Imperfectly (Dante’s Nine MC #2)(52)
Author: Colleen Masters

“That I was, CeeCee,” Bryan sighs, “You see, just before this casting was announced, I was dealing with a pretty devastating breakup.”

“Yikes! Your ex doesn’t have very good timing,” the blonde laughs.

“She just had other ambitions,” Bryan says, oh-so-charitably, “She’s absolutely brilliant. Went off to help launch some tech startup. She doesn’t need me to make her millions for her.”

“We’ve got a picture of the two of you,” the host goes on.

“Oh no,” I whisper.

“Oh yes,” Leo growls.

The video jumps against to a snapshot of me and Bryan in LA, canoodling with some entertainment types at a fancy party. His gym-sculpted arm is wrapped around my waist, and I’m wearing some horrendously bougie cocktail dress. My skin crawls just looking at this artifact from my past. Who was I kidding, thinking that was where I belonged? The photo is only up for a moment, but that’s all it takes.

“This is you and your ex-girlfriend Kelly, yes?” the host asks.

“Kelly Rodgers, that’s right,” Bryan nods, smiling wistfully, “I asked her to marry me, actually. But she turned me down. She’s the one who got away.”

“And you say that it was a job that separated you?” presses the blonde.

“Yes,” Bryan says, “She moved to Las Vegas to team up with a college friend of hers on a new crowd funding website. She and Kassie Bennett, that’s her partner, have always been close. I’m sure they’ll be very successful.”

“Bryan Richards,” Kassie says through gritted teeth, “You motherfucker.”

“Do you have anything you wish you could say to Kelly, if you could?” the host asks, beaming at Bryan.

“Why yes, CeeCee, I do,” Bryan says, turning his eyes toward the camera. “Kelly, if you’re listening out there…I’m so sorry. I wish I could ask you for a second chance, but I guess our paths have already split too far apart. Wherever you are, I hope that you’re happy. And safe. And surrounded by people who care about you.”

I lift my gaze to Leo and Mac, staring down at me with blank, angry eyes.

“You sonofabitch,” I mutter at the phone, pushing it away with trembling fingers, “I’ve seen enough, thank you.”

“So,” Mac says, clapping his hands together, “It looks like the two of you ladies have a bit of explaining to do.”

“Leo,” I say softly, moving to rise from my seat.

“Stay where you are,” he snaps, “You’re not moving until you’ve told me the truth.”

I stare up at him from my seat at the dingy kitchen table. And for the briefest of moments, his veneer of anger cracks. A rolling storm of hurt is raging inside of him, far fiercer than the rain that pelts the roof of the RV above us. Yes, he’s furious with me, but more than anything he feels betrayed by my deception. And that’s to say nothing of my omission that I was nearly engaged to an implausibly famous actor just a month ago.

“I’m sorry, Leo,” I say softly.

“You’re sorry?” he repeats, looking at me like I’m a stranger, “Sorry doesn’t even begin to fix this, Kelly. You’ve tried to undermine my club. You lied to me—”

“I never—this wasn’t—” I stammer, “I’m not here to hurt your MC, Leo.”

“No?” he presses, “Then what the hell are you doing here? Who the hell are you?”

“I’m still the same person,” I assure him, “This doesn’t have to change anything.”

“It changes everything,” Leo growls, caging me into the booth with his thick, cut arms.

“Tell us what’s going on. The whole story, now,” Mac demands. My heart skips a beat as I see his hand drift to the weapon he keeps on him at all times.

“Alright,” Kassie says quickly, setting her hands on the table, “No problem, Mac. Kelly, tell them why you’re here.”

I take a deep breath, placing my hands on the table as Kassie has. My heart is fluttering like a swarm of hummingbirds, but I fight to keep my voice even.

“Everything Bryan said in that interview is true,” I begin, meeting Leo’s fiery gaze, “Before moving to Vegas, I was living in LA doing freelance event marketing work. I was dating Bryan, and he did propose to me. I turned him down and took up Kassie’s offer to come and work for her, designing her new website. Kassie and I met at Berkeley. We both got our masters in computer science there.”

“I don’t need an autobiography,” Mac drawls, “What are you doing here?”

“I only moved to Vegas about a month ago,” I go on, “But I’d visited Kassie here while she was interning for Declan Tiberi last summer. During that trip, we had a run-in with this sleazy gangster who was forcing Dec into some brutal underground fighting shit. I learned all about Kassie’s involvement with Declan and Dante’s Nine. When I moved here for good, I knew that she’s gotten even deeper with the Nine as Declan’s old lady. But I still hadn’t told her the truth about my own MC history.”

“Which is?” Mac prompts me.

“Which is exactly as I’ve told it to you,” I say, appealing to Leo, “Everything you know about my past with the Wraiths is true. My cousin became a member when I was still a kid, I almost got involved with the SoCal chapter—”

“Is Rail in on this too, then?” Leo asks, crossing his thickly corded arms.

“No,” I say emphatically, “Matthew had no idea what I was up to when I asked him for an introduction here. I swear.”

“Your word doesn’t carry much weight, Kelly,” Mac says archly, “But we’ll give Rail the benefit of the doubt. For now.”

“Look. When I got to Vegas, things between the Wraiths and the Nine had already started getting tense,” I hurry on, “I was there at the Forty-Five Club when you guys showed up to have words with the Nine. And I was there the night you took Kassie.”

“No you weren’t,” Leo insists, “There were only four other girls in the bar—”

“Five,” I correct him, “I got wedged behind the front door when you came in.”

“How lucky for you,” Mac sneers.

“The guys refused to call the cops after Kassie was abducted,” I continue, “They knew better than to involve the police. But they also decided not to come after you. Declan and the guys knew that there had to have been some kind of misunderstanding, because they never did anything to deserve—”