Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
CORD
The tightness in my shoulders had nothing to do with the weight attached to the bar I was currently lifting over my head and everything to do with Rory Hightower. That damn woman had gotten under my skin in such a way that I knew there was no digging her out.
It had been three days since our showdown in the alley behind the Tap Room. Three days since I gave her every ugly detail of my past, and I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her. Not once in three fucking days. The damn woman was even invading my dreams at night.
Every time I closed my eyes, an image of her appeared on the backs of my eyelids.
All that long, flowing black hair. That smooth, flawless creamy skin.
Those blue eyes that sparkled all on their own.
I could still remember the first time I saw her clear as day.
I walked into her bar, my eyes drifting over the impressive crowd before landing on her. And just like that, I was hooked.
She was the most beautiful woman I’d seen in my life.
I had to talk to this woman who set my blood on fire with just one look.
I had to know her. And the more I got to know, the tighter that tether between the two of us pulled, drawing me to her in a way that I’d seek her out just to see her smile or hear her soft, sultry laugh.
Then I went and fucked it all up.
I let the past mess with my head. I let guilt and a distorted sense of obligation cloud my judgment, and I picked the wrong woman.
I’d known it the moment it happened, but I was too much of a coward to do anything about it.
I couldn’t blame Rory for the doubt that muddled her beautiful eyes when she looked at me.
But I was going to make this right if it was the last goddamn thing I did.
The bar crashed down on the rack, and I pushed my body to a sitting position on the bench. “Rooster” by Alice In Chains blared through my earbuds as I lifted the towel and wiped the sweat from my forehead.
I’d been at it for well over an hour now, pushing my body harder and further than was healthy, but these workouts were the only way I could burn off some of the tension swirling around inside of me, twisting my gut into knots.
I moved to the pull-up bar across the room and lifted my tired arms to grab hold.
Ignoring the tremble in my biceps, I pulled myself up until my chin reached over the bar before lowering myself back down.
I did this over and over again as the music filtered through my ears and pushed out all thought of anything.
I spotted movement from the corner of my eye and turned just as Lincoln cleared the stairs that led from the offices on the first floor of Alpha Omega to the workout area that spanned the entire second level.
His eyes were pinned on me, his face like granite as he started in my direction. I let go of the bar and landed on my feet, pulling the buds from my ears as he got closer.
“We got a serious fuckin’ problem downstairs right now,” he gritted out, the muscle in his jaw ticking wildly.
“What’s goin’ on?”
“An unwanted visitor just walked in.”
My back stiffened, and every nerve in my body went on red alert. “Laurie?”
He nodded. “She’s down there right now throwin’ around attitude. Says she’s not leavin’ until she talks to you.”
Ice formed in my veins, and my temples began to throb. “Are you fuckin’ kidding me?”
“Wish I was,” he returned. “Told her she wasn’t welcome, but she won’t listen.
” He pulled in a breath in an effort to calm his anger.
“Hate to say this, brother, but I’m afraid you’re gonna have to go down there.
The guys are holdin’ her back, but you don’t show your face, I’m afraid Rox’ll rip the bitch’s hair out. ”
“I’ll handle it,” I bit out as I started for the stairs. I took them two at a time, my feet beating against the wood like thunder the entire way down.
When I cleared the stairwell and turned to the lobby, I saw Laurie in a standoff with Bryce, Xander, West, and our receptionist, Roxanne.
The air in the room was thick with hate and animosity, and it didn’t take a genius to know why.
Rox and these men were my family, and the woman standing in front of them had hurt me in a way that could never be forgiven as far as they were concerned.
They had my back, and they didn’t want her anywhere near me.
“The fuck are you doin’ here?”
At my snarled question, Laurie spun around. Her face changed the moment she saw me, the ice melting from her gaze as her eyes grew warm. “Cord,” she breathed, her voice coming out a delicate whisper.
In the past, that gentle look and voice would’ve been enough to undo me. It was how Laurie got her way so many times. With our history and the way I’d felt about her, I’d cave in an instant.
But not anymore. Now it only pissed me off that she’d try and play me the way she had for years after what she’d done.
“Asked you a question,” I snapped, then repeated, “What the fuck are you doin’ here, Laurie?”
Her frame locked up and she jerked back in surprise.
I was sure it wasn’t the reaction she’d been expecting.
“I-I wanted to… I wanted to see you.” She cast her eyes around the room, chewing on her bottom lip nervously even though she’d just been in a standoff with the very same people before I entered.
It was all for show. Poor delicate Laurie Dutton who needed protecting from all the bad in the world.
What a crock of shit.
“Got nothin’ to say to you,” I grunted, crossing my arms. The move pulled her gaze to my chest, and I stood still, watching as she looked me up and down.
I’d been in a pair of black mesh athletic shorts and a white T-shirt, but halfway through my workout, I’d pulled the shirt off, tucking it in the waistband of my shorts and leaving me bare chested.
Her eyes darkened with a familiar heat as she took me in.
