Heavy Hogs MC

by Elias Taylor

  “Why?” Beth’s voice shook, and she fought to stop the tears threatening to stream down her cheeks. “Why are you here?”

  Tisha let out a little huff of surprise as she gave Beth a small smirk. That smirk was all it took to dry up her tears. Beth was not a violent person, but she had a massive urge to slap the look off Tisha’s face. Instead, Beth clenched her hands into fists. She wanted to run away, but she had to hear what Tisha had to say. It was clear that someone had not been truthful with Beth, and she was no longer certain that Tisha was the only liar.

  “Shouldn’t I be asking you the same thing?” Tisha asked.

  Beth turned away. She couldn’t bear to look at Tisha anymore, and she didn’t want Tisha to see her as her entire world fell apart. Beth gripped the kitchen counter and focused on breathing in and out. Her eyes lighted on the bags of decorations she had picked out for Christian.

  “It’s better that you know,” Tisha said. “He came to my place the other night to tell me how much he still cared about me.” Tisha’s voice had an eerie sing-song quality. As if she was comforting a small child.

  Beth heard Tisha’s footsteps. Beth turned and watched as Tisha crossed the room to scoop up a purse. Somehow Beth hadn’t noticed it on the coffee table. She had been too absorbed with her grand plans for this stupid party.

  “You’re lying,” Beth whispered. It was her last, desperate hope, despite all the signs that Tisha had been here with Christian. After all, it was clear Tisha hadn’t broken in.

  Tisha gave Beth a sympathetic look as if she felt bad for her poor gullible friend. Tisha reached into her purse and grabbed something. Beth’s heart shattered as all her remaining hope vanished. Tisha held up a spare key. It looked just like the one Tyler had given Beth earlier.

  “He gave me the key,” Tisha said.

  Beth’s face crumbled. She felt the tears coming. Tisha could see it, too, but Beth knew she had to get out of there before she started crying in earnest.

  “It’s not your fault, Bethy,” Tisha said.

  Beth winced at Tisha’s use of the old nickname. Once, it had felt nice to hear Tisha say her name. Once, it had made Beth feel special and chosen. She had been the best friend of Tisha Carol. It had meant something a long time ago.

  “Christian and I just have so much history,” Tisha said. “You knew that.”

  Of course, Beth had known, but she had made a million excuses. She had told herself they had broken up so long ago, so Christian was over Tisha. She reminded herself that Tisha had treated him so poorly that there was no way he could still be pining for her.

  Then again, some guys always wanted what they couldn’t have. Hadn’t Tisha been the one to tell Beth that back in the tenth grade? Tisha had told Beth the secret to flirting. Never be too available. As long as you’re just out of reach, Tisha said, the boys will always want you.

  Beth had been so blind. She willfully closed her eyes to all the warning signs. She knew how dangerous it was to let anyone get too close, yet she had gone and let someone who was obviously not right for her capture her heart.

  Now she paid the price for her foolishness.

  The room blurred as the tears welled up in Beth’s eyes.

  She snatched her purse off the counter and sprinted for the door. Tisha didn’t move to stop her. She stood there with a prim little smile on her face as if she had done Beth a favor. Maybe in a way, Tisha had. She had made sure to be extra cruel about it, but at least Beth now knew.

  Tisha and Christian deserved each other.

  Beth drove straight to Mel’s place. She couldn’t be alone right now. She needed a friend—a real friend. Mel opened the door with a confused expression, but her face instantly turned sympathetic when she saw Beth’s face.

  “Oh God, come in,” Mel said. She led Beth to the couch. As soon as they were sitting, Beth threw her arms around Mel and buried her face in Mel’s neck. “Sweetie, it’s okay, I’m here.”

  Beth pulled away and wiped her eyes. “Sorry.”

  “Don’t apologize.” Mel held Beth’s hand and peered up into her face. “What happened?”

  Beth wasn’t sure she could even say it out loud, but she had to find the strength. She had to admit the truth to herself. She had already been a fool, and she wasn’t going to wallow in denial. “Christian’s been seeing Tisha.”

