bother me. A lot. Before I could ask any clarifying questions, though, Mal was barreling forward again and brandishing a finger threateningly in Xavier’s face.
“We are not dating,” he said coldly. “We never fucking were, and we never fucking will be. I’m done with your fucking harassment—before it was irritating, but now you’ve crossed the goddamn line.”
Harassment? It all began to make sense in my mind. Mal had spent a lot of time recently grimacing at his phone, rejecting calls and deleting texts—had that been Xavier all along? If so, how did all this start? The cold jealousy still weighed heavy in my gut, but now there was confusion, too. How much about Mal’s life had I been missing?
“All right,” Blade said sternly. He stood between Mal and Xavier, and Gunnar put a firm hand on Xavier’s shoulder just in case he tried anything. “Xavier, you better tell us what the fuck is going on here.”
Mal crossed his arms over his chest, still looking spitting mad. “First of all, his name’s not fucking Xavier.”
“That’s the name he used when he approached me about prospecting,” I said. “And the name we used to run all the background checks. They came out fine.”
“It’s Stefan,” Mal said. “Xavier must be a fake name.”
That name sounded slightly familiar. But a fake name didn’t make sense—Raven’s background checks usually caught a fake name, and this check had come back with full records. So how did…
“Stefan is my middle name,” Xavier said with a smirk. “I always use that name when I’m clubbing. Makes things a little more fun, you know?”
“He’s fucking stalking me,” Mal said. “No way I’m letting his ass prospect with this club, especially after lying through his teeth to Priest. Fuck out of here.”
And that was enough explanation for Blade to nod. Gunnar grabbed Xavier by the shoulder roughly and pulled him to the front door—Xavier went, not willingly, but not resisting enough to really get his ass beat.
“This is a fucking disgrace,” he shouted over his shoulder. “I thought this club was supposed to be welcoming!”
“Can it,” Gunnar said with a growl, and walked him bodily outside. It’d be a few minutes before Gunnar returned—he’d make sure Xavier left the premises, and make sure Xavier knew he wasn’t welcome back.
At least not until we figured out what the fuck was going on.
With a sigh, I turned to Mal. He looked suddenly exhausted, sweat beading at his temples as he grimaced and rubbed his forehead.
“All right, Mal,” I said with a sigh. “Want to explain what that was all about?”
7
Mal
My heart pounded ferociously in my chest. I was thrumming with energy, and before I realized what I was doing, I started pacing, stalking the width of Ballast near the front door back and forth. Just to try to work off some of the anger burning in my chest.
How dare that little fucker—Stefan, or Xavier, or whatever the fuck his real name was—show up at Ballast? How dare he go behind my back and try to infiltrate my club? And then try to tell everyone we were dating? It was such a gross invasion of privacy. I could hardly believe his audacity. Obviously, he was delusional, too, thinking he could show up and I wouldn’t kick him out immediately.
He was more obsessed with me than I thought. I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose as I paced.
“Mal,” Blade said. “I need you to explain what’s going on here.”
I knew I had to, but this was the last place I wanted to do it. In front of the whole club, I’d have to expose some parts of myself I wasn’t proud of. I grimaced at the thought—was there a way I could deflect? Put this conversation on pause until it was just Blade and me, in the clubhouse?
I was anxiously thinking of a way to answer Blade when I very nearly walked into Priest. He stood in front of me, hand on my chest, and forcibly stopped my half-conscious pacing.
“Mal,” he said in that warm, calming voice of his. “Take a breath.”
I did as instructed—a slow, deep breath. My heart stopped pounding so hard. I pressed my lips together, ignoring the concerned gaze of my members around us and focusing instead on the grounding touch of Priest’s hand on my chest and his concerned blue eyes.
“Are you in trouble with this guy?” Priest asked. “He’s been harassing you?”
“Yeah,” I said with a huff. “This is the first time he’s actually shown up