Okay, I don’t know what to think anymore.
Yesterday, he came home with a present for me.
A car.
He bought me a fucking car.
A brand-new, expensive-looking car.
I don’t want a car.
I want Arrow back.
I wake up in bed alone, which I’m still not used to. I don’t want to get used to it. When I walk into the kitchen, I see him sitting there, nursing a beer. I look at the clock. It’s 9:00 a.m.
“Mornin’,” I say as I open the fridge and grab the milk.
“Mornin’, Anna,” he says quietly. “Do you want to take the car out for a drive today?”
With him? Sure.
“Sounds good,” I tell him, smiling. “Maybe we could get some lunch or something.”
He drinks his beer, eyeing me over the bottle. “Actually, I was going to ask Vinnie to take you. I got some stuff I need to do at Rift today.”
“Oh, right,” I say, looking down so he doesn’t see my disappointment. “Don’t bother Vinnie, I’ll ask Tracker to take me.”
His jaw tightens. “What’s wrong with Vinnie?”
“Nothing. I’m just more comfortable with Tracker, or Rake if it’s such a big issue.”
He makes a scoffing noise.
“What’s going on with you, Arrow?” I ask him straight out. “Is it because I told you I loved you? I didn’t know that would freak you out so much.”
He slams his bottle down, making me jump. “It’s not because of that, Anna.”
He doesn’t say anything else.
Okaaayyyy then.
“Right,” I say, grabbing a cereal box and pouring some into a bowl, then smothering it with milk.
Arrow stands, the stool scraping the floor as he slides it back. “I’ll be home late tonight.”
Of course you will.
He walks over to me and cups my face, his hands cold from the beer bottle. Lifting my chin, he kisses my lips. “I hope you like the car.”
“I do, thank you. You shouldn’t have though,” I tell him, not wanting to sound ungrateful but wanting him to know that I don’t expect anything like that from him or anyone else.
“Anything for my woman,” he says, kissing me one last time before disappearing.
Anything but the one thing I want.
Him.
* * *
The weekend rolls in and the club is having a party. Faye is running around organizing things, and I’m doing a grocery run with Tracker.
We walk down the aisle, me pushing the cart and him acting like a kid in a candy store.
“We need these,” he says, grabbing cartons of soft drinks. “And these.”
He “needs” everything.
When we walk down the next aisle, I grab a jumbo box of condoms. “What you need is these.”
I throw it into the cart.
He grins. “I’ll need more than that. Good idea, maybe I’ll get one of the women to walk around handing them out.” He pauses. “Naked.”
“You’re a pig,” I reply without any heat.
“Is Lana coming?” he asks, sounding a little unsure.
“No,” I reply. “I’m not going to subject her to this. She doesn’t trust men much as it is.”
“She’s a grown woman; stop babying her, Anna Bell.”
“I don’t baby her. She’s a gentle woman. She doesn’t need to know that you, who she likes, participates in orgies.”
“She likes me?” he asks with a grin. Of course that’s the only thing he heard.
I shrug, playing it off. “I told her you had a nice pierced cock and that’s all it took.”
He tugs on my ponytail. “Lana isn’t like that.”
“No, no, she isn’t,” I admit.
“We need those,” he says, pointing to some other crap that we definitely do not need.
“Tracker, I don’t think—”
He gives me his puppy-dog eyes.
“Fine.”
He cheers.
Eh, what did I care? I wasn’t paying for all this shit.
THIS party wasn’t like any I’d ever been to before. The place is filled with rough-looking men—some good-looking, some not—and lots of women.
None of them were shy.
I glance down at my tight black high-waisted jeans and black crop top. The expanse of my stomach is showing but I am still probably the most covered-up woman in the room. My hair is down and big, I’d teased it for extra volume, and I’d given my eyes a smoky look. Still, I am dressed for clubbing and the other women are dressed for . . .
Well, sex.
When I saw Allie in what appeared to be her lingerie, I never imagined everyone else would be dressed like that too.
I cup my drink, lifting it to my mouth and forcing myself to take a sip.
“You okay?” Arrow asks, drawing me down to sit on his lap.
“Yeah, just taking everything in,” I tell him.
He kisses my nape. “You look beautiful, Anna, but if these men don’t stop staring at you like that, I think we’re gonna have a problem.”
I turn and smile at him. “You’re the one who has me. Let them look.”
“Do I?” he suddenly asks.
“Do you what?”
“Have you.”
I frown. “You know you do, Arrow, what’s this about?”
He licks his bottom lip. “Nothing. I need a drink. You want a refill?”
He’s already drunk, and I don’t think he needs another, but I don’t say anything. I haven’t seen him drink this much since we first met. I didn’t miss the worried look Rake sent me when he saw Arrow earlier either. Everyone knows something’s up with him, but we don’t know what. He won’t talk, and no one wants to push him, but something has to give.
He stands up with his hands on my waist. “Don’t move from here, okay? I’ll be right back.”
I nod and take his seat as he goes to the kitchen.
“Hey,” Faye says, dropping into the next seat. “Arrow said you needed some company. I feel so old; I’m seriously ready to go to sleep.”
“Who’s looking after Clover?” I ask, smiling.
“Dex’s mother,” she replies, wrinkling her nose.
“You don’t like her?”
She shrugs. “More like she doesn’t like me. I used to date Dex’s younger brother.”
My eyes flare. “That sounds like quite a story. The longer version, please.”
She laughs. “How long do you have?”
I look around. “Apparently all night.”
She smiles and tells me everything that happened—it was quite a story. We talk for another half an hour and then Faye leaves in search of Dex.
When Arrow still hasn’t returned, I’m about to go and find him when a man walks up to me. I look around for a familiar face but see no one. The man takes the seat next to me, eyes roaming my body, his mouth curved in a wicked grin.
“What’s a classy woman like you doing here?” he asks.
I don’t know what to say to that. The man is wearing a cut, so he’s obviously a member.
I sip my drink. “Just enjoying the party, waiting for my man to get back.”
He smirks. “If I was your man I wouldn’t leave you sitting alone at a party like this.”
I force a smile. “I was just going to find him actually, but nice to meet you.”
Lie, Anna.
He puts his hand on my back. “If you don’t find him, I’m sure I can show you a good time.”
I practically run to the kitchen.
When I’m passing the game room I bump into someone.
Janet.
I can’t seem to catch a break.
“Still here?” she sneers.
“Apparently so,” I muse. “Now get the fuck out of my way.”
She smirks. “It’s cute that you trust Arrow so much. If it were me, I wouldn’t even let him out of my sight.”
“Well, good thing I’m not you then.”
I don’t like the smug look on her face.
“You know, even with how much Arrow loved Mary, he wasn’t faithful to her. At all. He fucked other women all the time. So what chance do you have?”