She’d always loved my chest and arms. She said she felt so small and safe when I held her against me.
I could tell when her attention caught on the scars the bullets that had torn through my body left behind, the heat fading as she winced.
I felt an ugly smile pull at my lips as I taunted, “What? Don’t like what you see anymore now that it’s not perfect?”
“Cord, I—” She shook her head and worked to clear her expression of the uncertainty before she locked eyes with me once more. “Can we talk? In private?”
“That’s not gonna happen,” Xander said, the rage radiating off him filling the room and making everyone wired.
He was the hardest out of all the brothers I worked with at Alpha Omega.
There was an underlying darkness to him.
Most of the time, he kept it in check, but when he lost that tenuous hold, he was downright scary.
And right now, he couldn’t be bothered to keep himself in check.
“Told you already, you’re not welcome here, so get. The fuck. Gone.”
Normally, Laurie wasn’t cowed by anyone, but even she wasn’t stupid enough not to read the danger coming off the big man when she looked over at him. This time, when she turned back to me, the fear and uncertainty in her eyes was very real. “Cord, please,” she whispered.
I felt absolutely nothing as I looked at her then. There was no love, no loyalty to the girl who’d been the only constant in my life. As far as I was concerned, I owed her nothing.
“That’s not gonna happen. I haven’t seen you in seven fuckin’ months, Laurie. You lost the right to ask for my time and attention when you proved just how weak you were by taking off when I was laid up in a hospital bed. You’ve got absolutely nothing to say that I want to hear.”
“I was scared,” she cried, tears welling up in her eyes as she took a step closer to me.
At that, Roxanne jumped into action, shooting out from behind her desk and stopping partially in front of me to block Laurie from getting any closer.
“You were scared?” she hissed, her brightly painted fingernails disappearing as she curled her hands into tight fists.
Roxanne could throw attitude when she wanted to—and she normally wanted to a lot—but this was different.
This wasn’t attitude. This was hatred for a woman who betrayed a man she cared about.
“How the hell do you think he was feelin’?
Lyin’ out in that cold all by himself, blood pourin’ from his body into the dirt all around him.
You think he wasn’t terrified, hopin’ and prayin’ someone would find him?
You think he wasn’t scared when he woke up in the hospital with tubes stickin’ outta his body?
No one gives a good goddamn if you were scared, little girl.
Only person we care about is him.” She threw her thumb back in my direction before slamming her hands down on her plump hips.
“And far’s we’re concerned, he’s better off bein’ shot of a coward like you. ”
“Rox,” Linc said in low warning, but she wasn’t having any of it.
“Nuh-uh,” she clipped, throwing a sassy look toward her boss before turning on Laurie once again.
And what she said next shocked me to my core.
“There was only one woman who spent every second by his side from the moment he came out of surgery until he woke up. One woman who refused to go home for days. And it wasn’t you.
Rory Hightower stayed by his side night and day, sleepin’ in an uncomfortable-as-hell chair so he wouldn’t wake up and be alone, houndin’ his doctors for constant updates and strong-armin’ the nurses to make sure he didn’t feel even the slightest bit of discomfort.
Hell, when it came time to bathe him, she kicked them out and did it her damn self.
Wouldn’t even leave long enough to grab some food or a cup of coffee.
She was so goddamn busy takin’ care of him that it was up to us to take care of her.
She did your job, and she did it without a single thought of herself.
And trust me, that girl was just as scared as you were, but she showed a strength you’re not capable of.
So do everyone in this town, especially Cord, a favor and crawl back into whatever hole you been hidin’ in the past several months. ”
After Roxanne’s rant, Laurie actually had the nerve to look at me with hurt seeping into her expression.
And I knew exactly why. She’d been threatened by Rory from the moment I introduced them.
She didn’t want her to be a part of my life, and hearing that it was Rory who’d been there for me—even if I hadn’t known the extent until now—was a betrayal on my part as far as she was concerned.
But I didn’t care. I was done. And it was time for Laurie Dutton to exit my life for good.
“I don’t know where it is you’ve been, and I really don’t care. You need to turn around right now and go back there. Whatever you and I had in the past is gone.”
And with that, I spun on my running shoes and headed back up the stairs, hoping that was the last I’d ever see of her.
The moment I cleared the landing, I moved to the punching bag in the far corner of the room. For half an hour, I took my frustration and guilt and shame out on that bag. Each punch carried the weight of my self-hatred.
The skin on my knuckles split open wider with every blow, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t stop. The pain in my hands was nothing compared to what I felt when Rory looked at me with tears in her eyes. Knowing I’d hurt her was an agony I never wanted to experience again.
I knew Rory had stayed at the hospital with me; she’d told me so herself. But to know she hadn’t left my side once, that she’d neglected herself for days just to make sure I was being properly taken care of, that she’d gone as far as bathing my unconscious body...
Fuck, I was such a fucking asshole.
I had no choice. I had to somehow fix the damage I’d caused. Because without Rory, I’d never be whole. And I was tired of living half a life.