I glanced down at my tickets. Three-one-seven. My stomach sank. Not mine. For a moment, the room stayed quiet as people checked their numbers, and then Maya gasped beside me.
“Oh my god,” she said, looking down at her ticket strip. “That’s mine.”
She stood quickly and headed to the front, and I sat there quietly, trying not to feel disappointed. But I did. That had been the one basket I actually wanted.
A few minutes later, Maya returned carrying the baking basket. She dropped it on the table, looking a bit too casual for my liking. “Well,” she said, “I didn’t even want this one.”
My head snapped up. “You… what?”
She began peeling the plastic wrap off. “I’ll probably donate most of it or throw half this stuff out.”
My mouth fell open. “That’s really rude.”
She blinked at me, confused. “What?”
“If you didn’t want it, you shouldn’t have put tickets in for it.”
She rolled her eyes, clearly annoyed. “Oh my god, Emma.”
“You literally just said you’re going to throw most of it away.”
“So?”
“So someone else might have actually wanted it.”
Her expression shifted slightly, and I could see the annoyance creeping in. “You’re just jealous because you wanted it and didn’t win.”
I exhaled slowly, knowing she wasn’t wrong. I was jealous. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t being rude. Honestly, she’d been acting strange ever since those guys started giving her attention, almost like she was trying to prove something or show off. I leaned back in my chair, feeling a mix of frustration and disappointment. “Whatever.”
She had a few drinks in her, and right now, she seemed more interested in impressing the bikers than actually talking to me. Without meaning to, I caught Hawk’s gaze again. He was watching me from across the room, and I felt my cheeks flush. What was this night turning into?
Four
Emma
The moment the bar door slammed shut behind me, the music faded into a muffled thump, and the cool night air hit my overheated skin like a splash of cold water. I took a deep breath, then another, feeling like I’d been holding my breath for hours inside that crowded bar. The air out here smelled like gravel, gasoline, and freshly cut grass drifting in from the fields surrounding the building.
This place was in the middle of nowhere—a lonely bar next to a long stretch of dark country road. Inside had started to feel… just too much. Too loud. Too packed. Too intense. Maya had disappeared almost half an hour ago with one of the bikers she’d been flirting with all night. One minute she was right beside me at the bar, and the next, she was laughing as some guy pulled her toward the hallway near the bathrooms. She hadn’t even looked back at me or asked if I was okay staying.
And now my phone was dead. No Uber. No service. No ride. Just me. Standing outside a biker bar in the middle of nowhere.
“Awesome,” I muttered under my breath.
What surprised me the most was how empty the front of the bar was. Usually, places like this had a small crowd of smokers lingering by the entrance—people laughing, arguing, or someone leaning against the wall scrolling through their phone. But there was no one. Not a single soul. Just the quiet hum of crickets in the tall grass and the distant thump of bass vibrating through the walls of the building.
I wrapped my arms around myself and tipped my head back, staring up at the dark sky. The stars were bright out here—brighter than I ever saw back in town. I closed my eyes and focused on breathing. In. Out. In. Out.
“Okay,” I whispered to myself. “You’re fine.”
Maybe Maya would come looking for me. Maybe she’d realize she ditched me. Maybe—
Suddenly, the bar door slammed open behind me. I jumped, my heart leaping into my throat as heavy footsteps stumbled onto the gravel.
“Well, well,” a thick, slurred voice called out.
I slowly turned around. A man staggered toward me, swaying slightly as he walked. His eyes were glassy and unfocused, and I could smell the alcohol on him before he even reached me. He wore a crooked leather cut, a patch on the back I didn’t recognize. It wasn’t like the ones the bikers inside had been wearing.
“Pretty girl out here all alone,” he said, dragging his words together lazily. “That’s dangerous.”
