Page 12 of Untouchable

Me

You’re crazy. I’ll see you at home.

“This might just be the best night of my life.” Tabitha holds up different pieces of clothing as she tries to decide what I’ll be wearing when we go out tonight.

“Because you get to dress me, or because you’re hoping to find something tall, smart, and handsome to go home with?” She gives me a feisty look and winks.

“Both.” I can’t help but laugh at her enthusiasm. Tabs is way too focused on getting her degree to try and find anything serious right now, but she’s never opposed to looking for someone to show her a good time and get her mind off of work. I should probably take a page out of her book and find someone to do the same for me.

“You’re going to look so hot in this.” I stare at the outfit Tabitha has picked out for me and immediately regret giving her this kind of power.

“You’ve lost your mind if you think I’m wearing that.”

She raises a brow at me. “You’ve lostyourmind if you think I’m taking no for an answer.” She stalks toward me, and it’s at this very moment I’m convinced she’ll strip me down and dress me like a Barbie if I don’t do it myself.

An hour later, we’re at a bar in downtown Nashville. I feel like a trespasser in someone else’s body. My hair is tied in a low ponytail, with a couple of pieces framing my face, and my body is zipped into a fitted leather mini dress that I’m scared I’llnever get out of. I will count my one win for the night—Tabs let me wear my favorite black boots. She said since they had a heel they would pass the vibe check, and honestly I would have taken any reason she pulled out of her ass as long as she said yes. I wouldn’t have made it a single block in the heels she had picked out for me at first. I look around seeing a couple of guys from the club drunk off their asses over by the live band, singing loudly with their arms slung over each other, and I roll my eyes.

At least they won’t be able to remember me in this outfit in the morning.

“I love when they play music I actually know!” Tabitha yells in my ear, bouncing in place as I sip on my drink. My hips start to sway as the beat from the old rock song moves me. She convinces me to go closer, screaming the lyrics at the top of our lungs to the next two songs, until my throat burns and I’m desperate for water. When I turn around, I see the Viper making out with thin air and shake my head, laughing as we head to the bar. Someone needs to take those boys home.

“Two waters, please,” I tell the bartender, before Tabs leans over it, almost lifting her feet off the ground to yell.

“And two tequila sunrises!” I laugh out loud, twirling one of the loose strands of hair away from my face.

“Excuse me, ladies.” I sober instantly when a guy approaches us. “Can you point me in the direction of the nearest karaoke bar?” I relax a little as Tabitha gives him directions to the bar two streets down. “Thank you. Y’all have a good night.” The tension leaves my body when he walks out the door, and it’s then I realize, I am so not ready for casual dating. When we turn around, our drinks are already sitting on the bar behind us. I open my straw, taking a long pull from my water to rehydrate, then we clink our glasses and sip our tequila sunrises. As she scans the bar again, her eyes settle on something behind me. My eyebrows furrow when I notice, and I give her thewhat is it?look and a flirty smirk plays at her lips. I turn around to see what she’s looking at, and the alcohol rushes through me, making me feel lighter by the second.

CHAPTER 8

Ace

“OUT OF CHARACTER”

I’m elbow deep in an antique Chevy Silverado when my phone starts going off with back-to-back text messages, reminding me why I leave my volume off all the time. I only have it on now in case I get a text from someone at the clubhouse to inform me of Striker popping back up.

What a dumb ass name.

Bzz. Bzz. Bzz. Bzz.

“Fucking Christ,” I mumble to myself. “GHOST!”

He appears a few seconds later, silent as ever. “Yeah, boss?”

I nod to my phone on the desk. “Will you see what the fuck is going on?” He picks it up, smirking before quickly covering it up with furrowed brows and a cleared throat.

“Um, some of the guys are at the saloon. There’s a video…” he trails off, the look on his face a reluctant one.

“Show me.” He taps the screen, turning it towards me. It takes me a moment to figure out why the fuck Viper is licking the fuckingair, then the video focuses on someone across the room and my jaw clenches. Katarina stands there, in an air-tight red mini dress, while Viper licks up and down the outline of her backside. I’m pissed off at his ignorance, but it’s what I see when the video pans over to her at the bar that has me jumpinginto action. I scrub my hands clean in record time, snatching my phone from Ghost to text Mikey and Bodine—who have likely already seen the video since it was sent in the fucking club group chat—before speeding out of the lot. I’m almost to the saloon when they pull up behind me, flanking my left and right like they always do. No one says a word when we park right out front, tossing our helmets on the bikes before stalking up the steps.

“Was that who I think it was?” Mikey asks as we nod to the bouncer outside.

“Yes.” We stop just short of the bar, and I look over to see Viper practically falling out of a chair. I nod Mikey and Bodine over to them while I continue my search for Katarina.

“Fancy running into you here.” Unease shoots through my body when I hear his voice, but I play it cool since westilldon’t know who exactly this guy is or why he’s here looking for Lenny.

“Striker, right?” The whiskey on his breath burns my nose as he throws his arm around my shoulder.

“Good memory. You ever tell Lenny that I was looking for him?”

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