My body was literally trembling with the force of my rage.
I’d known he was coming. I’d gotten word a couple of days ago. It was why I’d had protection in place. While I knew he’d never hurt me—not physically, anyway—I hadn’t been sure who else might have come along for the ride. For all I’d known, that asshole, Mason, could’ve come on down, or one of his other heavy-handed club brothers. That self-righteous prick hated me with a vengeance. He wouldn’t have hesitated to force whatever it was that they’d wanted out of me, I was sure. For everything he thought he knew about me, his fierce revulsion of me was really rooted in him believing that I’d taken Cole from him. With everything that’d gone down the last time I’d been around Mason, his and Cole’s friendship had fractured and it’d never fully recovered. I doubted it ever would. Of course, instead of putting the blame where it’d belonged—onto the two of them—Mason had tarred me as the scapegoat.
I hadn’t meant for things to turn out the way they had back then.
Did Mason and his fucking club really think I’d wanted that? It’d forced me from the man I loved, ripped away any chance of finally belonging to a family. With the way they all felt about me, it’d become impossible for Cole and me to remain together. I’d made the break, knowing that it’d been tearing him apart, trying to make a choice between his revered club that meant everything to him, that’d finally given him a home for the first time since he’d lost his parents as a kid, and me, the only woman he’d ever let himself fall for so completely.
And it’d shattered me.
I’d ended up alone. Again.
It’d been different, though. I’d let myself open up with Cole, been vulnerable to allow love into my life. Before, being alone hadn’t affected me, because I’d forced myself to remain cold and unfeeling. A survival tactic. But after opening up like that, having to go back to that lonely, awful life I’d had before hurt. It’d hurt so much.
I’d managed to take some comfort in the two of us still seeing each other once in a blue moon. Whenever Cole ventured away from the Steel Titans to the underground fighting circuit every few months, we arranged to see each other in secret.
Just like six weeks ago.
Six weeks ago when we’d been all over one another, fucking every spare moment that he hadn’t been in the ring beating the crap out of some poor bastard in an attempt to exorcise his demons.
Six weeks ago when he hadn’t been the cold-hearted, son of a bitch with a single-minded focus on his stupid Steel Titans mission.
Coming at me like that earlier with nothing but indifference toward me had been soul-destroying. And the timing couldn’t have been worse either. There was something I’d been meaning to tell him for the last couple of weeks. It hadn’t felt right to do it via a text message, or a secret phone call. When I’d found out he was headed down to me, it’d seemed perfect. I couldn’t have been more wrong about that. There was no way I could tell him while he was putting up a wall between us, in order to focus on his mission and nothing but.
Running my fingers through my hair, while taking several deep breaths to try to calm myself, I made my way out to the balcony of my condo, located on the outskirts of the city. I wrapped my cropped denim jacket tightly around me as I leaned over the railing, taking in the view of the cityscape. The wind was really picking up. There was heavy cloud cover.
A storm was coming.
In more ways than one.
I knew Cole would show up again very soon.
He might’ve let me go earlier, but that was because he knew I was impossible to talk to when I lost my temper. He knew he’d make no headway until I calmed down.
I was certain he wouldn’t stop, though. When Cole had a mission to complete for Slade Mitchell, he was like an unstoppable machine. He would keep coming until he achieved what he’d been sent to do.
Slade knew what he was doing. He was aware that Cole Taylor was my one weakness, my indisputable Achilles Heel. I didn’t want to take off into the ozone now. I wanted to see the man I loved again. Hell, I wanted to keep seeing him. I wanted us to be together.
But what hope was there down that road, really?
We’d already tried and failed.
He could never bring me into his world. His club would never accept me, especially after what’d happened a few years ago.
And I couldn’t bring Cole into my world. He’d never leave the Steel Titans. It was more than a job to him. It was his family, his whole identity.
It was hopeless.
And whatever Slade had sent him to get from me, I couldn’t give.
It was too dangerous. For everyone. He didn’t realize just how much.
I pushed off the railing and hurried back into my condo.
I had to leave.
Now.
I was pretty sure Cole had figured out where I was staying. He wouldn’t have put himself in a position to lose my tail after going to so much trouble to track me in the first place. I wasn’t an easy woman to find for a damned good reason.
Hightailing it to my bedroom, I hurried over to the closet and pulled out my go-bag containing everything I needed to take off on a whim and start a new life anywhere I pleased. A pang of regret hit me. I’d done this too many times. When would it end? When would I be at peace, be safe?
I hauled the gym bag over my shoulder and spun around… right into a wall of hard muscle.
“Shit!” I shrieked, jolting back, my bag slipping from
