Page 112 of Red's Peril: Part 1

I’ve been lusting after something which doesn’t exist. Now it’s time to put her behind me, once and for all.

Filled with new determination, I swing my leg over my bike, and enter the clubhouse. The first person I see is Crash, gesturing to me from the bar.

“Hey, Prez. Didn’t fuckin’ expect you back. Or not this early. Thought you’d be getting your dick wet.” His voice is not at a level that can be considered discreet.

It gets the attention of Twister. “You been dipping your wick, Prez?”

“No, I fuckin’ have not.” I approach them, sending them warning glances.

“Pretty little bitch you were talking to. I wouldn’t mind getting to know her better if you’re not going there.”

I tense, then shrug my possessiveness off. “I thought you were the one telling me not to fuck up our business?” I raise my eye in challenge, then shrug. “Anyway, you’d flake out, VP. She’s got a thing against bikers.”

“Yeah?” Crash narrows his eyes. “She had a bad experience, like that girl Vengeance hooked up with? Maybe she’s come across her own version of the Crazy Wolves.”

Now that had never occurred to me. Vengeance’s ol’ lady had been kept prisoner and abused for years, and it was no wonder she didn’t like MCs. Hell, we’d gotten to the Wolves’ den to rescue her only weeks back. I should have remembered. Not all MCs are like the Devils, and some are exactly as bad as citizen’s fear.

“I didn’t get that vibe from her,” I admit, my tone thoughtful. “But she seemed pleased to reconnect until she saw the patch on my cut.”

“Old friend you said,” Crash remembers. “Or old fuck buddy?”

“Bit of both,” I tell them, gesturing to Meat to bring me a beer. I pull up a stool and settle in. “Met her on the road when I first left Vermont. We gelled, and she rode bitch with me for a bit. But her home called to her, so she left me on the road. I always wondered what had happened to her.”

Twister nods sagely. “It’s the ones who get away that leave the most mark on you. Those you have to fight off, you never give them another thought.”

I raise and lower my shoulders. “That must be it. I’ve often wondered about her, whether we could have made it. She went back, and I’ve often speculated whether I should have gone with her.”

“Lots more bitches in the sea.” Twister jerks his head pointedly toward the club girls who are still up, albeit yawning, and wondering whether their services will be required.

Meat places a beer in front of me and also pushes a full shot glass over. When I raise my eyebrow, he shrugs it off.

“Just thought you could do with a pick-me-up, Prez.”

“Prospect shows promise,” Twister remarks when Meat’s gone back to polishing the bar and is out of earshot.

“I look that bad?” I huff, thinking I’ve got to brush up on my poker face. Mind you, with my skin liable to flush at the first sign of emotion be it excitement or anger, I’ve long learned not to try my luck at the card table.

“You look like a dog that’s lost its bone,” Crash puts eloquently for him. “This bitch meant something to you, didn’t she, Prez?”

I drink the shot and chase it down with the beer. Maybe it’s the alcohol loosening my tongue, or maybe it’s that I’m among family, but I find myself becoming loose lipped.

“Crazy as it might sound, I’ve always wondered what would have happened if we’d stayed together. We clicked, you know?” I pause for Crash’s nod and Twister’s shrug. “I suppose I’ve built it all up in my head, but I never found anyone to match her.”

“She resembles Clare a bit.”

Crash noticed? I feel my cheeks glow red as I admit, “Yeah, well. Anyway, fifteen years is a fuck of a long time, and when I saw her again, the magic wasn’t there.” Maybe if she’d given me a chance it might have been resurrected.

“Must have been a hell of a shock, for both you and her.” Twister looks sympathetic. “Now I’m not the one to give relationship advice, but why leave it there? Why don’t you meet up with her again? She could have been tired as fuck after her shift and reacted without thinking.”

Glancing toward Twister I frown. I had surprised her, hell, her being there had surprised the fuck out of me. Perhaps once she’s gone home and thought about it, maybe she would be amenable to another chance to catch up. I wanted the girl. On my part, I’d like to see if a spark remained now she was a mature woman.

Maybe it had been a mistake approaching her at work. Idly I massage the bottle I’m holding with my fingers. Perhaps it would be a good plan to go back to the casino again, this time not to confront her, but to ask her to go for a drink or a coffee sometime when she’s not rushed off her feet or tired.

If nothing else, I’d like to have closure. If she doesn’t want anything to do with me, then so be it. But I’d prefer to think it’s because of something other than the cut that I wear on my back. It’s possible if I spend more time with her, I’ll see the woman she’s become is nothing like the image of the person who’s haunted my mind, and I can totally rid myself of her.

Time moves on, and maybe we both have.

I slap Twister on the back and then to the same to Crash. “Thanks, Brothers, I’ll go back tomorrow and see if I can get her to meet me on neutral ground.”

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