Chapter 2

Kasey's POV

I met Leo McIver when I was five.

Fell in love with him when I was ten.

And at thirteen, I decided I was going to marry him.

The problem was, he never looked at me that way.

I had loved him for years, quietly, hopelessly, from the edges of his world. But he never noticed me. He moved through life like I was just another shadow, another background detail in a world built for him.

And trust me, I tried everything. Being near him, laughing with his friends, sitting within his orbit at every club event—I was always there. I even tried the desperate move of pretending I didn’t care, ignoring him for weeks until the sheer silence felt like screaming. 

I told myself he’d notice eventually. That one day, he’d stop seeing me as Kasey, the Vice President’s quiet daughter and actually see me.

​But he never did. He just kept living his life, and in his life, I was invisible.

Now, at twenty-one, I was still staring at him through a screen like some obsessed idiot. He was shirtless in the picture, his shoulders broad and powerful and the Serpent's tattoo on his ribs a blur in the low light. 

A cigarette dangled from his lips, and one hand rested possessively on the hip of some new blonde draped across his lap. Her smile was smug and her body half-turned toward the camera, like she knew exactly what she had and who she’d stolen from every girl who’d ever wanted him.

​The caption was just a flame emoji. No context needed. It was his way of claiming her, marking his territory for everyone to see.

​But again, she wasn’t the first. Hell, she was probably the fifth just this semester. But who was counting?

Certainly not me.

​Leo had gone through so many girls I’d lost count. Different faces, same story. They came and they went, and I stayed right where I’d always been; watching from the sidelines. The girl so hopelessly devoted it stopped being romantic a long time ago and just started looking pathetic.

"Thongs or panties?"

Tess’s voice sliced through my thoughts. I blinked up from my phone, the image of Leo and the blonde still seared behind my eyelids.

She was sprawled across her bed, half-dressed, holding up a piece of black lace that was more thread than fabric. Her red hair tumbled down her back in a wild mess and her eyes were glittering with mischief.

"Neither," Maeve said from the closet, her voice muffled as she dug through a pile of clothes. "Real men don’t care what’s underneath, only how fast they can get to it."

Tess snorted. "That’s because the men you let in your bed barely qualify as human." 

Maeve threw a high-heeled shoe at her. It missed by inches and hit the wall with a dull thud. "At least I’m getting laid, princess. What about you? Still holding out for a ring from the imaginary boyfriend?"

Tess gasped dramatically, pressing a hand to her chest. "How dare you! I’m holding out for a man with standards. Unlike someone I know."

The two of them broke into a peal of laughter that filled the room, bouncing off the walls along with the heavy bass leaking through the floorboards from the party downstairs.

They were my people. Daughters of the Iron Serpents Motorcycle Club. Our fathers held power in this territory. My dad was the Vice President of the Serpents, Tess’s dad ran the garage where men got their custom rides and Maeve’s uncle handled the more discreet logistics, like weapons and money. 

We’d both grown up around violence and men who didn’t believe in rules and these two were my best friends. 

​Our Campus, Riverside College of Arts and Sciences, sat right on the edge of the Serpents’ sprawling territory, funded and protected by the Brotherhood's dirty money.

Half the students here were family; sons and daughters of patched members, the little princes and princesses of the outlaw world. The rest were either affiliated with rival mafia families or the disgustingly rich, reckless kind who wanted to rub shoulders with danger before retreating to their safe, suburban lives.

So, yeah. It wasn’t your average campus.

You could buy a degree here or get your throat slit in the parking lot, depending on whose toes you stepped on.

Tonight, the campus was vibrating with anticipation for the Blood Oath Party, one of the club’s oldest, most sacred traditions. Every year, the sons of patched members took their oaths, pledging blood loyalty to the Brotherhood before the President himself—Leo’s father. It was brutal and half the time, technically illegal.

​Most girls went for the chaos; the cheap booze, the promise of a fight, the chance for something wild before dawn.

I’d only ever gone for one reason.

Leo.

But this time, after seeing that picture, I wasn’t sure if I could stomach it.

