Page 1 of Colt
Chapter 1
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— Colt —
Seven years is a long time to hate someone. Long enough for the rage to settle into your bones like an old injury that aches when the weather changes. Long enough for the sharp edges of betrayal to dull into something chronic—a low-grade fever that never quite breaks. Long enough to convince yourself you’ve moved on, that she doesn’t matter anymore, that the woman who destroyed you is nothing but a ghost.
And then you see her in the produce aisle at the supermarket, and all that careful distance collapses like a house of cards.
I’d stopped in Millfield’s only decent grocery store to grab beer for the clubhouse. Dutch had called church for this afternoon, and Handful had somehow managed to drink through our entire stock over the weekend. Normal errand. Routine shit. The kind of mindless task I could do on autopilot while my brain churned through the security protocols for the new Louisville territory.
I wasn’t expecting to see her.
But there she was, standing in front of the tomatoes like she hadn’t ripped my heart out and fed it to the wolves. Like she hadn’t cleaned out our bank account while I was on a club run and vanished into thin fucking air. Like she hadn’t vanished off the face of the earth seven years ago without so much as a goodbye.
Lilac.
My wife. My ex-wife. The woman I’d loved more than the open road and now hated just as much.
She looked different. Older, obviously—we both were. Her dark hair was longer now, falling past her shoulders in soft waves instead of the pixie cut she’d had when we were together. She’d put on a little weight, curves filling out the simple sundress she wore in ways that made my hands clench at my sides. Still beautiful. Still the kind of woman who could stop traffic without trying.
Those curves. I knew them. Knew exactly how she looked when the sundress came off, the weight of her in my hands, the way she’d go from looking all soft and sweet to absolutely relentless without a second’s warning—
I killed the thought before it could go further. That wasn’t information I needed right now.
She was still the lying, cheating bitch who’d abandoned me without a word.
I should have left. Should have grabbed the beer and walked out before she noticed me. But seven years of unanswered questions rooted me to the spot, and before I could think better of it, I was moving toward her.
“Lilac.”
Her name came out harder than I intended—more accusation than greeting. She turned at the sound, and I watched confusion flicker across her face before settling into something I didn’t recognize.
Not guilt. Not fear. Just… blankness. Like she was looking at a stranger.
“I’m sorry?” She tilted her head, a polite smile forming on her lips. “Do I know you?”
Do I know you?Was she fucking serious? I’d spent years of my life with this woman. Made her my old lady. Married her.Planned a future with her. And now she was standing there asking if she knew me?
“Don’t play games with me.” I stepped closer, close enough to smell the vanilla perfume she still wore—the same goddamn scent that used to cling to our pillows. “Seven years, Lilac. Seven years since you walked out on me, and you’re going to pretend you don’t know who I am?”
Her smile faltered. “Sir, I think you have me confused with someone else. I don’t know you.”
“Mama?”
The small voice stopped us both. I looked down to find two boys emerging from behind the shopping cart—identical twins, dark-haired and staring up at me with matching expressions of suspicion.
They couldn’t have been older than six or seven.
So this was why she’d left. She’d gotten pregnant by some other man and rather than face me, she’d run. Cleaned out our account to fund her new life with whoever had knocked her up. My Death’s Head brothers had been right all along—she’d been cheating just like they said she had, and this was the proof. This was confirmation of everything I’d believed for seven years.
“Mama, who is this man?” One of the boys stepped in front of Lilac, his small body positioned protectively between her and me. “Why is he talking to you like that?”
I looked at him. The set of his jaw. The way he planted his feet like he was ready to fight someone way bigger.
“I don’t know, baby.” Lilac pulled both boys close, her arms wrapping around them with the fierce instinct of a mother protecting her cubs. “I think he’s confused me with someone else.”
“Like hell I have.” The words came out rough, ragged. “So this is why you left? Got yourself knocked up by some prick and couldn’t face me?”
