Prologue
Six Months Earlier
“Babe! Are you here?” I called, letting myself into Sal’s place and setting my purse on the side table. We’d made plans to go to dinner and I was starving.
I cocked my head, surprised to be met with silence.
“Babe?” I called again while wandering back to the bedroom.
“In here,” his deep voice responded from the back of the house.
I found him in the bedroom zipping up a duffle bag.
“What are you doing?” I asked, confused.
I saw him visibly swallow before his gorgeous brown eyes met mine. “I’m leaving,” he replied, his tone flat and so unlike him.
Sal could be removed at times, but this was something else entirely.
“But we’re going to dinner,” I replied, feeling utterly confused. “Does Cole have you going on a run somewhere?”
The club VP and my best friend’s fiancé did at times send Sal out for jobs, but I’d always known about them ahead of time. On occasion, I’d even gone with him.
He shook his head solemnly and hoisted his bag up, brushing past me as he headed for the living room.
I followed him feeling bewildered and confused. “What’s going on, Sal?” I asked quietly, leaning against the doorway, needing its support.
He turned to me and an eternity passed in seconds as we regarded each other. The mood in the room was thick with emotion and my heart pounded in my chest with apprehension.
“I’m not who you need,” he replied, his eyes burning with intensity.
“What?” I whispered, my hands shaking as they flew over my mouth in shock.
“I’m not who I need either.” He shook his head, looking off to the side. “Fuck, I’m just…I’m tired of knowing you need more and not being able to give it to you. I’m tired of warring with myself. I’m just fuckingtired,” he breathed.
“But I never asked you to change,” I protested, feeling like I was living someone else’s nightmare.
“I know you didn’t,” he said as he shook his head. “That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t want me to,” he replied.
“So you’re giving up, just like that,” I murmured hoarsely, the words numb on my lips.
“I don’t know exactly what I’m doing,” he admitted. “What I do know is you didn’t cause this,” he said fiercely. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. It’s just something inside me that’s fucked up. I’ve gotta try to figure it out.”
“Are you coming back?” I found the courage to ask.
The air in the room felt thick and oppressive while I waited anxiously for his reply.
“I don’t know,” he replied finally.
And with that response, my world shifted on its axis and I found myself trying to stay upright.
“You don’t know,” I repeated his words, trying to grasp what was happening here. We’d gone from having typical Friday night plans to him walking out on me.
“The guys will look out for you,” he told me, like that mattered to me at all in the moment. The Knights, Sal’s motorcycle club, had become like family to me in the six months I’d been with Sal.
But Sal was my heart.
“I can’t believe this,” I whispered, unable to voice the expanse of my despair. I felt a crushing weight pressing into my chest. “You’re leaving right now? We’re not even going to talk more about this?” I demanded, baffled at how sudden this was, at how removed he seemed.