She sighed. “Maybe just drive by at recess.” She lifted a brow. “Or get me a Heller devil patch.”
“They’re a little hard to get.” And harder to keep. My gut clenched when I thought of giving it up after working so hard to earn it. McKelle slowed as she rode into the entrance of the hot pit.
“I gotta go.” Cece jumped to her feet.
I glanced at the track where the first group of riders were filtering back on for their second session. “I’ll walk with you.”
She stayed in step beside me as she bounced down the steps to the pathway leading to the parking lot of popups.
Cece continued to talk to me as we walked. “Maybe McKelle wouldn’t be mad if you got her a present, like a goat. That’s what my dad gets my mom whenever he hurts her feelings.”
“McKelle hates your mom’s goats.”
“Yeah, not a goat. That might make it worse. You could get her name tattooed on your neck.”
I laughed. “I could get it on my heart.”
“Oooh, on the heart. That means love.”
“Yep.”
Cece’s smile widened. She paused at the point where we’d need to part ways. “I’ll tell her you werewatching her race, and you thought she was wicked fast. I’ll make it sound good.”
I tugged her braid. “I appreciate you putting in the good word for me.”
She waved as she rushed off. I made my way to my bike. Cece was right about one thing. This time, saying I was sorry wouldn’t be enough.
A couple minutes later, I rode my Harley out of a sea of sportbikes. On my ride back to the MC, I considered my options. The last one hurt just considering how it would feel. I didn’t want to think about giving up the patch, but nothing in my life would be worth shit without McKelle.
It might’ve taken me a while to come to terms with the tightness in my chest, and the possessiveness driving me fucking mad. But my feelings for McKelle ran deep, so fucking deep there was no getting her out of my system. And no way was I okay without her.
I entered the code at the gate of the MC and backed into a spot near the front of the chapel. By tonight, the place would be packed.
Dozer and Tank sat at a table.
“Out flying your colors,” Tank said to me.
I slumped into a chair next to them. “I went out to the track to talk to McKelle.”
Dozer tapped a cigarette from his pack. “Did you work it out?”
“Nah.” I tried to swallow the lump of regrets like a knife to the throat. “I fucked up.”
Tank leaned back, his chair creaking under his weight. “We’ve all been there.”
“I don’t know how to fix it.”
“Are you sure you want to?”
I turned to Dozer. “What the fuck?”
Dozer shrugged. “I’m not judging, but you fucked around on her. She isn’t a Heller whore.” He took a long drag off his cigarette. “You had to know she’d find out.”
“I didn’t fuck Jinx.” I growled and rolled my shoulders. How many times did I need to repeat myself? “I couldn’t get out of it. Bullet needed me in the room.”
Tank shifted his gaze from me to Dozer. “You got lucky,” he said to Dozer. “Your old lady isn’t like Jazzy and the other girls, but Pippa’s all Heller. She understands you need to work out your frustrations in the basement. She understands what being a Heller means for you and for her. She accepts that she ain’t going to know everything.”
“But I’m not working for Bullet,” he said. “She doesn’t have to worry if I’m fucking whores.”
