“Did you give any thought at all to what I asked you, Alena?” Pierce kept his voice low, but Savage heard him.
“Of course I did.” Alena shot him a quick look. “You’re not cut out for marriage. How would that even work? We have an open marriage? You go on runs and fuck anyone you want to and I stay home? We both go and it’s a free-for-all, with neither of us getting upset? If that’s the case, why bother getting married in the first place? Come on, honey, I appreciate the gesture, I really do, but you know the first hot chick offering to blow you, you’re going to take her up on it.”
She sent him a lazy, sexy smile. “You know how I know that? I’ve got skills. Mad, wicked skills. Blow-your-mind, take-off-the-top-of-your-head-and-make-you-forget-your-own-name kind of skills. Not too many women can do what I do. That’s a fact, and you know it. But you still went far down the ladder and had someone like Tawny put her mouth on you. That can only mean one thing, babe. You aren’t all that discerning when it comes to sex. You take anything, including the bottom of the barrel.”
All the while she talked, she finished more plates of food. They were perfect, but Savage could feel the red-hot rage working through her. Swirling deep. This man cut her to the bone. He’d gotten to her. She’d let him in. Alena didn’t let too many people in. Pierce might be trying to make up for it in his way, but he’d betrayed her like so many others had in her past.
Savage looked at his phone, the text messages his woman had sent to him. She was sitting in the dining room with a Diamondback. Coincidence? He doubted it, but he wasn’t going to say that to her.
Alena’s in a bad way, sorry baby
He needed to warn her. Apologize to her. He was collecting more rage for that wide, deep pool he stored and guarded like a mythical dragon until it all became too much and erupted like an explosive volcano.
We’re in this together
He knew Seychelle would understand what he meant. He opened himself up and allowed Alena’s very justified anger to find its way to him. That would only make the time he had to prepare Seychelle shorter. She took it in her stride though. She had no idea how bad it could get when he was raging. He really did think it would be better to have one of his brothers there, maybe two of them, that first time. Just to be safe. Just to ensure that Seychelle was safe. They would have to have another discussion. She wouldn’t like it. She didn’t want anyone witnessing what he did to her, but it was far better than him harming her.
Savage felt terrible for Alena. She had developed a tough outer shell. She looked the part, giving Pierce a cool, sexy look with a sweep of her long lashes and a sensual half smile from her full, pouty lips. She looked a little amused as he stood there in her kitchen acting like he was trying to save a woman when she refused to need saving. But she was soft inside. So vulnerable. All of Torpedo Ink knew it, even Destroyer, their newest member. They could see past her façade into the real Alena.
“That’s bullshit, Alena. Yeah, I go on runs, and I take what’s offered. I use club girls and patch chasers; I always have. You know you were different. I didn’t make any bones about that. I just wasn’t sure what it was. I’d never felt the things for any other woman that I felt for you. Give me a fucking break here. I was sorting things out, trying to work through it. You were pulling away from me, and don’t pretend you weren’t.”
Alena sent him another look from under her long lashes as she sent plates spinning down the belt toward Delia. “Maybe. But I didn’t get on my knees for other men, Pierce. And what about that video you just had to have? You begged me for it, right out there on my back porch.” She indicated the back door.
Her eyes turned ice blue. Her voice hissed at him, glacier cold. “I told you I was trying to get the restaurant up and running and couldn’t get help. You didn’t care. You made me feel as bad as possible so I’d give you what you wanted, and you wanted that video so you could give it to your friends. You know how many of them have had things to say to me? Asked me for a little taste every time they see me?” She shrugged. “Not that I give a damn, but sooner or later, they’re going to say it in front of one of my brothers. You know what will happen then. Our clubs will explode. A lot of people on both sides will die, and for what?”