“Earth to Kasey,” Tess said, tossing a lacy red bra at me. “Don’t tell me you’re still stalking Leo’s feed. You’re gonna go blind from heartbreak, babe.”

I forced a small smile, setting my phone face down on the bed.

Maeve flopped beside me, her perfume clouding the air in something sweet and dizzying. "He posted another one, didn’t he?"

I didn’t need to answer. The heat in my cheeks was confession enough.

Maeve’s mouth curved. "Who’s the unlucky bitch this time?"

"Let me guess," Tess said, abandoning her side of the room to loom over us. "Another blonde with more highlights than brain cells? God, his type is so tragically predictable."

"It doesn’t matter," I mumbled, my thumb itching to refresh his profile, to sear the image deeper into my brain as punishment.

"The hell it doesn’t," Tess snapped, her humor vanishing, replaced by a protective ferocity I cherished. "You’ve been in love with that boy in like forever. He’s a McIver. They don’t do forever, Kasey. They do tonight. And you… you deserve so much more than just a tonight from anyone."

The words were a familiar sting. I’d told myself the same thing a thousand times. On lonely nights, watching his I*******m stories from some club. On quiet mornings, hearing rumors about who he’d left with and who he'd fucked in the garage.

But knowing a truth and feeling it are two different wars fought on the same battered battlefield of the heart.

Maeve’s mouth curved. "We’re still going to the party though, right?"

"I don’t know," I said quietly.

Tess groaned. "Oh, for fuck’s sake, Kase. He’s just a guy. A hot guy with tattoos and probably a small dick, but still. You can’t keep hiding in your head every time he hooks up."

"Don’t be an ass," Maeve said, glaring at her. "You know it’s different for her. He's going to be there, tonight."

"And that’s exactly why you’re going," Tess declared, her hands planted on her hips."You can’t let him and his flavor of the week scare you off. This is your turf. Your family’s legacy is stamped on these walls same as his. More, even. Your dad actually earned his patch. He is the fucking Vice President."

"Tess," I sighed, a wave of exhaustion washing over me. The prospect of going down there, of seeing him with her, of feeling that familiar, gut-wrenching twist of jealousy… it was too much.

"No. Nope. I veto this moping," she said, stomping to my closet and flinging the door open. "We are going to make Leo look at you just once and feel like the world just fell out from under his feet."

Maeve’s eyes lit up. "Oh, I like this plan."

I was too tired to argue. Maybe I needed this tonight. A distraction. The illusion of control.

Tess threw open my closet and began pulling things out. "This. Too boring. This. Too nun-like. Jesus, Kasey, do you own anything that doesn’t scream Sunday School?"

She finally turned, holding up a short black skirt and a crimson, low-cut crop top. "Perfect."

My stomach lurched. "Absolutely not."

"Absolutely yes," they said in unison.

"I’m not wearing that," I said instantly.

"Yes, you are."

Maeve took the outfit from Tess, her expression turning uncharacteristically serious. "Listen to me. You’ve spent years giving him pieces of your heart. Tonight, you’re not giving him anything. You’re going to make him want you and then you'll walk away."

The idea was so foreign, so audacious, it was almost laughable. Me, walk away from Leo? I’d spent a lifetime trying to get closer.

"You’ve been chasing for years, Kase. Let him chase you for once."

I stared at the clothes in Maeve’s hands.

The bass from the courtyard below thumped through the walls, vibrating in my chest. The Blood Oath Party was already alive. I could hear the laughter, the shouts, the rumble of engines starting outside.

And somewhere in that chaos was Leo.

Probably drunk, probably with her. Probably eating her face. 

Something ugly twisted in my stomach; jealousy, anger, heartbreak. I didn’t even know anymore.

I wanted to forget him.

God, I wanted to hate him.

But more than anything, I wanted to be the one in his arms, just once.

I should’ve said no.  I should’ve stayed in, watching some boring documentary and pretending I didn’t care.

But that was the thing about love.  It made you stupid.

And I’d always been stupid for Leo.

“Fine,” I whispered. “I’ll go.”