The Last Betrayal (2 page)

“Want to have some fun later?” She flutters her too long lashes at me. Yeah, like that shit is going to work on me.

I stare at her like she has three heads. “You shitting me right now?”

Her eyes go wide, and she takes a step back. I guess my face must look menacing enough to make her back off. I continue to glare at her ‘til she turns around and walks to the other end of the bar, grabs a towel and pretends to clean.

I shake me head and take a long pull on my beer. The cold liquid flows down my throat in a cool embrace, pouring into my stomach and creating a lovely cool puddle. Licking my lips, I turn to look around. No one is in the main room with me. I’m that miserable that I must have an angry red aura surrounding me. I don’t give a fuck. Everyone can just fuck off.

I stare down at my Corona, my hands absently outlining the letters on the bottle, lost in thought about what Lauren is up to. Not that I really give a shit.

“Champ?”

Prez. Joy oh joy. “What?” I respond gruffly, not gracing him with a look, no emotion showing on my face other than annoyance.

“Don’t speak to me like that, boy,” he warns me. “You need to cheer the fuck up and move on.”

“You telling me what to do?” I ask, incredulously. “Just because you have a happy marriage, doesn’t mean we all have to have one.”

He growls low in his throat, another warning at my tone, I guess. “I’m trying to look out for you, son. You’re making it difficult for anyone to help you.”

I release a heavily burdened sigh. He has a point; I am making shit difficult. “Sorry, Prez. I’m just enraged, resentful...all of those fucked up emotions.”

“There’s a party here tonight, maybe you can find some sweet pussy to get lost in for a few hours. That should help.” He pats me on the back as he turns to leave, stalking out of the room with a swagger only he can pull off.

I sit and contemplate the Prez’s words. He’s right. A little blonde slut’s pussy would be perfect right now. I need to fuck Lauren out my system before I have a meltdown in front of the brothers.

I finish my beer and remove my ass from the stool, intent on heading to my room for a power nap before the party. Shit isn’t that easy though.

“Champ!” Chip yells over to me from the patio doors. “Come here, brother.”

Ugh, seriously? Can no fucker leave me alone today? I walk over to him, irritated as hell. “What do you want, Chip?”

“Calm it, Champ. Just need a word.” He shakes his head at me before turning and stepping into the backyard.

“Can it not wait? I want to have a sleep before the party tonight,” I ground out, fighting to keep the anger out of my voice.

“Not really, it’s been hard enough trying to approach you the last month. This can’t wait though,” he replies, taking a seat on one of the two plastic chairs on the far side of the yard, away from others enjoying the weather.

I take the other, folding my arms across my chest and staring at Chip and raising my brow.

“Look, you can sit there and try to intimidate me all you want, but it’s not going to work. So drop that shit and listen.” He throws me a stern look before going on to explain why he asked to talk to me.

“It’s about Lauren,” he starts.

I clench my jaw at hearing her name on his lips. He knows I don’t want to hear a word about her, hell, every fucker here knows that. But he continues anyway.

“She’s moving away.”

“What?” I shout, pounding my fist on the metal patio table between us. “Why the hell is she leaving?” Why do I even care? I slowly relax back into my chair, an impassive expression on my face.

“No idea where. Cobra told me this morning.” He shakes his head at my sudden aloofness to his information. “Are you okay?”

“Sure. She isn’t mine to tell what to do,” I reply, getting to my feet and blindly wondering back inside the clubhouse. “Get me a whiskey neat please, Brandy,” I demand her, not looking away from my hands playing with a placemat.

“Here.” She places the tumbler in front of me before moving away quickly to the other side of the bar, putting as much distance between us as possible.

I sit on the stool, quietly contemplating my thoughts. Why would she want to move away? As far as I knew, her family and friends are all here in LA. Would she really just up and leave her best friend?

I shove my hands through my unruly blond hair, frustrated that I can’t even call her to ask. Instead of worrying about what the fuck she does, I down my whiskey and order another. I’m going to get shitfaced and forget all about her.

“Alexis?” I say into my cell when the call is connected. “Hello?”

“Hey, Lauren! What’s up?” her cheery voice greets me after a few seconds of silence.

“Nothing much. You busy?” I ask, pacing my kitchen. I’ve been doing this since I received a text message this morning. I honestly think I’ve worn a hole in the laminate flooring.

“Not particularly. Cobra is just heading out on a run,” she states.

I hear a motorcycle starting in the background and guess he’s just leaving.

“Could you come over for a few? I need my best friend,” I choke out as my fight with holding back tears is defeated. Once again, I try to swallow them down, but they seem to have a mind of their own and stream down my face.

“I’m coming over now, make us some coffee, and I’ll see you in five.”

The incessant ringing tells me the line is dead, and I place my cell on the counter before pulling out the milk to make us two mugs of steaming caramel lattes.

Around fifteen minutes later, I hear Alexis’ cheery voice ring through my apartment. “Lauren? I’m here!”

“In the kitchen!” I yell back, setting the two mugs on the breakfast bar and taking a seat on one of the steel stools.

“Hey, chick. You okay?” she asks tentatively, taking the seat beside me, grabbing her coffee and swiveling around to face me.

“I had a text this morning,” I whisper, a lump forming in the back of my throat.

“Who from?” A look of curiosity crosses her face.

