Page 26 of Twisted Trails (Rogue Riders Duet #2)

I swallow hard and step back fully, pressing my head against the cold hospital wall. Maybe this time, the right thing to do isn’t to fight, but to know when to let go.

Maybe I should be the one who leaves.

I make myself peek around the edge one more time, because I need to see her again before I go, but then Dane claps Luc on the shoulder. “I owe you one, Delacroix.”

Luc turns with a grin, and his gaze lands straight on me.

Ah, fuck .

His mouth quirks like he was expecting me. “Oh, you can show me that right now.”

Before I can move, he’s nudging Alaina gently toward Mason. “Go with him to the appointment, Petite . I’ll catch up.”

She glances between him and Dane, clearly confused, but Mason nods and takes the bag from her. Luc leans in and murmurs something I can’t hear, and Alaina gives the faintest nod before walking off with Mason down the hall.

Delacroix turns back to Dane, grips his upper arm, and starts walking straight toward me.

I almost bolt.

But I promised myself, I’m not running anymore. If I leave, I go with my head held high because it’s better for her, not because I’m too afraid to stay. So I step around the corner just as they reach it.

Dane’s eyes narrow the second he sees me, his body tensing. His jaw clenches, and his hands curl into fists.

Here we go again.

Luc steps between us, placing a hand on Dane’s chest. “You said you owe me one, right? Well, what I want is for you to fucking listen.”

Dane scowls, arms crossing over his chest. “You’ve got five minutes.”

Delacroix jerks his chin toward me. “Come here, Greer.”

I take a step closer, my pulse pounding in my throat.

“I don’t know your history,” he starts. “I don’t know your friendship or how deep the shit goes. I don’t care, but I know Alaina, and this fight between you two is giving her major anxiety.”

Dane’s brow furrows. “What?”

“She thinks she’s responsible for it, which is probably true. ”

“No,” Dane growls, glaring at me. “He is. He’s the one who fucked my little sister.”

I cringe. “Can’t argue with that.”

Delacroix rolls his eyes at me. “Can you help me out a little here?”

I shrug. “I said I’d stop lying.”

“Incroyable, ” Luc mutters. “Anyway. The point is you two need to figure your shit out so she doesn’t keep blaming herself.”

Dane glares. “What do you want from me? Pretend it didn’t happen? I don’t know, throw them an engagement party?”

“Fuck no.” Luc laughs.

But my brain latches onto the idea. Engagement. The thought should make me panic, but it doesn’t, not even a little.

After what happened with my ex-fiancée, I thought I was done with wanting to marry.

Swore I’d never go near a ring again. Fuck, if I’m honest, the first thing I felt when she called it off was relief, and that should be telling enough.

But if Alaina wanted it? If she looked at me with those stormy caramel eyes and asked?

I’d marry her in a heartbeat.

Delacroix shakes his head. “No weddings. Just understanding. She still loves him. She was in love with him for the last ten years, and don’t tell me you didn’t notice. That’s bullshit.”

Dane mutters, “Of course I knew, but she was a teenager.” Then he looks up at me, and his voice drops cold. “Did you just wait until she was old enough for it not to be a crime? You know, this shit looks a lot like grooming.”

“Are you serious?” I snap. “No. Fucking. Way. I never thought about her that way before you came back. You know me, Dane. ”

“Yeah,” he mutters. “I thought I did. Thought my best friend wouldn’t have snuck around and fucked my sister behind my back.”

Luc steps in again. “You’re allowed to be pissed. You’re allowed to hate it, but Alaina is hurting badly, and she doesn’t need this right now. So can we, I don’t know, be adults?”

Dane scoffs. “You hardly count as an adult.”

“Still acting more like one than you right now,” Luc fires back. “I’m not asking you two to braid each other’s hair. Just figure out how to coexist. Without fists.”

The silence stretches between us, and I can’t hold Dane’s gaze, so I look down at my shoes.

Like the coward I apparently still am.

Delacroix sighs. “Here’s how this goes. Greer’s gonna grovel, and he’s gonna earn his way back into her good graces. And you, Dane, you’re gonna step back and let him.”

Dane explodes. “Why the hell would I let him? He doesn’t deserve her. I’m protecting her!”

“You don’t need to protect her from him. She can protect herself. Yeah, he fucked up, but she needs him, and he loves her. Don’t you?”

At Delacroix’s question, I look up and hold Dane’s gaze for the only truth I have to offer. “I do.”

Dane scoffs. “As much as your ex? You said you thought you loved her, but she just filled a hole. How do you know Alaina isn’t doing the same?”

“Because…” I say quietly, “… you and Alaina made that hole in the first place.”

That shuts him up.

His eyes narrow, not in anger this time, but like that truth lands, and maybe he finally sees that he left me, too, that he also hurt me a lot, but just in a different way.

