Page 16 of Sac-rifice (RBMC: Cleveland, Ohio Chapter #7)

“We were dumb kids, Shane! You weren’t supposed to listen,” she responded in a defeated voice, and her shoulders slumped.

I wanted to pull her into my arms to hug her—to comfort her—but that would make this situation a million times worse.

I hoped there would be time for that later on, but right now, her safety took precedent.

“Do you have any idea who might have sent these?”

“I thought I did. I really had you pinned as the culprit. So, no, I don’t.

I wish I did,” she admitted in a small voice while her hand ran up and down her arm nervously.

I was happy to see that even though so much had changed, including us, I thought I was still able to read her.

But it was her eyes that caught my attention most of all.

She stared up at me with the same starry doe eyes that I used to have a weakness for.

Who was I kidding? My knees still felt wobbly as if they were going to give out any minute while I stared at her.

Man, I fucking missed her beautiful eyes and how they followed my every movement.

“Well, in that case, I’ll take you home to pack.”

“Huh? What do you mean take me home? I drove here, and I will leave the same way. And pack? What are you talking about?” She spoke fast, firing one thing off after another, and would take a deep breath in between sentences.

“You’re staying with me.”

“Ha!” she snapped before silently laughing. “I’m sorry. I thought you said I was staying with you.”

“I did.”

“Well, I have bad news, buddy. I’m not going to be doing that today or any other day that ends with the letter ‘Y’.” She bent down to fetch her bag, thrusting her arms through the straps and pulling the small backpack purse onto her back.

“It’s either my place, or I guess you could always stay here and bunk with tiny.

” I smirked when Wiley’s middle finger wound up in the air above his head from where he apparently had taken a seat at the bar to watch all of my drama unfold.

Cor glanced at my brother and scrunched her face with disgust.

“I won’t be going home with Tiny or you.”

“Either you go willingly or by force. The choice is yours, little dove.” I laid it all out for her.

“With force?” She laughed dryly. “Like you would ever?—”

“Smart choice,” I admitted in a hurry, cutting her off, and lunged for her, grabbing her and tossing her over my shoulder.

“Shane Carter Poe, put me down! Now!” Her fists pounded my back.

“Sorry, princess. No can do. I made a promise to keep you safe, and I intend to keep it.” I announced, fully aware I had done a pretty shitty job of it all these years.

“Shane, put me down!”

“I will when you’re safe.”

“I don’t think I’m in any danger walking to my car, do you?” Her body wiggled in my grasp as she tried to get down.

I opened my mouth to answer, but she continued talking, “Never mind. Don’t answer that.

I don’t care.” I tightened my hold and pushed her further down my back, leaving me only the lower half of her body to hold her firmly so she didn’t fall.

I hooked my arm around the bend of her knees, and she bucked against me.

She dropped about a quarter of an inch, and I grabbed her calf.

“ Just put me down you, you, you…ahhh!” she hollered

This wasn’t my proudest moment, nor was it my worst. This wasn’t the first time I’d had to carry her against her will, and if by some miracle she ended up sticking around the area, it more than likely wouldn’t be the last, either.

“What are you doing?” I nearly shouted, stunned when she slipped her left hand into the pockets of my jeans.

“Put me down or I’ll do it! So help me, Shane! I know you don’t want Tiny seeing this.” Her fingers moved a tad, and I stiffened. This was why you didn’t tell someone everything about you. They could use it against you if they needed to, and she sure as shit was going to.

“You wouldn’t,” I warned her, squeezing the hand I had wrapped around her calf for encouragement.

“Try me. Keep acting like a Neanderthal and you’ll find out.

” Her fingertip lightly inched back against and forth on my ass cheek.

My muscles tensed beneath her touch, and I had to fight the urge to giggle like a schoolgirl.

I would never live this down if my brothers figured out what she was threatening me with.

I pushed my teeth into my bottom lip, stifling a laugh.

I figured she would do it but hoped there was a small margin of chance on my side, so I called her bluff.

