“Fuck!”
“Same thing I said. The good thing is we’re already steps ahead of the shit they’re going to want to know. But I’ll let everyone know tonight is the night so we can all slide into place.” He responded.
“Cool. I’ll be ready to ride. Tell them to meet up at my spot.”
“Got you.”
We ended the call and stood from behind my desk when someone knocked against the door.
“Come in.”
Vanessa peeked inside with a somber expression. I groaned inwardly, wondering why the fuck it was so hard to get her ass to back off. She hadn’t gone this hard until Solana came into the picture. I couldn’t understand why I had to keep having the same conversations with her ass.
“What’s up?” I asked, while grabbing my keys to my bike and heading for the door.
Nessa reached out to grab my biceps to stop me from walking out of the door.
“I thought we could talk in private before you left. Ever since you call yourself fucking with her, now you can’t deal with me. I’m a Thorn, too. It’s your job as our leader to make sureI’m okay, too. That doesn’t change now that you have someone stroking your ego.”
I glanced over my shoulder in her direction, then chuckled. She’d been on my last nerve for some time now. I peered down at her hand that was still wrapped around my biceps, like she had the right to touch me. My brow raised as I looked back up at her, warning her without words to get her hands off me.
She released me like a child, touching the burner on a hot stove.
“Is that right?” I asked, turning to face her fully with my hands clasped in front of me.
“Shit, let me hear your grievances, then. Since this is biker business, and you know how I should be running my shit.”
Nessa’s eyes widened, not expecting me to call her out. Her mouth opened, then closed a few times before she released a frustrated breath.
“Why are you doing this to me? We can fix this?—”
I held my hand up, stopping her.
“I’ve been trying to be respectful, but you go out of your way to disrespect me and now, my girl. I don’t know where I went wrong where you’re concerned. I was upfront about the fact we would never be in a relationship. It didn’t matter if it was Solana. It was always going to be someone else, and I told yo’ hard headed ass that on more than one occasion.”
A tear rolled down her cheek, making my chest hurt. Not because I cared about how she felt. But I wasn’t a heartless man who walked around, leaving broken hearts in my wake. I didn’t set out to fuck up her day or make her feel bad. All I could do was keep it real with her.
“Nessa, don’t do that shit. I owe it to you to keep it real, like I always have where you or anyone else I’ve dealt with is concerned. It’s my bad. I know where I went wrong. I shouldhave never allowed this to cross into anything sexual. So, that was my bad?—”
“No, that wasn’t it. I just don’t understand why it couldn’t have been me.”
“This is why. You shouldn’t be around here begging no man. You’re a nice woman, but misguided like hell. You need to be with someone who sees a future with you. This is the last time I’m going easy on you about this.”
Her lip quivered at my response.
“Next time, we’re going to be having a different kind of conversation and don’t let me think you on some devious, get back or get even shit. You won’t get far enough to think you’ve won a muthafucking thing. Understood?”
She nodded with wide eyes as she wiped the tears from her cheeks.
“Oh yeah, keep yo’ ass away from what’s mine. Solana doesn’t deserve you staking a claim on a man that’s not yours. Now have a good day, Nessa.”
I held my hand out, gesturing for her to walk ahead of me. I didn’t trust her ass. Until further notice, she would be on my radar until I felt she wouldn’t be on some thin line between love and hate shit.
Vanessa stuffed her hands into her pockets and walked out of the room with her head looking down at the ground. I locked the office behind me, then followed behind her. I needed to let the staff know Benny was in charge tonight and he would be in soon. If they had any problems, they needed to reach out to him.
Once I was certain they knew what I expected, I walked to the back to grab my bike and pulled it around the front. I drove down the road to Sugar Kissed to see it had slowed down. Solana was inside talking with a single customer, smiling all big and shit.
I parked my bike before hopping out and heading inside. The bell dinged overhead, alerting my presence. A tall bulky black man, who looked like he played pro ball, was leaning against the counter smiling and shit. Solana’s eyes locked with mine and I lifted a brow. I crossed my arms against my chest and leaned against the doorframe.