“Champ,” I mumble. A lone tear slides down my left cheek. I miss him. I do. But I had no choice but to leave him. He would never understand the hatred I have for myself because of it, about my own self-destruction. My body isn’t beautiful anymore, it’s marred with scars from a month ago. A devastating situation that brought harrowing pain on me both mentally and physically. My scars are proof of the evilness that occurred. Of the men that took me, beat me and stabbed me, torturing me with the hopes they could break me. Well, they didn’t.

A shiver racks through my body, anxiety pulling in my gut as I remember those days that tore my life apart. I remember the mouldy smell of the dingy mattress in the damp room, the blood oozing from my open abdomen and my ankle chained, painfully constricting the blood that flows to my foot. I’m not the same girl anymore. I’ve changed. I’m a recluse. I tend not to leave my apartment unless necessary, knowing that people know what happened and stare at me like I’m some sort of alien. I can’t stand the looks of pity that other people throw at me either.

“Lauren?” Alexis snaps her fingers in front of my face, and I shake my head to clear the torment ripping through my brain.

“Sorry, I zoned out. Happens a lot these days,” I remark, giving her a small smile.

She pats my hand resting by the side of my mug before saying, “What did the text say?”

I grab my phone, the text open as no matter how much I wanted to, I couldn’t bring myself to close or delete it, and handed it to Alexis. I look away and close my eyes, hoping she could do something I couldn’t. “You can delete it after.”

I turn back to her and watch her read the text intently. Her jaw ticked the further on she reads before her eyes lift to mine. “Is he fucking shitting me right now?”

“Exactly.” I shrug a shoulder before taking a sip of my now lukewarm coffee, anything to get rid of this perpetually dry lump in my throat.

“Lauren...” she trails off. She swallows and her eyes mist over. “What a bastard.”

“Yep, my thoughts exactly.”

The intercom buzzing broke the silence of the room where we had both been lost in our own thoughts. Alexis gets up to answer it, and I give her a grateful smile.

“Hello?” she says into the intercom phone. “Fuck you, Champ. You are not welcome here… No… She doesn’t want to see you…Have you lost your fucking mind?”

Her voice rises to a high-pitched squeal before she slams the phone into its cradle. Stalking towards me, her face turns an angry shade of red. “The doorman let him in because he was making such a fuss. I’m sorry, babe.”

“It’s okay. I will have to face him at some point,” I mumble in return, lowering my head and taking a few steady breaths so I can appear calm when I face him.

The front door flies open and heavy boots thunder along the hallway floor towards us. Breathe in and out, in and out. Okay, I got this.

I stand, turning to the archway of the kitchen, ready to face him. My limbs are shaking, and I’m finding it difficult to stand so I lean back against the breakfast bar, crossing my arms over my chest, my posture relaxed. I am not intimidated.

His eyes display his hatred toward me, and I swallow hard, fighting that damn lump in my throat. This isn’t going to be fun.

“Lauren,” he spits out, eyeing me from head to toe in disdain.

“What do you want, Champ?” I sigh, cocking my head to the side slightly, trying to look as if nothing was wrong even though my insides were churning.

“Did you not get my text?” His cold tone did nothing to make me feel at ease.

“Unfortunately, yes. Is that all you came by for? You kind of wasted your breath and your time by coming here. I don’t want to see you or speak with you.” I feel my chest getting tight and the panic clawing up my throat. Bile turning over in my stomach makes me feel nauseous.

“Lauren, I just want to talk.” He sighs, shaking his head. “I miss you.”

“And? You think that horrid little text you sent me was going to convince me to take you back? I don’t think so, buddy.”

“Please. I haven’t done anything wrong to you. Or if I have, you haven’t explained to me what,” he pleads. Desperation clouds his beautiful, blue eyes. I can still see the hatred there, but that’s my fault for leaving, not explaining the why and what to him before running away.

I sigh, biting the inside of my cheek, contemplating whether to talk to him. “Okay. Fine. Ten minutes.”

“I’ll go. I’ll call you later, babe. Okay?” Alexis turns me so I’m facing her. “Or call me if you need me, Lauren.”

“Okay,” I whisper.

She kisses my cheek, throws a sorrowful and pity filled look at Champ, and exits. Hey, isn’t she supposed to be on my side?

I round the breakfast bar to pour us both a coffee and to busy my shaking hands.

The scraping of the stool against the floor alerts me that Champ has taken a seat behind me. I close my eyes and take a deep breath before turning around to place the coffees down, one in front of him. I remain standing in the kitchen, keeping the breakfast bar between us as a protective buffer of sorts.

The silence permeating the room was deafening, and the tension could be cut with a knife.

“Speak then, Champ, or just go.” I sigh, not wanting to have this conversation.

“Why did you leave, Lauren?” He looks into my eyes searching for the answers that he won’t see there.

“It’s hard to talk about,” is all I say in return.

“Please? You owe me that much, Lauren. I fucking loved you!” His voice raised higher as his little speech went on until I felt sure my neighbors could hear him yell.

“You don’t and won’t ever understand, even if I tell you, Champ,” I whisper, eyes downcast and playing with my mug.

“I beg you, Lauren. I can’t fucking sleep, eat or anything without you. You’re killing me.” His tone levels out. I look into his bright eyes and see the torment behind them and it tears at something inside me.

Fuck it. I have nothing to lose. “I left because of me. My body. It’s freakin’ ruined, Champ, and I didn’t want you to see me. The new me.” Tears start falling down my heated cheeks, and I make no attempt to stop them. “I’m embarrassed and ashamed of what those assholes did to me. They’ve turned my body into a monster’s body. It’s horrible.”