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“Jesus, Mack.” My nose wrinkled as if I smelled something bad. The thought of those women getting their claws in my brother, or Tripp, always rubbed me the wrong way. Part of me wished they would both have to prospect for another year, at least, so that they would never be tempted by the scheming hussies. Not that all of the club girls were that way, but I supposed my view of them had been skewed after years of hearing my mother talk shit about how they could be.
“I’m on the way. Are you on the gate?”
“No, just let him know why you’re here, and he’ll let you through.”
There was something in Mack’s tone that I didn’t quite get, but I shrugged it off, grabbed his lunch, and hopped into the car that used to be our father’s. Mom had left it behind when she took off, but only because she couldn’t drive two cars at once. It amazed me that she hadn’t tried to sell it before she left.
Then again, our father hadn’t been entirely useless before he died. He had left the car in my brother’s name along with the house. It was like he knew he was going to die and that our mom would abandon us. Either that or he was trying to hide his assets from her to begin with. There really was no telling.
I tried to put my screwed-up family out of my mind. Mack and I were both busting our asses, trying to keep up with the bills so no one came and took the house away from us. It wasn’t easy though, especially with the hours he had to keep while prospecting for the club. Thankfully, Ratchet, the club’s President, understood our situation and he employed Mack in the garage as well.
When I pulled up at the gate, a blush immediately stole across my cheeks.Hewas the one working the gate. My crush. The man I’d been drooling over for the better part of a year. I’d met Tripp once before, when he and Mack were both newly instated prospects for the Savage Vipers. I didn’t think he remembered me at all. Mack and I had been out to eat to celebrate, and Tripp showed up at the same diner with his girlfriend.
I remembered every bit of that night because his girlfriend was dressed to impress, like she was headed to a five-star restaurant that you have to make reservations a year in advance to get into. Tripp was in jeans, t-shirt, and motorcycle boots.
“What a waste,” I’d said to my brother.
“How’s that?”
“A biker with a stuck-up, rich girlfriend. That’ll never work. Not with her being young and spoiled by daddy still.”
“Tell me you’re jaded without really saying it, Sis.” Mack had laughed at me, but that didn’t mean I was wrong. His eyes tracked the couple long after they sat down to eat. When we finally got up to leave, we stopped by their table, so Mack could say hello.
I don’t even remember if he introduced me properly or not because I was too busy trying to contain the fire burning in my cheeks and far lower. His friend was more than just hot. He was everything I dreamed about at night when I lie in bed alone planning what my future might look like. It looked like him.
Tripp was six feet of slim, masculine beauty. His blue-gray eyes pierced mine and I felt a connection deep down in the marrow of my bones. He was going to be my future. His girlfriend hadn’t even registered as existing that day, after my initial assessment. She could have been the saltshaker on the table for all the attention I paid her.
That had been around October of last year. I still had the same reaction whenever I saw Tripp. Not that he even noticed or knew who I was. The man had eyes for exactly one woman and that was his little snooty girlfriend, June Hargrove.
“Can I help you?” Tripp asked as I cranked the window down in the car.
“Mack forgot his lunch and said the club girl cooking today might poison him, so it was imperative to bring this by.” I held up the brown paper bag.
“Shit! That means Tamara’s cooking. I don’t suppose you brought any extra?” He teased.
“Nope, sorry.”
“You Mack’s girl?” He asked, and that was when I knew Tripp had truly never noticed me before, even if my brother had introduced us. It hurt to know that I was that invisible to him when he knocked me off my feet every time I saw him. Then again, it shouldn’t. According to my brother, his best friend had tunnel vision when it came to women and all he could see was June. I didn’t understand it.
“Nope. I’m his sister, Kim.”
“Kim,” he said as if testing the way my name felt on his tongue. “Yeah, he’s mentioned you a few times.”
I laughed at that. “Well, good to know the jerk doesn’t forget about me when I’m out of sight. Then again, if he did, who would bring him his lunch?” I winked at Tripp as I said that and immediately felt like a moron. Who did that? Me. I did that.
If only I didn’t need to see to drive my car, then I could hide my face and try to pretend like I didn’t exist. I’d winked at myself in the mirror before and it never looked effortless like when men did it in the movies. It always looked like I had something stuck in my eye and was trying to get it out without using my hands.
“Go on in, and next time, remember to help a brother out. If I get food poisoning, you should know it could have been prevented.”
We both laughed that time. “I’ll remember you next time, if you survive the day.”
“Thanks for the reminder,” he teased. It took me a minute of him just standing there watching me to realize he’d already opened the gate and was waiting on me to drive through. I turned my ever-reddening face away and drove over to where I could swing the car around and park along the fence. No way would I park anywhere near where the men parked their bikes. Besides the obvious disrespect it would show, since this wastheirclubhouse and the prime parking spots therefore belonged to them, I worried about getting too close because I could never pay for the damages if I accidentally hit one.
Mack was working in the garage today, so I headed in that direction first. Once I made my way inside, one of the other men called out, “Who is the new piece of ass?”
I ignored him and Mack looked up to see me standing there rolling my eyes. “Hey, Sis,” he called out loudly, as if in answer to the jackass’s question.
“Sorry, Prospect, didn’t realize.”
