Page 46 of Bolt's Flame
I sniffed, recounting the encounter, trying to catch my breath as I finished. “I thought... he cared about me.”
Brenda reached across the table, her hand covering mine, her grip warm and firm. “Men can be idiots, sweetheart. They can make mistakes. But sometimes, things aren’t always what they seem.”
I shook my head, the image of Bolt and Jenny burned into my mind. “But I saw them, Brenda. He was there with her and there were... remnants of what they had done. How am I supposed to believe anything else?”
She squeezed my hand, her gaze never leaving mine. “Listen to me, Fiona. I’ve been around this club long enough to know when something’s off. And that sweet butt, Jenny... she’s been after Bolt and his patch since the day she walked into this clubhouse. I wouldn’t put it past her to pull somethin’ like this.”
I stared at her, trying to make sense of what she was saying. “You think she... what? Set him up?”
Brenda nodded slowly, her eyes searching mine. “It’s possible. I’m not saying that’s what happened, but I’m saying you need to be sure before you jump to conclusions. Bolt doesn’t strike me as the kind of man who’d throw away somethin’ good for a roll in the sheets with a sweet butt. Hell, I’ve never once seen him take a woman to his room, except you.”
My heart ached, torn between the image I’d seen and the hope that maybe, just maybe, there was another explanation. But it was hard to believe. Hard to let myself hope that this was anything but what it seemed.
“I don’t know what to think,” I whispered, my voice shaking. “I feel so stupid.”
Brenda’s grip tightened on my hand, her expression softening. “You’re not stupid, Fiona. You’ve been through hell and back, and you deserve someone who’ll treat you right. But you also deserve the truth, whatever that is. Don’t let anger make up your mind for you.”
I nodded, wiping at my eyes with the back of my hand. “I don’t think it’ll matter, Brenda,” I whispered. “The vision of them together in that bed, set up or not, he still slept with her. I saw the used condom.”
“Oh honey,” she murmured, stroking my hair. “You’re so much like your momma, so pretty and sweet, you love with your whole heart and hurt the same. That’s why Horse loved Caroline so much and why it about killed him when she died. You were the only thing keeping him on this earth, and Bolt looks at you the very same way your daddy looked at your momma.” Brenda paused; her eyes thoughtful as she remembered.
“He looked at Caroline like she was the very air he needed to breathe. I was always so jealous of that, having a man love you that much. And Bolt was a man in love and this whole thing ain’t passing the smell test. It stinks to high heaven.”
“I wish I could believe that,” I replied, the tears flowing down my face freely as I took a shaky breath. “Brenda, I love you and the fact you want to make me feel better, but my eyes don’t lie, the image imprinted in my mind. I can’t forgive him, and I need to pull myself together to start my life over—without him.”
“Does your daddy know?”
“Yeah, he saw them too, and he went after Bolt. I left so I’m not sure if he hurt him,” I confessed, for the first time wondering what happened after I walked away.
“Oh Lord,” Brenda muttered, standing. “I better go calm Horse down and make sure he didn’t kill Bolt.” She bent down to kiss my cheek. “Everything is going to be okay; you’ll see. Don’t hold anything inside that head of yours. You come find me and we’ll talk.” She looked back over her shoulder before walking out the door. “And Fiona, if Bolt really did screw around on you, he better find a hole to hide in, a deep one.”
I nodded again; my throat was too tight to speak. Brenda’s strength, her unwavering support, was a godsend, and for now, it was enough to keep me from running out the door.
But even as I sat there, my fingers twisting the chain he had given me, trying to breathe through the pain, a part of me couldn’t shake the image of Bolt with Jenny. The way he looked,half-awake and groggy, like he didn’t even know where he was. It didn’t make sense, and that was the hardest part. But in the end, none of that mattered since they had slept together. That was unforgivable. So, with a hand that seemed to weigh a thousand pounds, I removed the chain and stuck it in my pocket.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
THE CLUBHOUSE FELTcolder, emptier than usual,even though it was full of the same faces, the same noise. It was like everything had shifted in the wake of last night, and I was standing in the middle of it, trying to piece together how the hell everything went so wrong.
I hadn’t slept or eaten, even though I felt completely empty inside.
Not since Fiona stormed out of my room. Her eyes filled with so much pain and anger that it felt like someone had driven a knife right through my chest. The memory of her face, twistedwith betrayal, kept replaying in my mind, and it was driving me insane.
I had to figure this out. I had to know what happened. Because whatever went down in my room last night, it wasn’t right. I knew that much. And if I had any chance of fixing things with Fiona, I needed to know the truth.
I stalked down the hallway, my footsteps loud on the old wooden floor. My head was clearer now, the fog from whatever the hell I’d taken finally starting to lift. I replayed everything in my mind, every detail I could remember, but it was all a blur. Coming back from the stakeout, the headache, grabbing the pills behind the bar... then nothing.
I pushed into the common room, my eyes scanning for anyone who might have seen something, heard something. Devil was talking to Chain near the bar, and I made a beeline for them.
“Bolt,” Devil said, his eyes narrowing as he took in my expression. “You look like hell.”
I ignored the jab, my jaw clenched as I looked between them. “I need to know if either of you saw anything last night after I got back from the stakeout.”
Chain raised an eyebrow, his arms crossing over his chest. “You mean before or after Horse tried to kill you?”
“Before,” I snapped, the irritation rising inside me. I wasn’t in the mood for jokes. “I took something for my headache, went to my room to shower and the next thing I know, I wake up with Jenny in my bed.”
Devil’s expression didn’t change, but I could see the gears turning behind his eyes. He glanced at Chain, then back at me. “We didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, neither did the cameras. You reached behind the bar, shook out some capsules, went to your room, and that was it. What’s on your mind?”