I nodded, turned toward the door, pretending I didn’t feel his eyes follow me every step of the way. The clubhouse lights cast long shadows across the gravel, and I felt every one of them slide down my spine.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
I TOOK MYusual walk around the grounds,a habit I couldn’t shake if I tried. Some men drank before bed. I paced circles in the dark, chasin’ ghosts.
Literally.
Started when I was a kid, woke up one night with my dead grandma standin’ over my bed, eyes wide, mouth movin’ but no sound comin’ out. Scared the ever-lovin’ hell outta me.
Over the years, she’d show up now and again. Just watchin’. Never mean. Just there. Then one day she quit… and I missed her.
Never told a soul. Who the hell would believe me anyway?
The brothers liked to rib me about the ghost thing, thought it was some tall tale I told to haze prospects. I let ’em think that.Didn’t owe anybody an explanation. I was who I was, never felt a reason to apologize for it.
But tonight, ghosts were the least of my damn worries.
Tonight, it was her.
Couldn’t get Lark outta my head no matter how many laps I took around the property. What made her different? Hell if I knew. I’d always figured women were like whiskey—different labels, same burn. But she wasn’t. She was heat I didn’t know how to cool down. A fire I couldn’t put out even if I wanted to.
“Fuck,” I muttered, hittin’ the porch steps.
From the shadows, a voice drawled, “What’s crawled up your ass?”
Rune.
“Jesus,” I said, squintin’ at him. “Why the hell you sittin’ out here like some damn creeper in the dark?”
He smirked. “Thinking.”
“That’s dangerous for you.”
Before he could throw somethin’ back, headlights swept across the yard, slicin’ clean through the dark. A car rolled up the drive and eased to a stop in front of the clubhouse.
Amy was in the passenger seat laughin’. The guy behind the wheel leaned over and kissed her cheek.
“Motherfucker,” Rune growled, every muscle goin’ tight. He shot to his feet, but I caught him by the chest.
“Hold up,” I hissed. “What the hell you think you’re doin’?”
He glared at me like I was the problem. “You see that?”
“Yeah, I see it. And everybody sees you runnin’ around with Sugar. You’ve got no claim on Amy.”
His jaw clenched—hard. Fury with nowhere to go.
Amy climbed out of the car, smoothin’ her hair like she hadn’t just tossed Rune’s sanity off a cliff. “See you tomorrow, Colton,” she said, smilin’ back at the driver before turnin’ toward us.
“Hey, Chain,” she greeted when she spotted me. Then, softer, “Hi, Rune.”
He didn’t answer. Just watched her disappear inside, her perfume still hangin’ in the air like it hadn’t realized she left.
When the door shut behind her, Rune jerked free of my grip and stomped down the porch steps, mutterin’ somethin’ under his breath. A bottle smashed a second later.
I blew out a breath, shakin’ my head. For fuck’s sake. If he wanted Amy, he should’ve said somethin’. But he was too damn proud to admit he cared. Too damn scared to want somethin’ real.
And maybe that’s why it hit harder than it should’ve, because I was doin’ the same damn thing.
