“Tate, wait!” Murphy shouted her name trying to slow her down.
And the last thing she was over with was Murphy, the backstabbing, lying, betraying bastard who had made her fall for him and then left her like she meant nothing. She was so over him and didn’t want to see him again.
She kept walking, determined to start her new life away from them. The local library had already hired her, and she was due to start work Monday. Her independence was around the corner.
“Are you fucking deaf?” Murphy asked, grabbing her arm and halting her progress.
Snatching her arm out of his grip she turned to walk away.
“You’re walking away like a fucking child. You may be grown up, Tate, but you’re just a spoilt fucking, baby.”
Tate stopped, turned and stormed back toward him. “I may be a baby, but at least my vocabulary is better than yours, you stupid bastard.” Angered at his presence she lashed out and shoved him.
Murphy didn’t go anywhere. He stayed put.
“We need to talk,” he said.
Shaking her head, she headed in the other direction.
“You can’t keep running from me, Tate. You need to hear my side.”
She stopped and stared along the street, which was visible by the street lights.
“Go on then, let me hear your side.” Folding her arms under her breasts she stood and waited for him to explain. This man had hurt her deeply by his deception.
“The club needed my help. They needed a man who could infiltrate the Lions.”
Throwing her arms up in the air, Tate had heard enough. “It’s always about the club, isn’t it?”
“I came back for you. I did this to keep you safe,” he said, stepping closer.
“No, you did this for the club.”
“I care about you, Tate.”
“No, if you cared about me you’d have found some way to tell me. You got up and just left, Murphy. You promised me you’d be there for me no matter what. We were supposed to be together, and you just left. You don’t care about me. The only person you care about is yourself.”
She turned to walk away and found herself pressed up against the wall. Murphy invaded her space, standing too close for her comfort. “I did what I had to in order to save the club. I care about you, and not a moment went by when I wasn’t thinking about you.”
Tears sprang to her eyes.
“Then look me in the eye and tell me you didn’t fuck any of the women?” she asked.
He jolted as if she’d hit him. Murphy couldn’t look at her.
“Tate, that’s in the past.”
She slapped him hard around the face, and he let her. “No, we’re in the past.”
“We can get past this.”
“No.”
“I was putting the club first,” he said.
“And that’s your problem. You will always put the club first. I’ve lived my whole life with a man who has put the club first. The Skulls always come first like it’s some kind of sacred group.” She stared into his eyes, knowing this was long overdue. “I’ve watched him hurt a woman he loves because of it. I’m not going to be second best, Murphy. I’m going to find a man where I come first.”
His arms released her, and he let her go. She brushed past him, but he caught her hand and tugged her close. Tate collided with his body. Before she could breathe, his lips were on hers.
She gasped when he broke the kiss. “You may try to be with another man, Tate. You may even fall in love with him, but you and I both know, I’ll always be your man just like you’re my woman.”
He let her go. The instant his arms left her she felt alone.
Murphy’s words were true. She’d given her heart to him a long time ago. He knew stuff about her no one else would ever know. Rubbing her arms, she turned away and started walking.
She was walking toward a future and—she hoped—her future happiness.