Blade
I’d never known a more infuriatingly unreasonable woman in my whole life.
To say that Kat’s reaction was unexpected would be an understatement. It had never occurred to me to mention that I was a prospect for Outlaw Souls, and her attitude toward the club was baffling.
Clearly, she’d been fed a line of bullshit about us and wasn’t willing to listen to reason.
Fine,I told myself.Her loss.
I spent the day stewing over the argument we’d had this morning and trying to ignore the tension in the air. I kept my curtain pulled around my work station all day, and she did the same. The atmosphere of the shop had changed so quickly.
I skipped lunch since I was in the middle of a tattoo on a woman’s lower back around noon, so I was starving by the time I left the shop at the end of the night. I hopped on my bike while Kat and Piper walked across the parking lot to their cars and Brie locked up the building. I was the first one out of the parking lot, and I headed straight to Tiny’s diner. It was caddy-corner to the Blue Dog, so it was no surprise to walk in and see other Outlaw Souls there. I nodded at Yoda and Ryder, who were sitting across from each other in a booth, but I sat alone at a table in the back. I didn’t feel much like socializing tonight.
I knew that it was pointless to think about Kat. I barely knew her, but it was a bitter disappointment that things were over so quickly. If nothing else, she was good in bed, and I would have liked to go another couple rounds.
Fuck it.
I was just going around in circles here. The fact was that we had discovered an insurmountable difference between us; Kat had even called us enemies.
I was facing the door, so I saw when a group of women entered the restaurant. One of them had long dark hair, and it reminded me of Kat so much that I made myself look away. God, I was acting like a lovesick teenager. It was ridiculous. Kat was just a good lay, I told myself firmly, still avoiding looking at the woman that could have been her sister with all their similarities. I felt a presence approaching and looked up, expecting the waitress. Instead, I saw Ryder there.
“Got a minute?” he asked.
“Sure,” I said unenthusiastically.
Ryder sat across from me. “You all right?”
No.“Yeah, I’m tight. What’s up?”
“Swole talked to Cecilia Groves.”
“Already? That was fast.”
“I guess Cecilia attends a weekly yoga class at the fitness center, so Swole conveniently ran into her today. Anyway, she has given us permission to search the property.”
“She must have been pretty upset about the death of her husband at the hands of the mob.”
“She was, but you know how strong women can be. They compartmentalize that shit. Right now, she wants the stash off the land for the safety of her and her kid.”
“When do we start?”
“Two days. Hawk will have his hands on a few metal detectors by then.”
“Count me in.”
“Good.” He racked his knuckles on the table twice and stood. “I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon.”
“Tomorrow?”
“My tattoo?”
“Oh, yeah.” I nodded. “Right. See you tomorrow.”
I had forgotten all about that. Now Ryder was going to be in the shop with Kat, who apparently hated us.
This was going to be interesting.
* * *
