Page 37 of The Biker and the Loner
"Can your man get a kiss before he goes?"
Her desolate eyes fall to my mouth. She swallows. Licks her lips. "No."
While her mouth says no, her body language is singingyes. But when a woman says no it ought to be respected.
"Okay." I move aside to let her pass. "Be back in a bit. Cookie gave us some stuff. Got the prospects to clean it all down, polish the cupboards, pack out the kitchen wares, hang the curtains…"
She frowns. "Then why am I here?"
"Because you live here." I jog down the steps and toward my Harley. After stashing the sandwich in the storage compartment, I rev up and begin backing out.
"Scratch, wait!"
I stop at once, wondering if I was about to run over someone’s pup or something.But when I glance up, Ley’s running down the steps toward me, her tits bouncing, long hair in the wind.
She runs right up, throws her arms around me, and presses her soft, lush lips to mine. I hang back and let her lead. This is hers. Her kiss. And she's the sweetest goddamn thing I've ever tasted. Dammit if I'm not lost about this girl.
She pulls back and bites her lips. "Hurry back." As her hands slide from around my neck, they pause to finger the necklace she gave me. Her father's necklace. "And be safe."
Well, damn if that doesn't hit me straight in the gut. Who's ever cared enough about me to tell me to “be safe”?
"Survived five years for you, Peach. What's another day?"
~
Judge glances up when I walk into his office at The Metal House, his booming auto repair shop. Rough irritation flies across his features before he realizes it's me.
He barks something into the desk phone then slams it down and trains his glare at me. "For shit's sake, you got any idea when your lovesick sister is coming back?"
"Kenny?" I shrug. "She said two weeks, but I wouldn't count on it. That nerd's got her good."
Judge sighs and rubs a hand down his face. "Shit's goddamn chaos when she's not here. I could shoot somebody right now. Goddammit!"
I take in the stacks of folders, envelopes, cash, receipts, and balled up papers on his desk. "What’re you gonna do if she doesn't come back?"
"Put a hit out on that little pissant she’s with. That'll bring her back."
Though I know he's dead serious, I chuckle. Judgewouldput a hit out on the nerd. He still hates Toni’s guts, blames her for Grunt leaving the club and The Metal House. But Kendra’s farmore valuable—she’s behind the success of his business. She runs this place like no one else can. For him, to lose Kendra is to lose money, and that’s something he'd kill for if he had to.He might be getting up there in age, with an almost fully gray beard, sagging neck, horrible crow’s feet, and the beginnings of a hunch to his back, but he’s still as lethal as he was ten years ago.
He plucks out a cig from the pack on this desk and lights it up, eyeing me as he takes a drag. "We were supposed to meet days ago."
Moving to the lone chair in front of his desk, I shrug. "Just got the time."
"Hmm." He sucks back more nicotine. "Heard you're moving into Grunt's bitch’s old spot."
It pisses me off when he talks about Toni like that, but it's a waste of time defending her honor with him. He resents Toni and that's not going to change. "I've outgrown the trailer."
His stare connects with mine. "You mean you've outgrown theclub."
I don't respond. There's nothing to say to it. I've wanted to leave long before Grunt ever did. But unlike him and Kendra, I barely had anything to live for.
Service was my way of making my life mean something before I was snuffed out. I went away to die, but instead, I found a reason to live.Her.
Judge rotates his wrist in a dismissive gesture. "Don't feel guilty ‘bout it, son. Knew I lost you the moment you told me you joined the army."
"Yeah?"
He outs his cig on the desk instead of the ashtray, which is just a few inches out of his reach. "Cookie and I never talk about him—no one does—but we've got a brother. Jerry. Club name was Roller. 'Bout fifteen years ago he up and joined the army. Served seven years. When he came back, he was a different man, scarred inside and out. Tried to change the club. Couldn’t live the life he’d left behind and was pressing for us to go legit. Club didn't take kindly to his new views. He got voted out. De-inked. He left Denver. We haven't heard from him since."
