“Take care of her,” I tell him as I straddle my bike and adjust my helmet.
“I will, better than you ever could,” Roman replies.
Chapter Fourteen
Tessa
* * *
“It’s unfair for Roman to take his anger out on Verek,” I tell Charlotte once we’re inside the house. “I’m just as guilty.”
“Not really,” she says. “And we were worried sick about you when I finally found your note! I can’t believe you left without telling me what you were doing!”
“Would you have let me leave if I had? No, you wouldn’t have, Charlotte,” I explain to her. “And I needed to do this, more than you can probably ever understand.”
Before she can respond, Roman comes storming back in. Pointing his finger at the sofa behind us, his chest heaving with fury underneath his leather cut, he says, “Sit down and tell me every fucking thing you two did so we can try and clean it up.”
“Watch your tone with her!” Charlotte warns him.
Taking a deep breath, he closes his eyes for a second. When he opens them again, he says, “I’m sorry, Tessa. But the two of you are acting like crazed teenagers who could be in deep shit right now.”
“Everything went fine,” I say to him honestly. “Really, Roman. We’re not stupid.”
“Tell me everything, from the beginning,” he says, walking over and taking a seat on the edge of one of the sofas.
“Fine,” I say with a sigh as I follow him with Charlotte right behind me. “But after I finish telling you this, I’m going to get a shower and go to bed, not sit here arguing with you for hours. You can have your opinions, but it’s done and over now. I appreciate you letting me stay with you, but if you’re going to bitch about it all the time from now on, I’ll find somewhere else to stay.”
Charlotte glares at Roman as if in warning, before he grits out, “Fine. Talk and I’ll keep my thoughts to myself.”
I sit down and start from the beginning at the funeral home, all the way until the end at the boathouse, which is apparently a big surprise to Roman. While he looked calm for the most part during the story, other than grinding his teeth to dust, his green eyes widen, and his face turned a bright tomato red at that point.
“So, all four men are dead. The setup with Floyd looks like he killed himself because of the guilt, and then he pointed fingers at the other guys for their involvement, which will lead the police to believe that the other three are on the run.”
“See, that doesn’t sound so bad,” Charlotte says into the silence that follows the conclusion of my report. “They were smart. Maybe it was better to keep the rest of you out of this since it’s less likely someone will notice two people passing through town compared to ten Savage Kings storming through.”
“I need to make some calls,” Roman mutters when he gets to his feet and walks out the door, letting it slam behind him.
“Guess he’s going to yell at Cannon and Conrad for not calling him,” I predict.
“I’m surprised they didn’t call,” Charlotte remarks.
“They were trying to help Verek out, I think, knowing he was in enough trouble with Roman already,” I explain. “And it’s wrong for Roman to demand that he leave and stay away from me! I’m a grown woman.”
“I know that,” Charlotte says softly. “Roman isn’t trying to boss you around and tell you what to do. He just wants to make sure you don’t get your heart broken while you try to heal the rest of yourself. Don’t you understand that? He’s told me a lot about Verek, and based on his history, Verek isn’t known for being loyal to one woman for very long, as in not more than a few hours.”
“You think I don’t know the type of guy Verek is, a man as hot as he is, inked up and riding a Harley, working in a nightclub with beautiful women surrounding him all the time?” I reply. “I get it, I do. But I think he’s different with me.”
“What about Paul?” Charlotte asks, his name washing over me like a bucket of ice-cold water.
“What about him?”
“A little over two months ago, he was your fiancé. You thought he was the perfect man. You were going to marry him and spend your life together because you loved him!”
“I remember,” I tell her. “But things changed.”
“Nothing that happened to you was Paul’s fault. Doesn’t he at least deserve a second chance to be with you, to see if you still love him or not?”
“How many times have I told you?” I groan while scrubbing my hands over my tired face. “I may love him, but I can’t talk to him. Not yet. And even if or when I’m ready, I don’t think we can ever go back to the way things were before.”
“How do you know unless you try?” she asks.
Too exhausted for this argument again, I just simply say, “You’re right,” as I get to my feet. “Maybe someday. Just not today or tomorrow or even next week. Please, Charlotte, don’t bring him up again. Please?”
“Okay,” she agrees with a sigh.
“Thank you,” I reply. “Now, I’m going to get a quick shower and go to bed. I’m sorry I made you worry about me, but I was fine with Verek. If anything, having him stay away is going to hurt me. Can’t you try and explain that to Roman?”
“I can try, honey. I just think it’s a losing battle, and I can see Roman’s side of things,” she says, which I translate to mean, I agree with him.
Charlotte wants me to forget about Verek and go back to Paul.
But I can’t do that. I won’t do that.
The night I was kidnapped, I had already made my decision. I’m just too embarrassed to admit that to her or anyone else because I still believe that decision is why I deserved what happened to me.
Chapter Fifteen
Verek
* * *
After stopping by my town house to shove as many clothes as I could fit into my saddlebag, I climb on and take off down the highway, having no idea where I’m heading.
Each mile I put between myself and Tessa feels wrong, like I’m defying nature.
But Roman is right.
Everything that happened to her, all the abuse she endured, was my fault. With me out of the picture, and the men who hurt her dead, maybe Tessa will be able to patch things up with Paul and the wedding will be back on.
Miles of road pass me, and as the sun begins to rise in the sky, I realize that I’m heading south.
Florida seems as good a place as any if I have to leave Myrtle Beach.
The wind feels like it’s cutting into me through my hoodie without my leather cut. I had tried to get used to not wearing it while Tessa and I were on the road, but now that I know I can’t put it on, even if I wanted to, I feel naked, like less of the man I was before. And without my cut, I don’t deserve to wear the ink on my back.
Hopefully it’s just for the short term. In a few weeks, Roman will calm down and let me come back. If not, there are Savage Kings MC chapters in Florida too. I could start over.