“Jaxon,” he started, and his voice took on a seriousness that had Jaxon shutting down immediately. “Finley’s noticing your absence. He’s onto you, bro.”

“What the fuck do I care what Finley thinks?” Jaxon snapped.

“You haven’t touched pussy since her–”

“God fucking forbid I don’t want to stick it everywhere, huh? Wow. Let’s all crucify me for not wanting those obtuse, attention-seeking skanks jumping all over me.”

Damien frowned. “You know that shit isn’t tolerable. It’s part of what the club’s about.”

“Why? Because Finley made sure of it?”

“Yeah–”

“Well, fuck Finley.”

Damien looked around the bar, making sure they were out of earshot from the Scorpions gambling at their tables. When he was convinced they couldn’t be heard, he turned back to Jaxon.

“She didn’t want you,” he simply stated. “She made her mind–”

“Because of you!” Jaxon icily interrupted. “Because you told her what goes on around here. If it wasn’t for you, she’d still have been here!”

“If it wasn’t for me, she’d have been getting fucked by him as we speak! Now you keep this shit up, and he’ll start tracking your whereabouts to make sure you stay away. Is that what you want?”

Jaxon had to suppress the violent urge to punch Damien out. Of course he resisted, and not because he didn’t want to, but because punching Damien out was a fucking impossibility.

“I did what I could to protect her,” Damien continued, keeping his glare intact. “Told her you were shit for her – anything to get her out of this life. You saw Finley. He would have taken her just to prove he has more power than you.”

Jaxon didn’t reply.

“You need to let her go. You got brothers here that care about you. They turn to you when they need someone. Don’t rock the boat, bro. No one deserves to die because of one man’s selfishness.”

Although Jaxon valued Damien’s friendship, he fucking hated him too.

But he was right. His greed would only result in serious repercussions, and although some of the men here had questionable moral issues that disgusted him beyond measure, the majority of them were like family.

She had decided to walk away, and when he thought about it too hard, the temperature in him rose to a boiling point. He had no fucking clue what to do. One minute they were promising everything to each other, and the next she wanted out. How much more of this uncertainty could he take from her?

As a last resort, he picked up his phone and sent text message number infinity and two.

Please, tell me where the fuck she is.

He knew there would be no response, but it was always worth a shot.

*****

Jaxon’s heart had stopped. There was no other way to describe it. It just… stopped.

How many days had passed by? How many tears had been shed? How many hours had been spent consumed over her departure and where she could have gone? He was losing his mind. He couldn’t even breathe without feeling a searing pain in the pit of him.

Didn’t she know how much he loved her? Was it so easy for her to walk out the way she did? But then it couldn’t have been. She’d taken photos with her. You don’t take memories with you of something you didn’t care about.

However, all hope was not lost. Lexi had fled too. Those two were inseparable. Surely they were together. Of course they were together! Maybe they were just traveling or hiding out someplace to cool off. Regardless, they would return. They wouldn’t abandon two years of school after all the hard work they’d put in. Sara would come back in time for the new semester and he would find her there. And if, in all its unlikelihood, he didn’t, he had his mother. Sara would never abandon Lucinda.

“I didn’t even know things were going bad,” his mother had said when he’d called her the ten millionth time.

“Things weren’t all bad. I don’t want to talk about it. Just tell me when she calls you and let me know what she says. I need to know where she’s taken off to.”

“Of course.”

It was only a matter of time he would see her again. Maybe hours. Maybe days. He was going to fix this.

He set the phone down and looked about his apartment. It was just so fucking empty without her. He was trying so hard to keep it together when all he wanted to do was break down. He couldn’t, not with Trevon lingering around the apartment like a bad smell.

When a knock sounded at the door, his heart soared. Was that her? It had to be her.

It was her.

She had come back.

He raced to it and nearly took the door right off its hinges with the amount of force he’d exuded opening it.

What he saw stomped away every shred of hope he had.

Two officers stood before him bearing stern expressions and an unpleasant demeanour. He instantly knew something was very wrong. His blood ran cold and his thoughts repeated the same line over and over again.

Please tell me nothing happened to her. Please tell me nothing happened to her. Please…

But they weren’t there for her.

Five

The days blended together until time became an illusion. It was slipping through my grasp until I couldn’t differentiate a minute from an hour. At first, my mind was numb by the repetition. Yet I never asked Remy when this would end. When he’d leave in the mornings, I’d feel loss and loneliness. Sitting in a room all on my own all day without a way to get out, my sanity was receding, leaving me pathetically needy and in want of interaction.

I went mad.

I did all I could to pass the time. I read the books he’d bring me, watched movies until my eyes hurt, listened to the crappiest music ever… At first, I deeply resented him. So many times I wanted to scream at him and ask him why he was doing this to me! I’d sit around and rehearse my ranting speech; the curses that came to mind were so colourful and hurtful, they were words you wouldn’t even say to your worst enemy.

Then, in the evenings, he’d come back… and I was alive again.

I’d forget all the choice words I’d put aside for him because if I didn’t have him, what the fuck did I have? Always I wanted to get nearer to him; to feel another human being’s flesh as a reminder that I wasn’t alone. Remy’s voice became music to my ears, and I’d close my eyes when he spoke at times and just listen to his deep, baritone words. They soothed me and filled the loneliness with his presence that I was rapidly becoming attached to.