“I see a fucking bitch I want, I’ll take her. Inside or out, daylight or dark.”
Adam didn’t respond directly to Tank. “Anyone that doesn’t want to follow this rule can leave. Anyone who breaks this rule will deal with me.”
“Oh, I’m fucking scared,” Tank laughed.
Adam pulled his gun out of his pants and Tank lost his smile. “Tank, one more word out of your mouth and you’re gone. I’ve had it with your bullshit.”
Broni thought Tank was going to attack Adam for several seconds before he turned with a threatening glare and disappeared into the crowd. At that point, Broni relaxed, going to take a seat at an empty table. Adam found her there later and set a bottle of ibuprofen and antiseptic down in front of her.
“Thanks, Adam.”
“Don’t thank me; Rhys found them.”
Rhys came to the table, taking a chair.
“Thanks, Rhys.”
Broni opened the bottle of pain medication, taking two. Her hand was still swollen and sore, and the ibuprofen would definitely help.
“You’re welcome.” Even his voice sounded different. Deeper, richer.
Broni felt her body quiver as his eyes traveled over her figure. She raised her water to her lips, avoiding his gaze.
“The RVs were a good idea,” she complimented Adam.
“I can’t take the credit for those, either.” He glanced up at Rhys before turning back to her, giving her a hard stare. “I want you to say inside the clubhouse for now, Broni. Tank is a time bomb, and if he wants to make a strike on me, the dumbass will go for the woman I’ve been sharing my room with.”
Broni didn’t argue, seeing Tank staring at them from across the room.
“I agree. He’s a time bomb. What are you going to do about him?” As soon as she said the words, she knew she had overstepped the boundary Adam kept between them. He didn’t talk club matters to outsiders, and certainly not to women.
“I’ll deal with Tank when I need to deal with Tank. Right now, we need men. The streets are growing worse every day, and as much as I hate the bastard, he still can guard the gates.” He glared back at Tank as he spoke.
“Put some of that antiseptic on those scratches. A couple of them are looking infected.” He turned away then, going to the bar where Nikki and another woman sidled up to his side.
Broni met Rhys’s discerning gaze. Clearing her throat, she asked the question that had been going through her mind since he had entered the club, “So which one are you?”
Chapter 24
“All my lifetimes have been merged into one.”
Broni fiddled with the ibuprofen bottle. “What are you doing here?”
“I saw your attack.”
“My mother showed you or were you there?”
“Your mother.” Broni could just imagine that encounter.
“I see.” She was sure her overprotective mother would have been furious, unable to strike at the humans that had been the ones to have hurt her. “I’m sorry, that must have been uncomfortable for you.”
“She didn’t say anything that I didn’t deserve.” Broni refused to acknowledge the regret in his voice.
“How long will you be staying?”
“As long as I wish. It has been agreed that I can stay here while I serve as your replacement.”
“Why would you want to come back to Earth?” Broni questioned.
“You.”
With that answer, Broni was finished with this discussion. She started to rise from the table.
“Since when do you run?” The arrogant remark had her resuming her seat.
“I wasn’t running, Rhys. I haven’t anything to say. I don’t believe I had anything to do with your decision to come back to Earth. The man you are now doesn’t even know me.”
The warrior sat forward in his seat, pinning her with his gaze.
“I might not be the Rhys you fucked,” Broni winced, “but believe me, I was there. Not only did we share the same body, but the same emotions. I felt it as much as he did when you opened your legs and heart to the stupid man who was too grief-stricken to take what you offered. I am not.”
“I’m not offering you anything,” Broni said angrily. “That time has come and gone. I don’t want you any more.”
“Who did you want, Broni? Rhys or me?”
Broni remained silent. Truthfully, she had wanted Rhys because she’d known the warrior’s soul was buried inside.
“I’m sorry I was so long in appearing, but you can’t blame me for not wanting to join another battle.”
“You saw this one coming?”
“I did, and it’s going to be longer and bloodier than any I have fought before. I have served Mother for centuries, and I am tired of the bloodshed. Therefore, I was not anxious to fall in love with a woman who will be in the midst of it all.”
“Let me take that worry from you then. Go back to Odin’s castle.”
Rhys reached out, taking the tube of antibiotic cream. Opening it, he squirted some on a large finger before reaching forward, smoothing it on the scratches on her cheeks.
“I’ve decided you’re worth fighting another battle for.
”
Broni’s mouth opened and closed. “You arrogant dick, the decision isn’t yours to make. I have decided that I don’t want you any more.”
“Then you need to change your mind back,” he said simply.
“Do you really think I want a whore-hound like you?” Broni pointed her finger at his chest. “I didn’t mind being used for sex. Stupid me thought that I could let you see I cared about you, that I was willing to ignore the fact you would never care about me the way I cared about you. Do you know why?”
The warrior shook his head.
“Because I loved you. But I don’t love you any more! It pretty much bit the dust when Athena bragged to me what a big dick you have. So you can stay or go. I don’t give a damn.”
This time when Broni got up from the table, Rhys didn’t stop her. Going behind the bar, she started doing the dishes, banging them together to blow off some steam. What she really wanted to do was take one of the plates and bash it on his thick skull, though.
* * *
When Adam sat down in the now empty chair, Rhys was not amused at his laughter.
“She’s pretty mad at you.”
“She’ll get over it,” Rhys said, smiling at the woman who set a drink down in front of him.
“You were married, weren’t you? Wasn’t your wife ever angry at you?” Adam questioned, picking up his own drink.
Rhys’s thoughts turned introspective, going through his lifetimes. A frown came to his face. He might have screwed up worse than he had thought. Fate had tried to warn him. Times had changed and women no longer allowed men their fun in relationships.
“I may have made a mistake,” the warrior admitted reluctantly.
At his remark, Adam didn’t hold his laughter back. “Brother, you fucked up. There is no other way to say it.”
“She will forgive me.” The Warrior’s pride was deflated when Broni ignored him.
“Man, you have got to be kidding me. That woman doesn’t forgive shit. She’s still pissed off at me for auctioning her off, and I did that to keep her from getting raped.”