Page 26 of Slayin Villain (Royal Bastards MC: Nashville, TN #11)

Ember

I stood outside the Royal Road, trying to breathe.

My hand was still trembling from meeting with Villain and Rachel.

I was pregnant. I still couldn’t believe it. And still no idea if the father was a man who just invited me to say he wanted both women or the one marching toward me now with fire in his eyes and his fists clenched.

Rome.

He looked like every damn bad decision I’d ever made.

Backlit by the neon sign of Royal Road’s main bar, sweat at his temple, his colorful tattooed arms, guitar calluses visible even in the dark.

I’d loved that mouth once. I’d kissed it before gigs.

After fights. And once, in the middle of nowhere, when he thought I was gonna leave him for good.

Maybe I should’ve.

“You gonna lie to me again?” he asked.

I flinched. He always got right to it.

“Rome…”

“Don’t play me, Ember. I know. Don’t make me say it out loud in front of the whole goddamn lot.”

I dragged in a breath and stepped closer to the alley beside Royal Road, away from curious eyes.

He followed, of course.

I followed folding my arms over my stomach like it might protect me from the explosion coming.

He blinked, like I’d punched him. “You really gonna stand there and tell me it might not be mine?”

I nodded.

He let out a bitter laugh. “Villain. That motherfucker. Gonna have his cake and eat it, too. He gets both of you?”

“You’re one to talk,” I snapped. “How many club girls have you been with since Eve left? Minnie, Cali, fuckin’ Paisley’s crazy ass. I lost count at the one with the lip ring and the snake tattoo.”

He grabbed the back of his neck and looked away, jaw twitching. Then he stepped closer. Too close.

“But you weren’t just some sweetbutt,” he said. “You were mine, Em. And I know I screwed up. I was trying to earn my cut, trying to make Kingpin see I could be more than a stage monkey with a patch in progress. You could’ve told me you were hurting.”

“I did. I tried. But you weren’t listening. You were busy prospecting and pretending I didn’t matter.”

His hand brushed my arm, then fell.

“And now?”

I didn’t answer right away. I looked at the sky instead. It was that weird Nashville dusk, where it stayed hot and heavy and the clouds looked like bruises.

“Now I don’t know what the hell I’m doing,” I whispered.

Rome cursed under his breath and punched the wall beside us. Not hard. Not close. Just enough to let the tension out without breaking something.

“If it’s mine,” he said finally, softer now. “We’re leaving. You and me. We’ll go to Asheville. Start over. I’ll play bars, take gigs, and get clean if you want. Whatever. But I’m not sticking around and watching you crawl back into Villain’s bed.”

My lips parted. I wanted to say something, anything, but nothing came out. I just stared at him. Tears flowed heavy.

That’s when I heard it. A soft gasp.

Sweet Tea. My fuckin’ cousin. She must’ve just walked up from the back. Her eyes were wide, mouth slightly open. She looked between us like she’d stepped in on a crime scene.

Because Rome looked at me like I was still his, and I couldn’t promise him otherwise.

And I? I was crying. Silent, stupid tears that slid down my cheeks while I stood still as stone.

“Sweetie…” I started, wiping at my face, but she shook her head and hurried past, into the bar, disappearing.

Though she was nothin’ but a gossip, Rome didn’t chase her. He was too busy watching me break.

“This is real, Ember,” he said. “Whatever you do next, you don’t get to pretend anymore.”

And just like that, he walked away too.

Left me there.

Pregnant. Alone. And surrounded by ghosts of every bad choice I ever loved.

The next morning, back at my place, I packed like I’d been doing for weeks.

The drawer that held the positive pregnancy test was still cracked open when I stuffed my jeans into a duffel bag. I didn’t bother folding. Just shoved in clothes like I was racing a fire.

In a way, I was.

Villain hadn’t called since our little meeting, me and his other woman. Since the moment he looked at me, really looked, and walked out like the air between us hadn’t been electric just hours before.

I couldn’t believe he knew I was pregnant, all this time. Was that why he kept coming back for more? I would never know if what we had was real or if he just wanted a baby mama.

And now that he left me holding the weight of his baby, that silence felt louder than any rejection I’d ever known.

Rome had been blowing up my phone too. First with more questions. Then with more demands, like the ones from the alley.

"If it's mine, we leave. You said you were tired of the games."

I was. But not in the way he meant.

I was tired of being someone’s secret.

Of playing pretend while my body bloomed with a truth that would soon be too big to hide.

I sat on the edge of my bed, fingers gripping the old fiddle case beside me.

The one Eve had given me back when we were still trying to make the band work.

Before she ran off and married the goddamn Prez of this club.

Before Rome started screwing sweetbutts like they were going out of style, and I was just another drunken night he could forget.

I wasn’t just a background girl anymore. I wasn’t going to fade into the lights of Royal Road or Broadway and hope someone missed me when I was gone.

If they wanted me?

They could chase.

“You sure this is what you wanna do?” Ginnie, my roommate asked from the doorway. She leaned against the frame in cutoffs and a Royal Road tank, cigarette hanging from her lips. Her new property patch peeked from beneath her shorts, Property of Chains. It was fresh, swollen.

I didn’t have one. I’d never wanted one.

Now?

I wasn’t so sure.

“You got that look,” she said, stepping into the room. “Like you’re about to burn a bridge but ain’t checked if there’s water on the other side.”

I laughed, bitter and sharp. “There’s fire on both ends, Ginnie.”

She eyed the bag, then me. “Rome?”

“Villain.”

That made her shut up. For a minute anyway.

“You’re pregnant, aren’t you?”

I froze. Didn’t answer. Didn’t have to.

Ginnie nodded like she already knew. Women like us didn’t get to hide for long in clubs like this.

“If it’s his, you stay.”

“And if it’s Rome’s?”

“Then you figure out what kind of woman you wanna be.”

“Either way, I need to pick up my ride. Are you still taking me?”

By the time we got to Dawg’s garage, I’d filled Ginnie in. My beat-up Charger waited behind the gate like a damn horse itching to run.

I had my hand on the door when I heard my name.

“Ember.”

I turned and there he was. Villain.

Blond hair messy like he hadn’t slept. Vest half-open. Eyes red and wild.

My pulse jumped.

“You gonna tell me goodbye?” he asked, raising his brows.

“You already did.”

He stepped closer, his boots heavy on the gravel.

“You were gonna leave without even…”

“What? Without giving you the chance to ignore me again?” I threw the words like punches. “To pretend this thing between us never mattered? That I’m just another patch chaser who got too attached?”

His brow pinched. “It’s not like that.”

“Then what is it, Villain? Because I’m not your woman. I’m not your secret either. Not anymore.”

I waited. Let the silence stretch until it threatened to choke me.

Finally, he spoke. “I told you what the club decided.”

My knees almost gave out. “And? What are you gonna do about it?”

“And I’m still trying to breathe.” He looked so broken in that moment, it physically hurt.

But I couldn’t be the one to fix him.

Not anymore.

Villain reached out, fingers brushing my hand. “I need time,” he said.

“That’s the one thing I don’t have anymore.”

And then I pulled away.

If he wanted me, he’d have to fight for me.

Because I wasn’t just Property.

I was the Mother of Fire.

And I was about to burn every damn thing that tried to claim me without loving me first.