'It's never about me though, is it Connor? I try and try and give all that I have, all that I am but it's never enough, I'm never enough...'
Aimee Carter could feel her heart bleed as she watched his face. He couldn't look at her, instead, Connor stared out at the valley below them, his hands shoved in the back pockets of his jeans, a muscle ticking in his well-defined jaw as he stood there waiting for Aimee to let it all out.
'I keep waiting for you to call me, for you to realize that I'm right here waiting. I'm your girlfriend but I don't mean anything, you just take what you want from me and go!'
Aimee was sobbing now, his silence her only answer, and Connor had nothing he could say to reassure her that she meant anything more to him. For the second time today, he was about to hurt her, and couldn't even tell her the real reason why.
Shrugging his broad shoulders he turned to face her, green eyes meeting blue as she searched his face for any sign of love, but there was none, and his voice when he spoke was void of emotion.
'Aimee, I don't want to see you anymore. This isn't working, we are from two different worlds, and trying to fit in with each other is too hard...I want to be free.'
Aimee looked at the love of her life in disbelief, watching as he impatiently ran his finger through his messy blonde hair, and her voice broke as she finally whispered
"Just leave Connor, get in your fancy car, go back to your rich family, and move on. From what I hear, you are really good at that.''
She couldn't bear to watch as he turned and started walking to his car. In her mind's eye, she could picture Connor's Porsche parked next to her Harley. They used to laugh at how out of place their vehicles looked side by side, the similarity to their relationship not going unnoticed.
He was the rich kid in school, she was the daughter of an MC club president, yet somehow, for three years they made it work.
Connor had stood at this very lookout with Aimee, overlooking the ocean last year, and told her he would marry her one day. What a difference a year made.
Aimee stared resolutely out at the ocean as his car roared to life. she loved the way it purred with power when he would whisk her away for the weekend, and he would tell her that he had never in his life seen anything more erotic than his woman turning up to his house on a motorcycle. Aimee would shake her raven hair loose every time she took her helmet off knowing how sexy he found it.
The sound of Connor leaving made her body tremble and Aimee's topaz eyes filled with unshed tears, as she was forced to acknowledge that this was goodbye.
She had given up everything for him, cut ties to her Dad and his club. Most of whom had been like family, watching her grow up, looking out for Aimee, making her feel safe and protected, turning her into a confident young woman.
During the past year, as Connor's parents seemed to require more of his time, and his family's business soaked up the rest, Aimee had even changed her appearance to try and blend in with his world. Gone were the ripped jeans, tank tops, and leather jackets. In its place were dresses, high heels, and feminine cardigans. Aimee's trademark red and gold tints in her hair had been dyed back to midnight black, piercings removed, back tattoo's covered skilfully with makeup and her trucker vocabulary toned down to a nun's, but it still hadn't been enough.
As hard as she tried Connor started to pull away. First, it was the missed calls, then the last-minute change of plans, his increasing trips out of town to participate in "team bonding" with the family business, and finally canceling their plans altogether without even giving a reason.
No, Aimee should have been prepared for this, the old Aimee would have seen it coming and hurt him before he had a chance to hurt her, she deserved this, and as the tears finally spilled over she vowed that she would use this pain and come out the other side reborn, no one would ever get close enough to hurt her again.
CONNORS POV
"FUCK!" Connor thumped the steering wheel of his 1955 Porshe spyder, breaking every speed limit possible as he took his pain out on the road to the packhouse. Dust scattered in his wake as he drove with blurry vision, and despite his best efforts to block it out, the devastation on Aimee's face as he uttered the words that broke her heart stayed with him, even his wolf refused to speak to him after it was done. Aimee was, after all, his human mate, but she had no idea what he really was and the world he lived in was one she could never fit into, it was an unspoken rule in their community that if the moon goddess gave you a human mate, for the good of the pack they had to be let go so their offspring could remain untainted, it was pack law.
As the eldest son of the Alpha, Connor had to uphold these laws.
His heart was unsteady as image after image of the years they'd spent together mocked him, his father had warned him not to pursue the relationship, but Connor wasn't strong enough to deny himself the years they could share before he turned twenty one, now the memories were threatening to cripple him, there would never be anyone else for him, he had silently promised Aimee that as her back faced him on their clifftop.
