Page 16 of Jake's Angel

He probably won’t even remember you, Avery. A guy like Jake, can get any woman he wants.It was just a kiss.He’s probably already forgotten all about it. Or he’s pissed I ran out on him. “Ugh,” I sigh, raking my hand down my face. What the hell was I thinking?

I feel my backpack vibrate. Pulling it off my shoulder, I dig around and find the burner phone at the bottom.I laugh at the name flashing on my phone. She put her own contact information in for me after she told me to do a hard reset and then drop my personal phone in a cup of water before we left Baron’s Edge.

Badass Bestie: Stay close. Out of sight. I’ll see if I can get Skyler to come get you, but she’ll have to lose her tail first.

I assume by tail she means Skyler’s husband. He didn’t seem like he wanted to be away from her at all by the way hekept touching her shoulder or playing with her hair. He seemed sweet, but also somewhat obsessive.

Me: Where will you be?

Badass Bestie: Going with Jake to get Loretta and find out what my uncles want.

Me: Uncles? Plural?

Badass Bestie: Mack isn’t my real uncle. It’s just what I call him. He’s my guardian. Gabe IS my real uncle. He’s also the MC President. You’ve never met him. The clubhouse is where they meet and hangout. Loretta is parked there.

I still don’t understand any of this. I try to make sense of it one more time.

She’s going to go meet with an MC President. I’m not sure what that even means, but apparently, he’s important. She said he’s her real uncle. I guess that means he's safe enough.

If my family is any kind of example to go by, maybe he’s not.

Shit, I don’t know.

Badass Bestie: If anything happens, you get ahold of Skyler. She’ll get you the help you need.

A screenshot of a phone contact with Skyler’s information comes through on my phone.

Badass Bestie: You’re safe here. Go inside one of the shops along the main road. Keep to yourself and don’t talk to anybody, got it? Blend in. It’s what you’re good at. Be back soon.

I’m safe. But is she?

Blend in? She means to be invisible. It’s my superpower.

If I judge by the three guys we just met, I will have to assume Sadie’s all right. They all seemed pretty rough around the edges, but Sadie seemed to be comfortable around them. Enough, she was smarting off to them and they didn’t react other than to give it back to her.

Skyler seemed comfortable with them, too. When she melted into her husband, I’ll admit to feeling a little envious. The way she described his over-protectiveness when she spoke about him in the bathroom—at first—I thought she might need help. Someone to get her away. But when I watched them together, I got it. He is protective of her, but not in a way that she would be in any danger from him. He cares about her, and it shows in every touch, and the way he spoke to her.

I’ve never had anyone who cared so deeply for me.

Jake and Hawk, however, those two were something else. Other than Mack, I haveneverseen Sadie let anyone command her to do anything and her follow through. She doesn’t even obey Mack half the time.

I walk along Main Street, taking in all the small businesses. My mind drifts back to Jake and that scorching kiss we shared. I’ve never done anything like that before. Truth be told, that was my first proper kiss. Well, the first one that I wanted to happen, anyway.

I continue down the sidewalk, passing a convenience store and a small bookstore. There’s a little coffee shop called theBlonde Roast. It smells amazing. I chuckle to myself at the clever name when I see a woman with blonde hair wiping down the counters through the window.

I stop in my tracks when I notice a long black curtain with the same design as the one on the back of Jake’s leather vest in the window of the shop next door. It’s a skull with devil-like horns wearing a tilted crown. It immediately brings my thoughts back to the two handsome strangers from the diner.

I wonder if this is their shop.

They must be close with Sadie somehow. Maybe they are friends with her family, because I haveneverseen Sadie let any man talk to her like that. He didn’t even ask her if she wanted to go with them, he just demanded she leave with them.Sounds familiar.

They do have her car, but still, he could’ve asked instead of being an ass about it.

Looking back at the sign, I could see Hawk working in a place like this. He seems like he’s good with people. The more adventurous of the two. His enthusiasm for a kinky girls’ night was proof of his idea of a good time. I could see him being the artistic type.

Jake seemed like he was all business. The way he studied everyone around the table, especially me. He was contemplative and hard to read.

Until he had me pinned against the wall with his hands on my skin and his tongue in my mouth. There was no mistaking his thoughts then. The evidence was pushing up against my belly.

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