Page 168 of Girth (Marked Skulls MC 1)
“I haven’t seen that fact in play.”
“Because all you see is what you want to see. You want to convince yourself this will never happen because you were shocked to see me that day after the night we spent together. And I get it. Maybe you wanted me to wake up next to you and kiss you through your morning breath and tell you how beautiful you were with the sunlight pouring against your skin. But that type of language is reserved for my wife. The woman I marry. No other woman deserves that from me other than the woman that’s going to put up with me for the rest of my life. I wasn’t giving it to you that morning because you weren’t my wife. Then I met you that afternoon and realized you would be, and my tune changed. Not because I was trying to save face or hide things from our families, but because your status in my life changed. Immediately. So, I changed along with it.”
His words hit me like a slap across my face. I wanted to be angry with him. I wanted to yell at him and scream at him and berate him for what I saw. But if what he was saying was true, then it defined him as a decent man. It meant I had called off a wedding to a decent human being. Which meant I was the one that overreacted.
And I wasn’t ready to admit that yet.
That I was in the wrong with this one.
“I don’t believe you,” I said.
“It doesn’t matter if you believe me, Serena. The only thing that matters is that I’m telling the truth. And despite how you think I feel, I’m not angry with you. Confused and frustrated, yes. Because marriage requires communication.”
“We aren’t engaged.”
“Doesn’t change the fact that any relationship requires communication. And you’d rather ignore my calls and send your father after me than talk with me like a woman should. You’d rather run for the shadows and live comfortably in your parents’ home for the rest of your life than take a chance on something you keep tossing away because you won’t communicate when you think I’ve screwed up.”
“This is not my fault,” I said.
“No. Because nothing’s the daughter’s fault. If you want to be a grown woman, Serena, then start acting like one.”
I felt my anger flare back up. I didn’t have to stand there and take that kind of language from him. I didn’t have to stand there and listen to some sexy asshole reprimand me like I was a child.
“Are you done communicating?” I asked.
“Yes,” Enzo said.
“Good. Because so am I.”
Then I turned down the alleyway, put one foot in front of the other, and stormed off.
The only issue?
Enzo was hot on my heels.
Chapter 17
Enzo
“We’re not done talking.”
“Why the hell did you follow me?” Serena asked.
“Because unlike you, I can conduct myself like an adult!”
“I don’t want to talk to you. I have nothing to say. We are no longer engaged and you have no claim to me.”
“No man has claim to any other woman!”
“Then why the hell did you beat that guy down in the middle of the club!?”
“Because he didn’t deserve to touch you,” I said.
We were standing on the porch of Serena’s parents, and I was glad they were gone. I didn’t know where they were or when they would be back, and I didn’t care. Things were still unresolved between me and their daughter and if things were going to work, we had to hash this out from beginning to end.
No matter what.
“Just go away,” Serena said.
“No. I’m not.”
“Would you really have been this annoying had we gotten married?” she asked.
“And then some.”
“Then it’s a good thing I broke it off,” she said.
She opened the door to her house and I followed her in. I closed the door behind me and followed her through to the kitchen. She was slamming cabinets and pulling out something from the fridge. She poured herself a drink and chugged it back. I could see her hands were shaking and I hated she felt this way with me. I hated that I put her on edge as much as I did.
“Go home, Enzo.”
“Not unless you come with me,” I said.
“You’re never getting me back to that place,” Serena said.
“Then we’ll find another home and buy it.”
“We aren’t engaged. There is no ‘we’.”
“Not in my book,” I said.
“Oh, so even though my father called yours and called off the engagement, you think I’m still yours.”
“What is this thing with you and ownership?” I asked. “I don’t own you. No man does. I want you to be mine because I care about you, but you’re not property.”
I watched her set her glass down on the counter as her brow furrowed together. Her beautiful, seductive stare panned over to me and I stood my ground. If this was what it took, then so be it. If I had to admit how I was beginning to feel for her in order to get her to listen, then I would do that.
Because I wasn’t afraid like she was. I wasn’t scared like she was.
“Say that again?” Serena asked.
“I want you to be mine because I care about you. But you’re not property, Serena.”
“You care about me,” she said.
“Yes.”
“Did you care about me when I woke up in that bed by myself?” she asked.
“I cared enough to make sure you had everything you needed to get yourself cleaned up.”
“Did you care enough about me when you left me in your apartment without so much as a goodbye?” she asked.
“No,” I said.
“Then why the hell should I believe you now?”
“Because when we went back to my place after the club that night, you were a final venture. Just like I was to you. A last ditch effort to explore the world around me before being tied to another person forever. You want me to be a saint, Serena. But you know better. I’m no saint. And I never will be. But that night, you were a fling. Like I was to you. Then I stepped into your home and saw you standing in the corner and you were introduced as my fiance. So things changed. And you can’t fault me for that, because just that morning you were with another man as well. Even though I was the same person, that man you were with that morning was nothing more to you than a way to pass the time. So what are you really angry at, Serena? What is it that’s got you so damn bothered?”
Her hand was trembling around her glass as she relinquished it to the sink. I watched tears rise to her eyes as she leaned heavily against the kitchen counter. I wanted to run to her. To go to her. To wrap her in my arms and stroke my fingers through her hair and tell her that whatever this was, it would be all right. That I would help her navigate it and we would get through it together.
All she had to do was let me in.
“I had these… rules,” Serena said. “Rules I never broke with men. I never went back to their place, I never saw them more than once or twice, and if we ever met up to have sex it was somewhere neutral. Usually a hotel.”
I leaned against her kitchen table and crossed my arms over my chest.
“It was to keep from getting attached. Because I knew what my future was going to bring. I knew my parents were going to find my future husband for me. And I painted it to myself that I would never have to get my heart broken. I’d never have to volley through all the other horror stories my friends have of guys they’ve dated. But I broke my rule with you that night. The one rule that’s probably the most important.”
“Why?” I asked. “Why did you break that rule and come back with me? You could’ve said ‘no’. I would’ve footed the bill for the hotel. Hell, I would’ve put you up for the whole damn weekend.”
“Because I liked you,” she said.
I watched a tear stream down her cheek as she turned her back to me.
“There was something about your stare. Your eyes. They… sucked me in. Mesmerized me. I enjoyed the way you touched me. The way you kissed
me. The way you… saved me from that guy at the bar who wouldn’t take the hint. And that night was a fairytale. I experienced things with you I’d never had with any other man before. But I woke up that morning in that empty bed with you already clothed and leaving and it…”
“Brought you back to reality,” I said.
“I thought I was being stupid, so I got up and went home. But I couldn’t stop thinking about you and I couldn’t stop trying to figure out why you were so intriguing to me. I was even contemplating calling off the engagement before I even met you that afternoon simply because I wanted a chance to find you.”
I felt my heart swell with pride as I buried the grin growing on my face.
“You know I’m standing right here. In your kitchen. I haven’t changed. Not much, anyway.”
“That’s my fear,” she said breathlessly. “You’re a player. A womanizer in ways. In a classy way, but you still are. And the worst part is you don’t even see it. You don’t see that your respect for other women goes so far as to make it look like you’re hitting on them. Cousin or not. Your love and want to be with other women will be the downfall of us, and I care about you, Enzo. More than I should. So much more… and-”
I pushed off the kitchen table and began walking towards her. Serena’s entire body was trembling as tears rushed down her cheeks. I gripped her hips and lifted her with ease, placing her on the edge of the counter. She tried to push me away, but I stood my ground.
I wasn’t going anywhere.