  Mel gasped. “Are you sure?”

  “She was at his house,” Beth said. “I went over to set up for the party, and she was coming out of the shower. He gave her his spare key.”

  “The bastard,” Mel growled. “And that conniving little skank.”

  “I should have known,” Beth buried her face in her hands and started to sob again. “I should never have dated him when I knew he had been with her. I knew the history.”

  Mel made a comforting tsking sound and put her arms around Beth.

  “I deserve this,” Beth said. “This is my punishment for breaking the girl code and dating a friend’s ex.”

  “She is not your friend.” Mel’s tone was scorching. “And Beth, you do not deserve this. Trust me.”

  Beth didn’t answer. All she could do was cry a fresh batch of tears and wonder if this was ever going to stop hurting.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight: Beth

  “You really don’t have to work today,” Mel said. “I’ll cover for you.”

  “No,” Beth said with a sigh. “I need to stay busy.”

  Beth had stayed with Mel all weekend. Together, the girls had stayed up late talking, ate junk food, and watched sad movies. But now it was Monday, and Beth couldn’t hide forever.

  She and Mel were working on a new landscaping assignment for a big office building’s courtyard. Beth needed to be on-site to make sure the designs she sketched suited the space as Mel started planting. If they broke off and started their own business, it would be huge if the office stuck with Mel and Beth for regular upkeep work.

  Beth glanced down at her phone. No new message from Christian. He had called a dozen times on Friday and sent text after text, begging her to talk to him.

  She had ignored him. Mel had asked her over and over if she was sure she didn’t want to talk until Beth snapped at her friend. She wanted this whole thing to be over. She refused to play the fool again by drawing it out. So, Mel had nodded and kept her mouth shut as Beth disregarded his calls until he finally stopped trying.

  As Mel drove toward the work site, Beth flipped through her sketches. The shapes and words kept blurring, though. It was near impossible to focus.

  She kept seeing the image of Tisha stepping out of Christian’s bathroom. No matter how many times Beth told herself to stop obsessing, to stop hurting herself by replaying the whole ghastly scene, but she couldn’t help it.

  She had been so confident that Christian would never hurt her. When he had held her and looked her in the eyes, she had been certain he cared for her. He had even told her he loved her. Beth hadn’t said it back, but she had been planning to. She had wanted to be brave enough to say it. After the party, she had intended to tell him how she felt.

  She was an idiot. Lesson learned.

  She should have learned it years ago. You couldn’t trust people to stay with you. Her father had loved her, and she had loved him. But he was gone. Beth fingered the small charm on her bracelet. There was a lump the size of an egg in her throat. At least her dad hadn’t willfully hurt her. At least he hadn’t left her on purpose.

  The same couldn’t be said for Christian.

  How could Beth have been stupid enough to believe that the guy who had clung onto a relationship with Tisha for so many years, even when it was clear Tisha no longer cared, could possibly choose Beth? After all the rumors about his wild ways, Beth should have known he was not ready for commitment, no matter how many times he took her home to meet his family or kissed her in the firelight.

  The car pulled to a stop with a jolt.

  “Here we are!” Mel said. She was trying to be chipper. The first night she had let Beth
cry, and then the next day, she had gone out and gotten all sorts of candy and chips and wine. That evening, she had encouraged Beth to vent. Get it out of her system, Mel said. They had spent hours sipping wine and bashing Christian and Tisha and everyone who had ever met either one of them. The ensuing hangover the morning after had given them an excuse to laze in bed, eating greasy take-out and watching bad reality TV.

  Beth glanced over at Mel as they hopped out of the car. At least she had one good friend. That was a comfort, indeed.

  Mel picked up her bag of equipment and smiled at Beth. “If you start to feel overwhelmed, just head home, okay?”

  “I’m sad.” Beth gave her a grateful smile. “I don’t have a terminal illness. I’ll be fine.”

