“Heading back home, away from this hellhole. I told her not to come back here next time, no matter what.” She spooned more yogurt into her mouth, dropping her cigarette butt in the sink. It sizzled and a stream of smoke floated up before vanishing. “Not even for my funeral.”
I looked at her then, noting not just the deep lines in her face or the way her hands shook, but also how thin and fragile she looked. She gave me a sad smile. “It’s okay, we made our peace. Just look after her for me, please. She deserves someone that will stand up for her. She shouldn’t have to do it all herself. She’s strong, but sometimes we don’t need to be strong. Sometimes we need to be vulnerable too.”
I nodded in understanding and started toward the door, relief flooding me when I opened it and fresh air filtered in. Place stunk to high hell, and not just with mildew but with sickness, sadness, and secrets that were buried deep in the cavity of that god-awful trailer. But what could she really do? She was sick, poor, and had no one to help her.
“I told her she should go see you, but you know how stubborn she can be,” she said as I took a step down. “Don’t take no for an answer, okay?”
I turned and looked back in at her with a cocky smile. “I never do.”
She smiled back.
“I’ll send some brothers for you. Pack your shit up and be ready to leave.”
“What?” She frowned.
“You can’t stay here, it’s a fucking death trap. Besides, if you’re going to be my new mother-in-law I can’t have you living like this.” I let the door slam behind me as I pulled out my cell and called Crank. He picked up on the first ring. “Need your help with somethin’—you free?”
~ 18 ~
The deep-throated growl of my Harley echoed around me, my heart thundering in my ears. The bus Nancy had left on had just pulled out of the service station it had been stopped at, so I was only a couple minutes behind her.
I throttled the bike and sped up, leaning into the bend and finally passing the same service station the bus had just left. I glanced at it and then kept on going, and it took me a moment or two to realize that she was standing there, suitcase in hand, talking to someone at the side of the road.
I slowed my bike and spun it around, heading back the way I’d just come, relief flooding me when I saw her still standing there. I pulled the bike next to her and both she and the man she was talking to turned to look. It was her asshole friend—Tyler—and he didn’t look too pleased to see me. The feeling was mutual.
Nancy, on the other hand, couldn’t hide the hint of a smile that crept up her face. I turned off my engine and pulled off my helmet, giving her my best award-winning, Oscar-receiving, shit-eating grin.
“Hey, babe,” I rumbled out.
“Hey, babe?” Tyler scoffed. “Really? Is that it? After all the trouble you’ve caused her and all the pain, that’s all you’ve got to say? Hey, babe?” he scoffed and rolled his eyes.
He really was fucking delusional if he thought he could get away with talking to me like that, but I let him ramble on for a little longer while I eye-fucked my girl, because she looked fucking hot. Tight black shorts, knee-high boots, and little jacket over the top of…I reached out and moved the jacket to one side and nodded approvingly…over the top of a little white bandeau top. Her hair was piled on top of her head, a few stray blond curls hanging around her face and a red handkerchief tied around her head. I smiled approvingly and bit my lower lip as her skin pebbled under my touch and her eyes widened.
“Looking good, Nance,” I said, ignoring the little pissant next to me. “You goin’ somewhere, babe?” I nodded toward the suitcase.
“She’s leaving and heading back to the city, no thanks to you. Fucking bikers think you rule this town, well let me tell you—”
I sighed and held up a finger to him, cutting him off. Because I really needed him to shut the fuck up so I could talk to my woman, and if he didn’t shut up I was going to send him to ground, which probably wasn’t the best thing to do in broad daylight.
I stepped off my bike and took a step toward Nancy, reaching out and wrapping an arm around her waist and dragging her body to mine. She reluctantly melted into my touch.
“Babe?”
“Yeah?” she replied.
“I told you I can’t let you go. So wherever you think you’re going, you’re not, you feel me?”
Her heart was beating fast, her chest rising and falling as she fought herself. She opened her mouth and took a breath and my cock hardened as I stared at her pouty lips. “I was just a bet to you, Sketch. You were going to share me! Let’s not pretend this was ever anything more than that.”
“I’m not pretendin’ shit, Nance.”
She scoffed and rolled her eyes, and I smiled despite the fact that she was pissing me off and I needed her to listen to me. Loved how defiant she was.
“Babe, I’m just an asshole who said the wrong fuckin’ thing to the wrong fuckin’ person, and I’m man enough to admit that I did that because I was fuckin’ jealous of that bitch Tammy. But I didn’t lie when I said you were the prize.” I looked her up and down, leaning into her neck and gently tracing from her throat to her ear with my nose, inhaling her and breathing her in. “That was true truth. You are a prize.”
She gave a half-assed attempt at pushing me off her, and I thanked her mom for at least making her doubt her decision of sending me away.
“You can’t just come here and letch all over her like some kind of animal, bro!” Tyler snapped, placing his hand on my arm to try to pull me off her.
