Page 130 of Tied to You

I grip his hand, looking up into his eyes as a tear rolls over the top of my lid. I’m not scared of him, regardless of how it may look. He can frown and look as threatening as he likes. I know what he’s doing. The devil’s in the detail.

Whatever happened tonight, Travis is reeling, not because of what he did, but for something completely different. He’s trying to frighten me, simply to hide his own fear.

“Don’t challenge me. Not tonight.”

I squeeze his hand around my throat. “Why? Because you’ll hurt me? I told you, you couldn’t if you tried.”

His grip tightens, but it isn’t enough to physically hurt me. The pain in his eyes, however, that’s enough to burn a hole through my heart. “You have no idea what I’m capable of.” He speaks so darkly, his words laced with malice.

This isn’t the man I know. “I know you’re a good man deep down.”

His temples twitch and his hand pushes me back, forcing my feet to shift. “A good man?” I can hear his disgust. “A good man wouldn’t kill men with his barefuckinghands.”

I feel my eyes widen, and I see him notice. “What do you mean?” I ask shakily.

“I mean this,” he spits, his rage reigniting as he looks at how he’s holding me, like I’m his captive. “I killed two men today with my bare hands, Mollie. The same hands currently wrapped around your throat. So don’t try to tell me I’m not capable of hurting you.”

“Travis—” I try to talk him down but he cuts me off.

“I watched one life slide away without any feeling whatsoever for the man underneath me. And the other…” his mind momentarily drifts, his face turning blank, “I felt every fucking second of him dying.” He swallows, and I listen, hearing and feeling his pain. “Myhandssqueezed the life out of both of them. Honestly, I don’t know which one feels worse. Loving it. Or hating it.” His eyes turn glassy. A moment of silence passes between us as we take each other in. “I’m a fucking animal, Mollie.”

“I don’t care,” I tell him in a rush.

He frowns. “You really should.” Loosening his grip slightly, he looks at my lips, and I see him thinking about kissing me. He needs love and affection, and right now, he’s craving it. Rather than taking it like he so easily could, he straightens his spine, angling my head back to look up at him as he speaks. “When the day comes when I’m not enough for you, you’re going to realise I wasnevergood enough for you. All you will have done is wasted your time loving a devil like me. If I were you, I wouldn’t waste another second here.” He lets go of me and immediately turns, leaving me slumped against the wall, missing his touch.

He can’t walk away like that. “Maybe you’re right,” I throw at him, pushing off the wall, making him turn. “What would be the point of loving you any longer? What would be the point of sharing my life withan animal like you?” I shake my head. “Maybe, just maybe, it’s because it’s what I want. You’re what I need, Travis.” I hold my hands out to one side, a pleading look on my face.

Travis turns his back to me again, slowly making his way to the door. He’s unable to listen to me telling himhe’swhat I want. He doesn’t think he’s good enough. Stopping just shy of the threshold; he turns his head back over one shoulder but doesn’t lift his eyes to see mine. “For now.” Then he’s gone.

For now.

Letting my head fall to my hands, my energy is zapped. It’s as simple as that. I want to run to him, but he thinks one day I’ll leave him because he doesn’t want children. Had he come home and we’d managed to talk, he would have known that after the bike chase, my eyes were opened.

I want him.

It’s as simple as that.

Murder. Death. Destruction.

I should fear the man who has my heart.

But I don’t.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

MOLLIE

“Another.”

I turn from wiping the bar top, grabbing the bottle and pouring him another Scotch. Rocco looks grateful when I slide it toward him, then grab another glass for myself, pouring a double.

He lifts the glass in the air, a small toast to the fact he and the guys made it through another day.

I drink to that.

It’s been two weeks since Chopper was murdered. Two weeks since I sat by Tanya’s side and had to watch as her world crumpled before her eyes. Her scream pierced through the room when Rocco and the others carried his body to his grave. It wasn’t obvious at first why the place wasn’t swarming with police, or why he wasn’t given a proper burial, but I soon worked it out.

They gave him a biker’s burial, in the place chosen by Tanya. A place unknown to the law who would never know of his death, or of the other deaths that also happened that night. Unlike Chopper, the others weren’t given the same send off.