“What?”
“Do I know you?” Ryder asked. “You look familiar to me. I just can’t place you.”
“I’m Kat Maddox.”
“Maddox? As in Clint Maddox?”
“That’s my father.”
I saw the hardening of the lines in Ryder’s face. He obviously knew that her dad was in Las Balas. Kat must have thought that he would do something to her despite our conversation outside because her next words were defensive.
“Don’t even think about laying a hand on me, though. You’ll bring down a lot of trouble on yourself.”
“I wouldn’t,” Ryder said, but he sounded pretty damn unhappy. “We have a code of honor. Las Balas are the ones that go after families. They did it to me.”
“I don’t believe you.”
I almost felt sorry for her.
“That’s your problem,” I told her. “You won’t even consider that you’re wrong.”
“My dad isn’t a bad guy,” she said, and for once, I could hear doubt in her voice.
“Neither am I,” I said, and Ryder looked at me questioningly. I didn’t think now was the time to elaborate on my relationship with Kat, but I knew I’d need to fill him in later. As much as it felt like a private thing, I knew that it wasn’t anymore. It could affect the club.
Kat huffed before getting up and walking to the front of the shop. After a moment, I heard her talking to Brie like nothing was wrong. She had just been trying to get away from me.
It was amazing how different this job felt now. Working closely with Kat didn’t feel like such a blessing anymore. It was more like being trapped in a cage with a wild animal that was likely to bite my head off at any moment.
I went back to working on Ryder’s tattoo, and he watched my work in silence. In the end, the tattoo turned out great, but I couldn’t say if it was worth the headache.
Seventeen
Kat
“Come out with me,” I insisted as Piper and I were leaving for the day. The shop was technically closed even though Blade was still finishing up a tattoo with a client. So, the two of us were taking off while Blade and Brie stayed behind.
“What did you have in mind?” she asked as we both waved goodbye to Brie. Piper had bid Blade a good night while I said nothing.
“Let’s go to the Copper Bar again. I liked that place. And maybe you’ll get lucky enough to find a man worth bringing home again.”
“Or maybe you will,” she said.
I pulled open the door of the shop and let her walk through first. I couldn’t imagine finding anyone to take home tonight. My mind strayed to the hot night I’d spent with Blade. His big hands knew exactly how to touch me to bring out all the pleasure I needed, and his full lips set me on fire.
Damn it.I didn’t want to find him physically attractive anymore, but it turned out that it was something I couldn’t just turn off.
“We’ll take my car,” Piper suggested.
“Sure,” I agreed.
I didn’t care either way. I just needed a stiff drink. Maybe it would help keep me from giving in and smoking again. I really did attribute my falling off the wagon to Blade. Knowing that I had to work so closely with him was stressing me out. I was trying to cling to my anger with him to keep myself from focusing on how much I was still attracted to him. Sitting ten feet away from each other for most of the day was not making that easy.
“So, today was…interesting,” Piper said once we were inside of her car. The door of the shop opened just as we were leaving the parking lot, and Blade’s customer walked out.
“That’s one way to put it.”
“Help me understand what’s going on here. You guys aren’t the Capulets and the Montagues, you know.”