  “Well, there’s a silver lining,” Mel laughed. Mel’s face froze, and her laughter was abruptly cut off.

  Beth followed her friend’s eyes and saw the reason. Christian was leaning against the side of the office building. He was watching them with a desperate gaze. Even from several yards away, Beth could feel the intensity of his gaze.

  “Shit,” Mel muttered.

  Beth took a breath and straightened her spine. She was not going to let him scare her away. He was crazy to show up at her place of work like this, but she would not stoop to his level.

  “Let’s just start working,” Beth said. “Let’s not make a scene. He’ll go away. I don’t even know what he thinks he has to say to me.”

  “Okay,” Mel said.

  The two women headed toward the side of the building where they were working as if they were walking into a battle. Only Beth had a coward’s heart. As she drew closer to Christian, she wished with all her might that she had stayed home, as Mel suggested.

  “Beth.” Christian’s voice begged for her to listen. “Beth, I need to talk to you.”

  Beth fixed her eyes ahead and kept walking.

  He followed. Why was he so stubborn? There was nothing he could do to erase his mistakes. He couldn’t have both her and Tisha, and if he had dumped Tisha, there was no way she could forgive him for deceiving her. Beth was not going to be his second choice.

  Mel cast a worried glance between them but kept moving toward the bushes they were planning to plant that morning.

  Beth could only thank her lucky stars that this was an office building. Everyone inside was working, and there weren’t many windows where they were. If it had been a home, Beth would have been paranoid that a bored stay-at-home mom was watching the whole scene unfold.

  “Beth, I don’t know what went down on Friday, but I promise, it wasn’t what you think it was,” Christian said.

  Beth pulled out her sketches and started to examine them with dogged focus. She would not look at him. She would suffer through his pathetic excuses, but she would not answer.

  “Just tell me what happened, please,” Christian said. “Whatever Tisha told you, I promise you, she’s lying.”

  Beth shut her eyes. She could not believe he had the gall to try this with her. He was using all the classic lines, too. He probably told all his one-night stands this.

  “I think you should leave,” Mel said. Her voice was low, but there was an edge to it. Mel was close to losing her temper.

  “This doesn’t concern you,” Christian snapped. His voice was growing desperate. “Beth, you have to listen to me.”

  Beth said nothing.

  “Did what we had mean nothing to you?” Christian murmured.

  Beth turned away and stared at the bushes. His question broke her. She actually felt something snap inside her. Did it mean nothing to her? It had been everything to her. He was the one who had thrown it away.

  “Beth,” Christian said.

  “Enough,” Beth said. She whirled around and sliced her hand through the air. Christian stopped short, only a few feet away. He looked stunned by the venom in her voice, but Beth was done playing nice. She was done avoiding confrontation. She was done being meek and mild.

  “You are a liar,” Beth said. “And I am done with you.”

  Christian stilled. His eyes were wide. He looked at Beth like she was tearing his world apart. She frowned. He was too good of an actor. This was probably the look he used to get women to do whatever he wanted. Pathetic.

  “I knew from the start that this was a bad idea,” Beth said. “I knew you were damaged, and I knew you had baggage, but you wouldn’t let me back away. You sucked me in and broke my heart.”

  Christian flinched at her words. For a split second, Beth felt bad. Then she remembered Tisha stepping out of that bathroom, and any pity she might have felt for him evaporated.

  “Now leave,” Beth said. “Get out, and don’t bother me at work again.”

  Christian stared at her for a second. He opened his mouth as if he might say something else, but then his shoulders deflated. He nodded once. Without a word, he turned and walked away.

  Beth stood still while he got on his bike and drove off. Mel stared at Beth with wide eyes.

  As soon as Christian’s bike was out of sight, Beth collapsed to the ground. Mel cried out and reached for her, but Beth held up a hand. She was fine. Physically, at least. Beth pulled her knees to her chest and pressed her forehead against her legs. The tears came again. It had required a herculean effort to hold them back in front of Christian, but now they came rushing down her face.

