He bent down, grabbed her supplies, and thrust them into her arms more roughly than necessary, like he needed the physical movement to keep himself grounded.“Get back to the compound.I’ll follow.”
“I don’t need—” Ivy started.
“I’m not asking,” he cut in, the edge in his voice leaving no room for argument.
Their gazes locked again, tension crackling thick and unresolved between them.
“Later,” he added, voice lower now, controlled but strained.“We’ll talk later.”
She held his gaze for another second, something unreadable passing between them, then turned and walked toward her car without another word.
Chapter Eight
The clubhouse had adifferent pulse in the late afternoon.By 5:00, the sun slanted low and gold through the trees ringing the compound, glinting off chrome and windshields, warming the concrete beneath Ivy’s boots.
The day’s heat still clung to the air, mixed with familiar scents of oil, leather, cut grass, and cigarette smoke.She should have been packing up.That was the routine.Clean brushes, cap paints, stack supplies, head back to the little room she’d been given and call it a day.
She didn’t.Her mural waited patiently behind her, half-finished faces and lines frozen mid-breath, but Ivy couldn’t focus on it anymore.
Every stroke she’d laid down after the morning confrontation had been sharp, restless.Havoc’s voice still echoed in her head.That kiss.The way he’d pulled away like touching her hurt worse than staying.
He’d left not long after, called away by King.Roach had taken over, leaning against a post nearby, arms crossed, watching the yard with a lazy alertness that suggested he missed nothing.He’d cracked a joke or two earlier, tried to lighten the mood, but Ivy had only half-heard him.
Now she wiped her hands on a rag, set her brush down, and took a breath that felt like stepping off a ledge.
“I’m done for the day,” she said.
Roach glanced at the mural, then at her untouched supply crates.“You sure?You usually pack up.”
“I know,” Ivy simply said.
She turned toward the clubhouse without another word.
Roach pushed off the post.
“Where you headed?”Roach asked.
