I shake my head. “You’re wrong. I won it.”
Carver just laughs as Cruz steps into my back, taking my waist as he looks over my head at his friend. “Give it a rest,” he tells him. “We fucking agreed not to do this. That bike was all she had.”
Heaviness sinks into my stomach and I slowly turn to look up into Cruz’s honest stare. “Please,” I beg him. “Tell me that he’s just trying to fuck with me.”
“I’m sorry, babe,” he sighs, quickly glancing up and fixing Carver with a lethal stare. “We didn’t intend for you to find out like this.”
“Cruz,” I snap, prompting him to get on with it.
Grayson takes a step closer, raising his regretful stare to mine and being the one to put me out of my misery. “We’ve been watching you closer this past year, keeping tabs and making sure that you were okay. It was pretty fucking obvious that you were screaming for an escape, so Carver bought the bike. We knew you weren’t just going to take some bullshit handout, so we paid some dickhead at the bar to lose it in a bet. Cruz gave him a crash course on how to ride it and we had him teach you for safety.”
My whole world burns to ashes around me, and I look up at Cruz, silently begging for him to tell me that it’s all a lie, that they’re fucking with me just to see my pain. “I’m sorry, babe,” he says, pressing his lips into a tight line and slowly shaking his head. “That bike … fuck, I could see how much it meant to you.”
I quickly glance at King but the regret shining in his bright blue eyes is too much for me to bear, so I turn back to face Carver. “And just like that, you take away the one thing I had left.”
The silence burns between us, and as I look into his dark eyes, I finally figure it out. My actions took his family from him, and now he’s doing the same to me, but judging by the hurt in his eyes, it fucking killed him to do it.
Against my better judgment, I take a small step toward him, desperately needing to ease his pain. My hand falls to the front of his shirt, falling until my fingertips catch on the lip of his belt and we just stand, staring at one another, our hurt coming through loud and clear for the world to see, and for just a minute, it’s as though no one else exists.
A sharp ringing cuts through the room and our trance is broken. I quickly shuffle back until I’m pressed right up against Cruz, and as King answers his phone, I take in the way Carver watches me in Cruz’s arms. The jealousy is strong. He wants to be the one that gets to comfort me, the one who gets to curl his arms around me at night, the one who makes me feel alive, but with every passing minute, he makes sure that will never happen.
King grunts a few times into his phone, and the second he ends the call, his gaze raises to mine. “This conversation is going to have to wait,” he informs me. “You’re needed in the council chambers for a meeting with the heads of Dynasty.”
Carver’s brows drop just as fast as mine. “Why?” he snaps, probably just as curious as to where the fuck his phone call was.
King shakes his head. “No idea,” he says, indicating to his phone. “That was my father. He just said to get your asses down there.”
Without another word, Carver turns on his heel and stalks toward the front door. I let out a sigh and follow behind him, leaving the guys watching after me.
Carver and I break out into the fresh air and he doesn’t wait for me to catch up, just storms down the stairs toward his Escalade. He gets in at the speed of light, and within seconds, his engine is roaring to life. He watches me through his windshield, and I don’t doubt that he’s waiting for me to get in. So just to be an ass, I climb straight on my Ducati—his Ducati.
Without missing a beat, Carver takes off, his Escalade flying up his long driveway. I quickly pull my helmet over my head, and within seconds, the Ducati is right on his tail. We stop and I wait impatiently as he enters the code at his gate—my birthday. It peels back slowly and the second we can, we race out of it.
Hitting the main road, I follow him until we’re pulling into the dark elevator, and as the door closes behind us, I can’t help but remember the last time we were here. His lips sat upon mine and his kiss was filled with desperation.