I was the friend he abandoned first.

Luc nods slowly. “ So let him try. Let him earn her back. If he screws up again, fine. He’s out, but we all know she needs him if she’s ever gonna get through the rest of this.”

Dane exhales hard, dragging a hand down his face like he’s trying to wipe off the weight of it all.

“Fine. I won’t get in the way, but this is for her , don’t think for a second that we’re good again, and if you hurt her in any way…

” his eyes flash dangerously, “… the next thing I’m gonna break is your dick. ”

“If I somehow manage to hurt her more, I’ll pull my pants down for you to do it.”

Luc looks away, pressing his lips together, and Dane stares at me, his jaw twitching like he’s this close to breaking again.

Instead, he looks down at the linoleum floor, and when he looks back up, there’s the ghost of a smile threatening the corner of his mouth before he huffs a breath and storms off.

I start to turn, too, ready to leave, unsure of my place, but a firm hand clamps on my shoulder and pulls me back.

“Where do you think you’re going, Papi ?”

I blink at him. “I don’t know. I thought you’d want me to leave.”

Luc rolls his eyes like I just said the dumbest thing on the planet. “I didn’t make you come here for a little chitchat.”

“I mean…” I glance back toward where Alaina disappeared with Mason, something in my chest pulling tight. “I’m here. I’ll support her, whatever she needs, but I don’t think she needs me when you guys are here too?—”

“Shut up,” Luc cuts me off, sharp but not cruel. “Of course, she needs you too. She needs all of us. You want this to work?”

I frown. “Work? What are you talking about?”

“All of us. For her. ”

“What?”

“Alaina needs us all to feel better. She needs me, you, and Mason. So, we get our shit together and be good for her, and maybe we can be friends, even if you said you weren’t mine.”

“What are you even saying, Delacroix?”

He shrugs, but there’s a glint in his eye. “You’ll figure it out soon enough. Just know, I’m willing to work together to make her happy. I’m willing to share, if that’s what she needs. You’d better get on the same page.”

“Share as in…”

Luc just smirks. “Think about it.” I barely get a second to process that when he claps his hands. “But for now, I made appointments.”

“Appointments?” I echo, my head still spinning with what he just implied.

“For STD testing.”

“What the fuck?”

“Alaina and Mason are already on it. You and I are next.”

“Why would we?”

“Because you fucked her without a condom in the gondola like a fucking asshole,” Luc says without missing a beat.

“And I expect more from you, Greer. If you want me to trust you with her, I want your A-game. No more mindless shit. This is too important. Instead of kicking your ass for it, I’m making you do this, so count yourself lucky. ”

Shame crawls up the back of my neck. “Right.”

“We’re going to get tested to make sure you didn’t give her anything.”

“I haven’t slept with anyone since my fiancée,” I mutter.

Luc raises a brow. “That’s depressing but good for our situation. Still, I won’t chance her health. Will you?”

I shake my head fast. “Of course not. ”

“ Bonne. ” He’s already turning on his heel. “Then it’s settled. Let’s go.”

I trail after him, feet moving while my mind runs in a hundred directions. I haven’t even thought about this. Not once. Not during. Not after.

How the fuck could I be so irresponsible?

I should’ve thought of this.

My stomach knots, and before I can stop myself, the question slips out.

“What about… pregnancy?”

Luc stops dead in the hallway and spins around so fast I nearly walk into him.

“You’re asking me that now, and not her before you bombed the gnarliest line without a helmet?

” His voice is sharp, incredulous, but there’s a glint of something like disgusted amusement in his eyes.

“ Mon Dieu , you’re even more of a mess than I thought.

” He throws up his hands. “Were you dropped on your head before or after the gondola, Greer?”

I flinch. I deserve that.

His voice flattens, a little darker now. “She can’t have kids. The crash took that option off the table.”

The floor shifts under me, even though I remember that she was loud about never wanting kids when she was seventeen. But people change, and she didn’t choose this. The choice was stolen from her.

“If that’s a problem…” Luc continues, his tone turning ice-cold, “… then walk. Walk the hell out of her life the second you’re done testing. Don’t waste a minute more of her time.”

I blink, shaken, but not by the news, but by how little it changes anything in me.

I want her no matter what.

“I’m fine. If she’s okay with it, then I’m okay. ”

Luc stares at me for a long beat, then gives a slow nod and starts walking again, and I follow him once more like a kicked puppy, still stunned, still trying to wrap my head around everything, what he’s saying, what he’s offering, what the hell this even means, but one thing is for sure.

If this is what it takes to prove I’m serious about Alaina, to fight for her, protect her, and maybe, one day, deserve her again, I’ll do it.

Whatever it takes.

Even if it means teaming up with the French asshole who humiliated me in a Polish pub and just invited me into his chaos.

For her?

I’m all in.