Page 61 of Pen Me

My gaze narrowed on her, and I knew from the tension in my jaw, she could see every nasty sentiment I’d managed to keep from spewing as it was etched plainly on my face. I’d always been terrible at hiding shit like that!

“I wish you both a good night,” Octavia said, her gaze flicking to Sammy.

She hurried off to the little room where the washer and dryer were kept and shut the door behind her.

I sighed, and Sammy’s hand blanketed mine.

“Sit by the pond with me for a while?” she quietly asked.

“Yeah,” I rolled off the sofa and held out my hand for her, “Let’s get some fresh air.”

I stared at the door of that laundry room, but somehow managed not to go after Octavia and tell her how wrong she was. Instead, I led Sammy out to the pond.

The moon was full, but the clouds were thick. It was warm for a Spring evening.

“Gonna rain,” I mused.

“I like rainy nights.” She smiled and sank onto a log.

“Me, too,” I agreed, watching the distant lightning. “The storms were about the only thing that blocked out the sound of my mom entertaining her men or fighting with ‘em. Always slept good those nights.”

I sank down on the log beside her and reached out to give her knee a squeeze.

“You think Griz has lost his shit yet?”

Her head snapped toward me so fast I thought she meant to spit, “You’re stuck on that guy.”

“Which one?” I teased, flinching my brows a little.

She shook her head and grinned, “I’ve no idea whose bike is in those pictures. I posed on a wedge in her studio. After I left, she photoshopped the wedge into a bike, because I told her you were a Savage. I didn’t know she’d use a local bike, let alone a Savage’s bike for the picture. She showed it to me, but– I don’t know one bike from the other. I just knew it was green. “

“You really never even met him?” I laughed.

She shook her head and lazily raised one shoulder. “I don’t think so. That’s how it is with most of them, though. I didn’t even know which one you were, like your face. If I were at say the county fair, I could look around and be like oh, that guy drinks with my dad sometimes, or he is wearing a similar jacket, but–”

She raised both shoulders this time, “I don’t know names, or positions, whatever it is the patch says.”

She ran her finger across the top of her chest where my Road Captain patch sat on my vest.

“Oh,” I was a little surprised by that admission, her being the president’s daughter and all.

“Yeah. I mean– I know who Henny is, but that’s just because he drank at the house with my dad when I was in High School. I remember his patch said, Vice President.”

“Huh,” I leaned in and kissed the side of her head. “The pictures were beautiful. I regret that I didn’t get to bring them with me.”

“They really tried to kill you?” she whispered.

I raised a brow and met her eye, “You closed my chin–”

“You escaped a county jail. Any number of things could have caused that.”

I dismissively sniffed and nodded, her question bringing more emotions than I realized I was packing about the matter.

Chapter Thirty

Meltdown to You

Sammy

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