Page 13 of Ink

My phone buzzes against the bar.

Gage: Who?

Me: The girl.

Gage: Sutton?

I close my eyes as I take a couple of deep breaths in an effort to calm down slightly. Nothing seems to be working.

Me: Obviously fucking Sutton!

Gage: I see we’re still in a mood. She’s coming back tomorrow, no thanks to your ass.

Sliding my empty bottle across the bar toward Cyrus, I put my phone back in my pocket and slide off the stool. “Put that in the empties for me. I’m done for the night.”

“Don’t forget about the run tomorrow. Prez put only you and I on it.” Hash looks like he has more to say, but thank god for once he keeps his mouth shut. I’m not in the mood to fight with him, too.

“What time are we headin’ out?”

“I’m thinkin’ around eight or nine. It’s a three-hour ride,” Hash answers.

I nod my head. “Sounds good. Later.” I rap my knuckles on the bar before heading out the door of DD’s.

Maybe some video games will take my mind out of this fucked up head space.

The next morning, I meet Hash out front of the clubhouse. I’ve been itching to get out on a long ride, even if it is only for a run. There’s nothing like being out on the open road. It’s the one thing that has always made me feel so free when I feel so trapped.

Everyone talks about how much it sucks being locked up and stuck in a little box, which, yeah, I agree. It does fucking suck. But no one talks about how dangerous being stuck in your own mind is. Sometimes it’s your own worst enemy just waiting for an opening to strike you down.

“You ready for this?” Hash asks as he ties his damp hair back in the man bun he’s always sporting.

“Yeah, I need this ride.”

“This should be an easy run,” Prez says, coming up behind us with Hades on his tail. He seems to be his shadow nowadays. “Straightforward. We haven’t had any issues with these guys before and I’d like to keep it that way.” His hand slaps me on the shoulder. “You good?”

I can feel his assessing gaze on me. Prez doesn’t miss much, and that’s why he makes a kick ass president.

“Yeah, I’m good.” His eyes study me for a moment before shrugging a shoulder. “Alright. Have fun, ladies.”

Hash and I both snort.

“Let’s ride.” I nod at him as I grab my helmet and climb on.

The ride was supposed to clear my head, but all it did was slowly drive me insane. I wanted to think about absolutely nothing and just enjoy the open road, but no. Instead, it did the exact fuckin’ opposite. My brain was on autopilot the minute I hit the throttle. Any and every scenario on why Sutton wants a job at my place plays out in my head. Never in my life have I needed a distraction from a ride. Never in my life have I actually looked forward to reaching a drop location. And that fucking pisses me off. All I could think about was if Sutton had an okay day at the shop. I couldn’t stop thinking about how Tommy can make her smile like she actually means it, or the way she laughs at all of Gage’s jokes.

The part that’s eating me up is whenever her eyes land on me, the light goes out. And that’s not me. I give ladies the fucking light, not take it away.

I barely talked to her before I opened my mouth and said some stupid shit. In those first five minutes she may have been shy and nervous as hell, but I didn’t miss that little spark in her eyes as she took in the shop. Almost like she couldn’t believe it was real.

I’m kind of shocked she came back, to be honest.

She doesn’t seem like the type to take confrontation head on. I can’t see her even working with someone she has an issue with. At the first sign of a problem, I bet she runs and hides until it’s either ignored or forgotten about.

So why is she sticking around? Is she that desperate?

There are very few areas in my life that make my head go quiet. This is one of them. I don’t need her in my head tainting it.

Hash and I arrive before anyone else, giving me some relief. I don’t like walking into unknowns and as many times as someone says they’ll only come alone, you never believe that shit. Greed and jealousy are two things that will make you do anything to get on top, including fucking someone over.