Page 37 of Gatling
“Kelsie has a giant crush on you, Ryker,” Noah continued. “You know that, right? She always has. I think it’s the whole…bad boy thing you’ve got going on. It’s catnip to girls like her.”
I should have kept my mouth shut, but it seemed my common sense had abandoned me today.
“I can’t tell if that’s a compliment or not.”
“This isn’t a joke,” Noah said.
No kidding.
After a minute or two of tense silence, Noah finally sighed.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to bite your head off. It’s probably just stress building up. You would never lay a finger on Kelsie. She’s practically family to you.”
Practically family.
Right.
Guilt soured on my tongue, cloying and thick. At one time, I did think of Kelsie that way. She was so little and fragile, vulnerable in this big, cruel world that would crush an innocent creature like her.
Then something changed after she graduated college. She wasn’t the same little Kelsie I knew. She was a full grown woman, with softly rounded curves, and a subtle sex appeal that knocked the breath from my lungs every time I looked at her.
I didn’t think of her like she waspractically familyanymore. And after that night in my cabin…
“Hey,” Noah said, breaking through my thoughts. “If you notice anything off with Kelsie, could you…do me a favor and talk to her? She doesn’t tell me as much as she used to. I’ve been too hard on her, too smothering. But I don’t want her to feel like she’s alone. Because she’s not.”
I blew out a breath, guilt nagging at the back of my mind.
“I’m here if she needs me,” I said. “Always have been. Always will be.”
After I showered and changed into jeans and a hoodie, I grabbed my gear for a hunt. I needed to clear my head. The only way I knew how to do that was by fucking off into the woods for a few days while I worked everything out. There was something clean and clearcut about a hunt. In the snowy, rough terrain, tracking a buck, I didn’tthink. I simply put myself in motion.
I couldn’t stay out there for long this time though. Maybe an hour or two at the most. When I left the town hall last night, Baby Doll was supposed to be watching Kelsie. So I needed to stay close in case of emergencies.
As I stuffed a handful of trail mix bars and jerky into my backpack, the roar of a motorcycle echoed outside. I growled with frustration. There was a reason I lived out here, in the middle of nowhere—to deter unexpected visitors whojust decided to drop by.
Moving to the window, I looked out.
Kingpin, President of the Blackjacks MC, parked his bike on my dirt road. If it had been anyone else, I would have slipped out the back and hightailed it into the woods without saying a word. But I’d known Kingpin for years. Since my early days with the club. I’d seen him weather a roller-coaster of highs and lows with the club, and in his personal life.
I wouldn’t call us friends. But we had a mutual respect for each other, two bikers standing shoulder to shoulder through hell or high water. Kingpin wouldn’t be here for a chitchat overa cup of coffee or a beer. He was here for club business that was too sensitive to be discussed over the phone.
I met Kingpin at the door before he got a chance to knock.
“Hey, Prez. Is something wrong?”
“You tell me.” He gestured in my direction. “Can I have a word?”
Moving aside, I pushed the door open fully and waved him in. As Kingpin stepped over the threshold, he surveyed my cabin, taking note of the backpack resting on my kitchen table.
“Going somewhere?” he asked.
“Hunting,” I replied. “The woods are deserted after it snows. No other hikers. No crowds. It’s peaceful.”
Kingpin shook his head.
“That sounds like it would be hell on my old bones.”
“I can’t say it’s living the high life of comfort, no,” I replied, crossing my arms. Waiting for him to get to the point. A beat of silence passed between us.
