. Everything seemed to speed up around them, except for the three of them.
Monster and Drifter shielded her from Reid as Monster pulled the gun from its holster.
He got off the first shot before Reid even knew what was happening.
Blitz watched as her ex fell to the sidewalk, his red blood pooling around him.
“Is he dead?” she whispered. Neither guy answered her. They were in full-on protective mode. Drifter kept her behind his body as Monster moved in on Reid to see if he was still breathing.
“He’s dead,” Monster shouted back to them.
“Josie, go call the cops,” he ordered. Drifter wrapped his arms around her, and Monster crossed the yard, holding her from behind.
The three of them stood there like that for what felt like an eternity, and when the cops finally showed up, wanting to ask her a gazillion questions, neither man left her side.
They were giving her the same hope that they had just days ago when they promised to protect her, but now, she wanted so much more from them than their protection.
She wanted them, and somehow, some way, she was going to figure out a way to make that happen.