Page 33 of Ink

“No shit.” I smirk. “I meant here as in Ravenna Heights. You’re not from here and you’re in this city with no car and no place of your own. What happened?”

“I have a car.”

I make a show of looking between her and my bike. “Then where is it?”

“It’s out of commission at the moment.”

So it’s a piece of shit. I give her credit, though. It’s obvious she’s struggling, but she hasn’t let on just how bad it is. I wonder if Gage knows about this.

“Want me to look at it?”

“Uh, no,” she quickly answers, fidgeting as she scans the parking lot while spinning that ring on her thumb again. “Thank you for the offer, but I got it covered.”

My brow raises as I search the parking lot with her.

It doesn’t look like she has it covered to me. “You sure? The club has a shop, darlin’. I’m not the best with cars, but I know one of my brothers would have no problem lookin’ at it.”

“It’s on the list. You’ll be the first person I reach out to when I’m ready.”

I snort. We both know that’s a lie.

“What list?”

“The list of stuff I need to do. I’m not exactly rolling it in.” Her hand flicks out, pointing out the shit hole parking lot we’re standing in.

“Use the cash I gave you.”

Sutton’s nose scrunches up. “Do you want me to hate you? Is that it?”

“No.” I make a show of scrubbing my hand down my mouth and beard to cover the smirk I can’t contain. She looks like a cute little bunny when she does that. Looking all sweet and innocent while irritated at the same time. “But I gave it to you to help. We’ve all been there waitin’ for the first check from the new job after you left the old one.”

She lets out a long sigh as her shoulders sink, looking almost defeated. “I appreciate it. Once I find an apartment, the car issue is next on my list.”

I have no business butting in any more than I already have, but for some reason I can’t get myself to start up my bike and leave. There’s this pull I can’t explain that’s telling me to find out more. To keep pushing.

“You havin’ any luck on the apartment front?”

“I haven’t had time to look too much, but I have a few places I’m going to check out.”

She isn’t going to be able to afford anything around here working at the shop alone. I don’t pay nothing, but I know it’s not nearly enough to pay all the bills. I bet she’s barely making it at this shit hole.

The logical part of my brain seems to stop working when she’s around, so I ask again, “What brought you here?”

Sutton stares off into the distance, lost in thought at the question. Part of me thinks she thought I wouldn’t pry after she avoided it the first time, but the longer I wait, the more lost she looks, almost as if she doesn’t really know how she got here.

“I was chasing a fairytale and found myself in a nightmare,” she says so quietly after a long moment that I have to strain to listen. “Goodnight, Ink. Thanks for the ride home.”

She doesn’t give me a chance to respond before she’s walking through the front entrance of the motel, leaving me to watch the ass that’s burned in my brain swaying in those ugly fucking khakis. If I ever get those off of her, and believe me, I will. I’m fucking burning them.

Opening the door to DD’s, I head inside. Without waiting for my eyes to adjust, I make my way to the office, slapping the few that greet me on the back as I go. Delaney is manning the bar with no Wren in sight, which is who I needed to talk to.

Rapping my knuckles against the door to the office in the back, I wait for Cain to answer. The last thing I want to do is walk in on Cain and Evan again. I’d like to keep my balls.

“Yeah?” Cain calls.

Cain looks up from the paperwork laid out on his desk as I step in, closing the door behind me. “What’s up?”

“Wren work tonight?” I ask as I lounge back in the seat across from him.