His Twisted Heart by Ellie R Hunter

Chapter Thirty-Four

Luca

Walking into the bar, the first thing I see is Angel standing with Pope and Ricky, and the twins glaring at him. A take a seat on an empty stool, wondering what’s going on now. I catch Myles’ attention, and a dirty ass smirk hooks at the corner of his mouth.

“Hey, Jackson, Angel here is asking for our blessing to date Victoria. What do you think? Should we give him our blessing? Apparently, she was the one who asked him out.”

Fucking asshole. He knows exactly what he’s doing, but I give nothing away. Angel warily looks away from the twins and in my direction. I hold his stare. I warned him to stay away, but he obviously didn’t listen.

Before I can open my mouth to throw shade their way, Dad steps into my line of sight and turns to Myles, saying, “Keep your business to yourself, Myles” and joins me at the bar.

“Considering you seem to have a problem with just about everyone, I take it Angel’s on your shit list?”

I scowl, barely keeping my building anger reined in. “I have zero problems with anyone,” I grate out.

“This coming Saturday, the brothers will be deciding if he, Grim, and Dion will join our chapter, and I don’t think anyone will vote against. Get right with Angel. Get right with every fucker, or you’ll be the one who loses.”

Slapping me on the shoulder, he fucks off, and I turn back to the shit show across the bar.

I’ll show everyone I have no fucking problems with any fucker around here.

“Hey!” I holler. “After everything Victoria has been through, whoever’s dating her should prove they’re able to protect her.”

Pope lights up, his icy smirk breaking through his usual scowl. “Yeah? What do you suggest then, Luca?”

“If she were my sister, I’d want to see what he was made of.”

I watch them take in my suggestion. Pope’s smirk turns into a full-blown smile, but it disappears as fast it appears.

“I agree.” Rising from his seat, he turns to Angel. “Follow me.”

I wait for the lot of them to walk outside and follow to see what Pope’s going to put Angel through. I plot up on the nearest picnic table and pull out my smokes.

“Mason, Myles, go wait over there.” Pope points off, and the twins trudge over to the garages.

To Angel, he says, “If you can get past my boys and back here, you’ll have our blessing. But be warned, they won’t go lightly, so don’t hold back.”

“You want me to fight them both?” Angel clarifies.

“If you don’t think you can, by all means, don’t.”

“No, it’s… I’ll do it.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll survive, somewhat,” Pope huffs. “Go on. I can’t be out here for long.”

While Angel heads to the other side of where the twins are, they prepare themselves by cracking their knuckles and rolling their necks.

This should be interesting. Drawing hard on the cigarette, I brace my elbows on my knees and settle in to watch this prick get his ass handed to him by the twins.

“You’ve got five minutes to get back to me. Starting … now.”

I expect him to rush forward, but he sizes up Mason to his left first, and then right to Myles, bouncing on his feet in anticipation of an attack.

“You’re wasting time, brother,” Myles mocks him.

Personally, I’d go for Myles first. Mason would come up from behind with a predictable jab to the head. But going for Mason first, Myles unpredictability isn’t something you can rationalise while fighting someone else.

Angel fakes a left and rushes Myles, failing to knock him over, but he does manage to get a punch to his ribs in as he football barrels him backward. Mason surprises me by hanging back, watching closely as Myles wraps his arms around Angel and swings him down onto the gravel.

He rebounds quickly and jumps to his feet. Mason edges closer as Angel catches Myles’ jaw with a punch.

The impact has Myles stumbling back, and Angel goes to move between the twins, heading for Pope, not counting for Mason running up behind him. Jumping onto his back, he takes Angel down, and I start to grow bored with their scuffling. Rolling around thinking they’re in the UFC cage, I take one last drag on my cigarette and flick the butt behind me. It seems Pope’s feeling the same too.

“Are we fighting or trying to fuck one another?”

Myles circles his brother, still scuffling with Angel, and slams his boot into Angel’s face. It gives Mason the time he needs to get to his feet. With the twins on either side of him, his fist shoots out and slams into Mason’s jaw, quickly followed by a heavy jab to Myles’ cheekbone. Mason rebounds sharply, but Myles falls down on his ass. Pope hollers, “Get on your feet, boy!” and Myles scowls in his direction.

I’ve never seen the twins get bested before, and I’m starting to enjoy the show. I blink and miss Mason’s punch to Angel’s eye. He shakes it off, and before my eyes, dips low, swings his leg around, and takes Mason off his feet. The asshole lands on his back, and before Myles can strike, Angel’s moving toward Pope, clearing the twins with such ease, it’s almost like they’re confirming they’re the pussies I believed them to be. All hype, no impact.

Standing before Pope and Ricky, Pope looks his usual stone-faced self, while Ricky looks somewhat impressed.

“Was that good enough for you, Jackson?” Pope hollers as Angel smirks over at me.

I shrug. That’s all they’re getting from me. I’ll wipe Angel’s smirk off one day.

Sara joins me as Pope stops on his way into the bar.

“Victoria is moving on. From what I’ve seen, you are too. Don’t let me catch you bothering my granddaughter again for any reason.”

She doesn’t look at Pope as she sits beside me. “Shouldn’t you get back inside, old man, before someone sees you’re still alive?”

Snorting, he hauls his old ass inside, and then I’m faced with Sara and her novel of questions.

“Why were they fighting?”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“Can we talk up in your room?”

“About?” I ask, watching Angel laugh with the twins.

Slipping off the bench, she holds her hand out and waits. Taking it, I let her lead the way up to my room, and before I can ask what she wants to talk about, she’s backing me up to the door and kissing me.

She’s hungrier than earlier, and still, Tor’s who I see when I close my eyes. Think of anything but her, for fuck’s sake. I have the woman I’ve always wanted back, and I need to make this work.

Grabbing her thighs, I lift her up and spin around, pushing her up against the door.

“Luca… slow down,” she gasps, and I instantly release her.

She slides down my body, and I step back once her feet are on the floor.

Catching my breath, I can barely look at her.

“Why did you stop? I only wanted you to slow down.”

If I slowed down, we’d barely be kissing at all.

“I…”

I what? I have no idea what to say. I can’t exactly tell her that when we kiss, all I can think about is Vic-fucking-toria.

“I’m sorry,” she says, dropping her chin to her chest, hiding from me.

“For what?”

“For ruining the moment.”

Sighing, I reach for her hand and press it to my lips. “Don’t be sorry because you don’t want to do something.”

“I guess we’ve both changed, huh?”

“It was only a kiss, Sara.”

Sitting on the edge of the bed, she holds her hands in her lap, and when she looks up at me, I see the old vulnerability surrounding her.

“It isn’t just the kiss. You warned me you’d changed, and I think the problem is, I haven’t, and I thought I didn’t believe you, not really.”

“What are you saying?”

Taking a deep breath, she rises from the bed and stands in front of me. Clutching my cut, she says, “I’m going to get to know who you are now.”

Is that what I want, though?