Connor felt her pain like it was his own. even from the safety of his car, as he drove away, leaving her there alone, the emptiness that poured into his soul was crippling, and the further away he drove the more unbearable it became.
Connor braked viciously, his car screeching to a halt as he wrenched the door open and jumped out, his anger gave him speed as he spotted his father waiting just inside the doors.
His forest green eyes matched those of the much older wolf as Connor stormed past his father, "It's done!" He growled as he barged up the stairs, heading to his apartment, today he had cut out his own heart for the good of the pack.
The Aces and Eights MC hadn't changed in the last three years. As Aimee sat astride her bike in the parking lot, contemplating what she was about to do, she couldn't help but notice all of the regulars iron horses were in the usual places, meaning a club meeting was underway.The past three days had been spent crying miserably, holed up in her small downtown apartment, Aimee's whole future had been torn from her, and she was devastated.But at the end of those three days, she had managed to channel that pain into something more productive..rage, anddamn, was she angry.
The jukebox seemed to stop the moment Aimee entered the bar, several heads turned towards the door, and she could hear some poorly covered gasps. Yes, ladies and gents, the wild child has returned, she thought to herself, proudly raising her head and looking at each member, daring to stare at her directly in the eyes.Her presence crackled with violence and confidence as she sauntered up to the bar, raising an eyebrow at the rotter sitting on her barstool; the middle-aged woman quickly vacated her seat, clearly not willing to get into things with a wom
"Hello, Dad."His club bar was eerily silent as the six foot five Aces and Eights president regarded his daughter; she was slimmer than he remembered, and despite Aimee's bravado, William could sense an air of fragility about her.Someone had broken his baby's heart, but that wasn't his problem anymore.
They all stood in a line, like cattle waiting to be inspected, and Connor felt bile rise in his throat.Ten young women, handpicked by his mother and father according to their respective bloodlines, each of them raised in preparation to fulfill the duties of a Luna, and Connor could barely stand to look at any of them.The day was drawing to an end, and the Alpha's residence was filled with outside pack representatives, all hoping to ally with the union of marriage.Tonight was his fucking engagement party for Goddess sakes, and Connor had never felt more alone in his life; any minute his father would call for quiet in t
'Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out...'Connor felt himself going under, drowning in his panic as he stared out into the sea of faces, all waiting on his choices, like some goddamn winning raffle or something.Risking a glance at the line of young ladies, he found himself calming slightly as a beautiful green-eyed blonde met his gaze and grinned back at him.Arial O'Connor was the daughter of the Alpha and Luna from The Vengence pack, she was easy to talk to, and Connor knew his mother and fat
The sound of grown men barking was enough to frighten the most seasoned fighter.Dust, being kicked around, leaned a hazy look to the ring, and someone had decided to put the loudspeaker on, blaring 'Roxanne' at full tit.Brax grimaced at the fact that he could probably sing the whole song by now since the old Police cd had had pride of place in the dilapidated stereo for a good ten years at least.He stood off to the side, as was his custom, assessing the area, picking up on the different smells that told him who was scared, excited, angry, or even sexually frustrated. This was the hardest thing about being a wolf livin
Braxtons wolf howled in approval as the petite woman took down the prospect faster than a hooker spends money, 'MINE' his wolf asserted dominantly and he received no argument from The henchman, Aimee Carter was his, and he would stop at nothing to claim her in the eyes of his kind, vowing to love and protect her always.But first, he had to seal Aimee's re-entry into the Aces and Eights, his woman would need to equal or beat him, and Brax would give her no quarter.She would earn her place back into the club and into his heart, one fight at a time.WILD BILLS POV
Her name had been called out and there was nothing she could do about that now.Of the three names Connor had called, Phoenix was the lowest in blood rank; the second daughter of the Howling Moon packs Gamma family, she was barely a Gamma, her Mom was an even lower ranked Omega working in the kitchens; not that Dad ever treated Mom like anything less than royalty, he made it clear that Demelza Grimmer was his everything, which was the kind of bond Phoenix wanted for herself one day.She was almost twenty-six now and most of her peers had mated and settled down, some even had pups or were proudly expecting, but her job as one of the packs trackers had kept her away most of the time, and she was never in a position