“So?”
“Point is, darling, if this guy wants you alive, then your life has value.”
“You know, that’s the sweetest thing anyone has said to me in a long time.”
I swallowed hard. I turned back to the window. I was better off that way. Winter was driving me crazy. Her beauty, her voice, her appeared innocence, her need to be protected, it all turned me on. It was so bad that I was actually standing there at the kitchen sink getting hard.
It took me a few minutes to calm down before I could grab another beer.
I leaned against the back of the couch. “I don’t want to rip into fresh wounds here, but do you have any idea who would kill your husband?”
Winter coughed and grabbed for her drink. She drank, coughed, drank again. Her face was apple red and tears in her eyes. She turned in her chair and looked at me.
“What?”
“What did I say?” I asked.
“My husband?”
“Yeah. I was told you’re a widow.”
Winter stood up. She put her fingertips to the table to brace herself. Three beers in and she was already feeling it pretty good.
Why did it turn me on that she was a cheap drunk?
“I’ve never been married,” Winter said. “Get that straight.”
“Okay. I’m just going by what I was told.”
“Fuck what you were told,” Winter said. “I was never married to Rocky. I was his old lady. So, yeah, in the world of the MC, I’m a widow. But it’s not true. He never gave me a ring. He never asked me. I never got the gown and all that, okay? I was just his old lady.”
Jesus, Winter,” I said. “I’m sorry. You’re not a widow then. Your boyfriend was murdered. Fine. I can live with that then. I’m just…”
Winter stepped toward me. Her blue eyes drunk, anger all around her.
Anger made people do crazy things. Fight. Kill. The insatiable need to fuck or get fucked.
And I was against the couch. My only defense would be to roll back and over the couch.
But I didn’t.
Winter put a hand to my chest. “I was his old lady, Tripp. That meant anything he wanted, I did. No matter what. Like I was supposed to be some lucky woman, you know? Because I had him. I had protection from him and the MC. But that’s not how it fucking works. He got himself killed and now I’m out there. If someone from the MC wants me, they can stake their claim. Then I’ll just be an old lady again. I’ll get thrown around, smacked if I do something wrong, and then I’ll just be used. On my hands and knees, ass in the air, taking it… because he says so.”
I gritted my teeth.
Now I was angry.
Was this the life Winter had been living?
Winter blinked and tears filled her eyes.
I resisted the urge to touch her, comfort her.
I was here for business. To protect her. To keep her safe.
That was it.
Her hand moved up my chest to my neck. When his nails touched my skin, she set me on fire. My cock pressed against my jeans. There was no controlling it. She was making me hard and making it hard to keep my cool.
“So that’s how I feel,” Winter whispered. “I’m just here to be used up and thrown around. Is that what you want to do to me, Tripp? Go ahead. I’m drunk enough. Order me around. You want to fuck me?”
My hands shot out and I grabbed her by the waist. I pushed her back to the table. She crashed into it, knocking over all the empty beer bottles. They clanked on the table, a couple rolling off and hitting the floor.
I ignored everything but Winter’s wild eyes.
The tip of my nose touched hers.
Fuck, it was just so tempting. I could just go for it. I could just rip her clothes off, put her on the table, and fuck her brains out. We both wanted it. Shit, we both needed it. She wanted to feel protected and alive. I just wanted to fuck.
My hands squeezed tight at her waist.
She was almost panting.
Then a tear fell town her cheek.
I shut my eyes and sighed.
“Fuck,” I growled.
“Tripp…”
I pushed away from her and left Winter standing there, knees bent, hands gripping the edge of the table, her entire body screaming with a need for sex.
“You need to go to sleep,” I said. “Right now.”
“You don’t want to hear anything else?” she asked.
“Right now? No. I’m not here to baby you. I’m not your fucking therapist.”
Christ, Tripp.
I held myself like stone, just like I had done with Aldo when I thought he was going to kill me.
Winter’s mouth fell open. She blinked faster, more tears coming to her eyes.
“Fuck you,” she said. “Fucking asshole.”
“Go,” I ordered and pointed. “And don’t lock the door either. If you do, I’ll shoot it open.”
Winter ran into the bedroom and slammed the door.
I pictured her diving to her bed and crying.
My hands were shaking like loose leaves in an autumn breeze.
I spun around and threw a right fist at the wall. I smashed through the drywall but then quickly found out - and remembered - it was a fucking converted garage. My punch ended where the concrete wall began under the drywall.