  Beth cried and cried as she sat on the damp ground, and she vowed this was the last time she would cry over Christian Crown.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine: Christian

  Christian was a wreck. He hadn’t left his home in days.

  It had been a full week since he had last seen Beth, and he had canceled all his gigs. It was unprofessional, and it was going to set him back, but he couldn’t go on as before. Not when his entire life had fallen apart.

  Christian had gone over that last day in his head a hundred times. Beth had been fine, cheerful even, when she called him while he was at his shoot. She had told him she would see him later, and as she had, a bust of giggles had escaped her. It was adorable.

  Then, there had been silence for hours. When Christian got home, he discovered a pile of groceries and decorations in his kitchen, and his family had been sitting in his living room. A pint of chocolate ice cream had melted all over the counter.

  Christian had been able to piece together a part of the story from his brothers. They explained that Beth had planned a surprise birthday party. She had borrowed a spare key from Tyler and told them to all come over thirty minutes before Christian was due back.

  Then, she had sent one text to Tyler, saying it was canceled. That was all.

  They had notified all the other guests but had shown up to see if Christian knew what was going on. He told them he had no clue. They had offered to take him out to a birthday dinner, but he had sent them away.

  When Beth had not answered Christian’s texts and calls, he had resorted to texting Mel. He had been worried. Mel responded with a slew of expletives and names for Christian, but she had at least responded. And at the very end she had written: Don’t play dumb. Tisha told Beth everything.

  He had suspected Tisha was part of it but seeing it there in black and white chilled his blood. He knew not to underestimate Tisha. He knew how good she was at pinpointing people’s insecurities. She was skilled at hurting people.

  Whatever Tisha had said to Beth had hurt her, and that upset Christian far more than anything else. The thought that Beth was out there hurting made him want to tear his hair out. Seeing her the other day had been awful. Anguish had been written all over her face, but Christian had been unable to hold her or comfort her. In fact, he only made it worse.

  When Beth had yelled at him, he knew he had to leave. She didn’t want him anymore.

  Christian was at a loss, and he had no idea what it was he supposedly did to upset her. He could ask Tisha, but that would only make things worse. He wanted to chase after Beth, to tell her he loved her again and again, but what was the point if it only gave he
r pain?

  He slumped into his couch and wondered if it was too early in the day to start drinking. It wasn’t like he had anything else to do. If he had it his way, he would sleep non-stop, but he had already slept for twelve hours.

  A knock at the door startled him out of his pitiful thoughts. Christian opened it and froze when he saw his father.

  Barry examined Christian from head to toe. He took in Christian’s unshaved cheeks and rumpled clothes.

  Christian steeled himself for a gruff comment about how he needed to pull himself together, but instead, Barry sighed and spoke in a gentle tone. “I was worried you would be like this. Can I come in?”

  Christian just stepped aside and let his father settle into one of the chairs. Christian collapsed back onto the couch. For a while, they sat in silence, neither one of them willing to break the awkwardness. At last, Barry gave Christian a firm look. Christian braced himself for another lecture. Probably about how he had mistreated Beth or how he needed to give up the photography nonsense and choose a more reliable career.

  “I’m very proud of you,” Barry said.

  Christian’s mouth fell open. “What?”

  “Now, I know I’ve been hard on you, but despite my critiques, you’ve gone after what you’ve wanted in life, and I respect that.”

  “Thank you,” Christian said.

  “What happened with Beth?” his father asked.

  At any other time, Christian would have shrugged his father’s questions off. But Christian was alone, and his father was looking at him with complete focus as if he was willing to listen for once. “Tisha told her something. It made her angry, and now, she won’t even talk to me.”

  His father nodded once.

  “I swear, I tried,” Christian said. “I really tried to be good enough for Beth.”

  “I know,” his father said. “I’m not one to show my feelings or notice feelings.”

  Christian chuckled at that. Barry smiled, too. They both realized it was a colossal understatement.

  “But even I could tell how much you cared for her,” his father continued. “She cared about you, and I think she made you better.”