Page 5 of Rebel

I watched until they were eaten up by the crowd before I returned to my bike and kept my gaze on Nikki as she talked to her callers, laughing and commiserating with them. She was so damn compelling, it was what had drawn me to her years ago. Even from a distance her smile made me feel things I probably shouldn’t, since she never called.

I planned to find out why, and I planned to do it today. While I watched Nikki, my mind went back to the little girl, Livvy. She seemed so familiar to me, which made no sense because I’d never met her bitchy mom before. Still, those green eyes and the way she was so inquisitive stood out to me. Maybe my heart was just softer towards kids since my club brothers started having families?

“All right my fellow road warriors, this song is just for you.” Nikki’s voice carried over the crowd as the band on stage began the opening strains of ‘Life is a Highway’.

I smiled as the lyrics started. It was the song that was playing when I finally went up to Nikki and introduced myself. She hadn’t called all those years ago, but maybe she hadn’t completely forgotten me?

Chapter Three

Nikki

Logan.

He was here. I spotted him through the crowd hours ago and I thought that, once again, I’d just imagined him. It happened a lot over the years, probably as a result of how we left things. Or didn’t leave them since he never called or left me a way to call him. But this time it wasn’t just wishing or longing, it was him.

He wore his dark brown hair a little longer now. It wasn’t quite long enough for a ponytail, but it brushed his broad shoulders and enhanced that bad boy air that had enticed me all those years ago. I didn’t need to see those eyes to know that they were the perfect blend of jade and emerald, because Liv’s eyes were exactly the same shade.

He was here. Had he been here all the other years and I’d never known? Could I have found him at ‘Rock Out in the Desert’ and told him that he was a father?Maybe.But the bigger, more important question was, would it have made a difference? He was a one night stand who made it painfully clear that he didn’t want any strings or souvenirs from that night.

Mia tapped on the glass and rolled her hand in a circle, a sign that I’d missed my cue. “What. The. Fuck?” She mouthed the words.

I shook the fog of the past from my mind and smiled as I leaned close to the mic. “All right my fellow road warriors, this song is just for you.” The rock band on the main stage hadan awesome female lead singer and her throaty voice filled the speakers all around the festival. The Tom Cochrane song was playing the night I met Logan for the first time, and it felt like a sign.

A big one.

As soon as the song began and my mic was cut, Mia rushed inside. “What’s going on with you?”

“Nothing, I was just thinking.” Now that the band was playing, I had an hour, and I had something I needed to do. “Can you keep Liv a little longer? I need to take a walk.” It wasn’t a lie, the booth where I’d seen Logan belonged to a local MC known for helping the community in the next town over, Steel City.

“Sure. This time I won’t let her get away.”

My brows dipped. “What? Is she okay?”

Mia waved me off. “She’s fine. Thankfully.” I opened my mouth to ask more questions, but Mia grabbed my shoulders and turned me away. “Go for a walk. You have an hour break. See you in forty-five minutes.” She gave me an extra shove just to drive her point home.

I made a quick stop at the bathroom to freshen up and put on another coat of lipstick to boost my courage to do something I never thought I’d get the chance to do. Back then, I foolishly believed, or maybe I just told myself that Logan was a fellow road warrior, in the desert from someplace other than Nevada. Now I wasn’t so sure.

I squared my shoulders and stood tall as I weaved through the crowd, anger fueling every step I took towards Logan. Towards the past. Towards the truth.

There he was.

It didn’t matter that he was hot as hell, or that the closer I got to him I could actually smell that familiar scent of leather, sandalwood, and mint. I told myself to ignore it and forged ahead until only a couple of feet separated us. “Logan.”

The men he talked and laughed with fell silent. Except for the tall guy with dark auburn hair. “Oh, Logan. Must be in trouble if she called you by your real name.”

The others laughed, but not Logan. He leaned against his bike with a bored expression on his face, which shouldn’t have hurt the way it did considering hehit it and quit iteasily enough. “You remembered my name, but you forgot how to use a damn phone?”

My brows dipped into a frown as emotions flooded my body. Anger. Confusion. Hurt. “I would have called you, but you left without so much as a goodbye. Do you have any idea how that made me feel? How it affected me?” My heart pounded in my chest so hard I was sure they could all hear it, but I couldn’t bring myself to care.

His lips kicked up into a crooked grin that lacked all humor. “Left without a goodbye?”

“Yeah,” I shouted. “You didn’t even leave a note saying, ‘thanks for a fun night’. As crass as that would’ve been it would have been something!”

He pushed off his bike and stepped forward, not intimidating, but just close enough that I could see the eyes I saw each time I looked at my daughter. “I did leave a note, and it had my number on it, which you never used. I waited for you to call.”He let out a huff of laughter that once again held no amusement as he shook his head. “I waited and you never called.”

“There was no note, Logan. I woke up, thinking you went out to get coffee so I took a shower and when I came out there was a tray of food and no you. No note. Nothing.” Suddenly I was too exhausted to argue. I felt silly. “You know what? Forget it.” I shook my head. “What was I thinking, confronting you like this? You don’t owe me an explanation.” I walked away, feeling worse now than I’d felt for years. It was ancient history, for him more than me, but still I must’ve been out of my mind thinking that confronting him would get me anything good.

“Nikki, wait up.”

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