Free Sexy Bastards Anthology: Bad Boy, Biker, Alpha, Motorcycle Club, Contemporary Romance Collection by Lexy Timms, Dale Mayer, Sierra Rose, Christine Bell, Bella Love-Wins, Cassie Alexandra, Lisa Ladew, C.J. Pinard, C.C. Cartwright, Kylie Walker Page B

glass in one hand and shook his head.
    “Some shit went down and it wasn’t my place to tell her someone else’s business like that. I was going to tell her when I got back, once I cleared it with Ashley, but she was gone.”
    With nothing but a kiss-off note and his old leather jacket left behind, he reminded himself, clinging to the last remnants of anger because it hurt less than what was behind it.
    Cheri nodded, tapping out a staccato beat on the bar and nodding. “Yep, that’s pretty much how she told it, without the Ashley details of course. And to be honest, I thought she was right to leave. You don’t exactly have the reputation of being a stand up, one-woman guy.”
    He wanted to argue but knew he couldn’t. She was right. And still…
    “She could’ve waited. And she didn’t have to leave town, for god’s sake,” he muttered under his breath.
    “As I was saying, I thought she was right to leave. Until I ran into Ashley today at the grocery store. She told me what happened, Mike. She told me Chad was hitting her and you went in and beat his ass. Even convinced her to go down and file a police report.” Cheri leaned in and took his arm in one hand, her penetrating gaze seeming to look into his very soul. “Why didn’t you call Kaitlin? Why didn’t you at least try to go after her and tell her what happened?”
    Mike looked down at the fading, mottled bruises on his knuckles.
    “Because she walked away like it meant nothing to her. She promised she would wait until I got home and then she left. I figured it would be better for both of us to get on with my life. Try to make sure it would eventually mean nothing to me, too.”
    “Yeah?” she asked with a smirk. “How’s that working out for you so far?”
    He thought about lying but then shrugged. Fuck it. What difference did it make now?
    “She’s all I think about.”
    “I remember the story about your mom, too, Mike. And I get why trusting might be hard for you, but have you ever thought of it from Kaitlin’s perspective? Sure, her dad didn’t walk out on them until she was grown, but he might as well have. He had a mistress for years. A whole other family, in fact. And her mother was alone and sad and bitter her whole life. All Kait ever wanted was someone she could trust.”
    The words washed over him like a bucket of ice water, sending a chill through him. “And then the second she decided to try and trust me, I left in the middle of the night without explaining,” he finished for her.
    Why hadn’t he seen it before? It made so much sense. He’d been so caught up in his own tangled feelings and so afraid of letting his guard down, he hadn’t realized what Kaitlin was risking on her end.
    A tiny flame of hope flickered in his heart.
    “So what do I do? Would she even talk to me now?”
    “Here’s a tip. She’s actually going to her mom’s house tonight. She forgot some of her clothes there.”
    He threw a twenty on the table to pay his tab and launched himself to his feet.
    He’d dropped the ball once, but he wasn’t about to do it again.
    “Thanks Cheri. I mean it. I owe you huge.”
    She laughed and shook her head. “No you don’t. When I saw you in here drinking at one in the afternoon, all doom-and-gloom, I figured you were just as tore up as her. You telling off Bimbo Barbie was just the icing on the cake. You had a slam-dunk with that girl and you refused. Looks like bad boy Mike has changed after all.” She clipped him lightly on the shoulder. “Treat my friend right, and we’re even.”
    He grabbed his jacket and strode from the bar, a man on a mission. If there was a way to win Kitty back, he was going to find it, or die trying. He had one stop to make, and then it was back to old neighborhood.
    Back to Kitty, if she’d have him.

Chapter Ten
     
    Kaitlin sat on the couch at her mother’s house, wishing with all her might that her mom would walk in right at that moment and give her a hug.
    She’d been sitting