Apparently, she was fucking serious! “I’m not letting you kidnap me and take me to your cave to do who knows what with me!

” she continued her rant, shoving her right hand into the remaining back pocket.

Without hesitation, I flipped her back over my shoulder and placed her feet on the ground.

She’d won this round, but I’d find another way to do what needed to be done.

This was ridiculous! She was being unreasonable.

I guess my methods were rougher than what she wanted, but what did she expect from me?

I had been a very big part of my club for years.

Asking nicely wasn’t exactly something a lot of bikers did.

We took what we wanted and saw to it that whatever needed to be taken care of was finished.

At this point, I wasn’t even sure how many people I had killed, but whatever that number was a prime example of how us Bastards handled things. With force.

She was never going to willingly go to my house, but she needed to do so to ensure her safety.

At least until I figured out whether the person responsible for the texts was a serious threat or not.

So, I handled her in the best way I knew how.

It should have worked, and I believed it was until she pulled an Uno Reverse on my ass.

My brothers knew a lot about me, but there were certain things other guys didn’t need to know about another guy.

Finding out my ass was ticklish was something they never needed to know.

Ever! “Are you satisfied? Can we just agree to disagree? I’m trying to keep you fucking safe, not kidnap you or something. ”

“Not even a little bit. This doesn’t mean I’m staying with either of you.” She crossed her arms in front of her body and looked at Wiley. “Sorry to disappoint you, Tiny.” She laughed.

“Quit with the Tiny shit!” Wiley barked, pounding his fist against the bar.

“Okay…Tiny.” She smirked deviously, fetching her bag and slinging it onto her back once again. Her heel lifted, and she shot past the bar stools and reached the first pool table before I even realized what was going on. She thought she could run away. She thought wrong.

I dashed after her, tackling her to the ground as soon as I was close enough to reach her. “Why do you have to be so fucking difficult?” I huffed, pinning her wrists against the leg of the adjacent pool table, trying to catch my breath before I talked anymore.

Her bottom lip quivered, and she gazed at me through her thick eyelashes. “Because difficult is all I know,” she admitted, and my heart did a weird flip flop thing inside my chest that hadn’t happened for a long time.

It sounded a lot like she was saying her life hadn’t been easy.

I prayed to God that wasn’t what she was saying, though.

If it was, then why hadn’t she looked for me.

If she really didn’t expect me to literally leave her alone, then why did wait so many years to tell me that?

I wanted to stab myself in the foot or something equally painful for doing this to us.

Once upon a time, there was an us. We might not have had much, but we had each other, and being able to count on someone meant a whole hell of a lot to me.

I had single-handedly destroyed our future.

I told myself that multiple times, but I knew the truth; my leaving was only partly to do with what she had said, but the rest was hard to put into words.

There were so many obstacles thrown at us when we were kids, especially her.

So, when she told me to leave, I listened.

I didn’t want to be yet another obstacle for her to climb.

I wanted her to have the world, whether that included me or not.

I never expected to see her again, and yet, I had hoped every day since that I was wrong.

“I’m sorry, Cor,” I told her honestly, releasing her wrists, standing, and holding my hand out for her.

Her fingers cupped mine, and as soon I helped her to her feet, she pulled away from me.

I tried to hide my disappointment, rubbing my neck with the hand she dropped as if it was made of acid.

Things between us weren’t the same, and I hadn’t expected them to be, or at least, I didn’t think I had.

If that were true, though, I shouldn’t be this hurt by her dropping my hand.

But I was, and it was my fault. All of it.

Well, most of it. I regretted a lot of things, but stopping the mother fucker from hitting her again wasn’t one of them.

“Me too,” she mumbled, probably apologizing for what had just gone down between us, not for everything that had ever happened. That explanation would make the most sense, but it didn’t apply to me. I really was saying I was sorry for every bad thing she had to endure as a result of me.

“How about I go to your house, and we’ll go from there?”

“If I say no, you’re going anyway, right?”

I nodded.

“Fine,” she huffed, glaring at me.