Page 8 of Havoc

His smirk says he doesn’t believe me, but he lets it go, slipping on his helmet and climbing on his bike.

“Maybe next time.” He offers a final glance before riding off. And only once I’m staring at his back do I process what he said.

Next time.

Like we’ll ever see each other again.

3

Havoc

Aimee’s honey-brown eyes ignitewhen they land on me. Beautifully fueled by rage but entirely alive. The fireworks that spark in her eyes are unlike anything I’ve seen.

A sheen of sweat coats her forehead, and I suspect the discarded yoga mat by her lounger is the source of it. Aimee wasn’t the type to practice yoga fourteen years ago, so it’s one more thing that’s changed about a girl I used to have memorized. She’s a stranger in the body of someone I once knew better than my club. A girl I was willing to leave this life for.

Until life had other plans.

I lift off the wall under the weight of her attention and hope my face doesn’t show how easily she mixes me up. My expression is passive, but inside, I’m floundering.

It’s so damn easy for this girl to fuck my life up.

At least I’m not the only one of the two of us who’s irritated by the other’s presence. The same annoyancethat filled her face three weeks ago stares back at me now. Which is why I agreed to go to LA with Soul instead of sticking around to feed into this sick joke the universe is playing on us.

Except now I’m back, and there’s no escape. The safe house is my responsibility, and Aimee is in my domain.

“I see someone is as stubborn as ever,” I say, if for no other reason than to piss her off.

At least then I can make out a little emotion in her ice-cold glare.

“You’re one to talk.” She narrows her eyes. “Don’t pretend you still know me. It’s been fourteen years. Plenty’s changed.”

That, I don’t doubt.

Aimee was always a firecracker, which is how she earned her nickname. But what was once a spark has bloomed, and if I’m not careful, she’s going to blow up my life.

I don’t have the faintest clue where Aimee has been for fourteen years, why she disappeared, or how she recently ended up with my enemy, but the sum of it all changed the person I used to know.

It’s too bad it didn’t also change my feelings for her.

Aimee spins around in her lounger to face Reagan, putting her back to me like that will get her out of this conversation.

I’m about to remind her that it won’t when Chaos and Legacy step outside, interrupting the thought.

“Fucking hell, I need a drink.” Chaos glances down at his phone, shooting off a quick text.

“Problems with your brother?” I guess.

After Chaos’s father passed away last year, he’s been battling with his brother for ownership of the family ranch. Lately, tension has reached an all-time high. But he refuses to say much about it.

After witnessing how Chaos was unaffected by his stint in prison, I didn’t think much could rattle him. I was wrong.

“Yeah.” Chaos nods, responding to another text the second it comes through. “The appraiser decided on a value for the land and presented it to the probate court last week. Andthis assholeis already petitioning the court to speed up the process. Like he thinks I don’t know what the fuck he’s up to.”

“What’s he up to?” And better yet, why does Chaos care when he detached from his family’s ranch the second he moved to Vegas?

“He’s trying to cut me out so he can portion it out to investors or bargain mineral rights.”

I cross my arms over my chest. “Thought you wanted out.”