Page 5 of Peaks and Promises

But I wasn’t afraid of him. He looked dangerous, especially at a distance, but his gray eyes had a surprising softness. He seemed tough on the outside with a gentle heart underneath all that muscle. Not the sort of man who’d be a danger to me.

And I was all too familiar with ones who were.

I walked down the aisle to take table four’s order, my back and shoulders still tense because of the other dangerous men who had showed up at the diner.

It figured they were back. Just when I’d started to think they might leave me alone. That maybe I’d moved far enough away, and they’d decided it wasn’t worth the trouble to keep harassing me.

No such luck. Apparently the Midnight Mayhem motorcycle club wasn’t finished with me. I didn’t know if they ever would be.

They were the bane of my existence. My mom was an old lady—I hated that term—in the club. Her longtime boyfriend, Stryker, was a high-ranking member, and I’d spent my teen years in that world. It had made my life interesting, to say the least.

I would have loved to blame my mom for the fact that I’d gotten knocked up at eighteen by Axel, another club member. Although I wouldn’t have met him if not for my mom, no one made me date him. I’d thought I wanted a bad boy, and he’d checked all the boxes. Spoiler alert: It was awful. Zero stars. Absolutely do not recommend.

The allure of the hot, motorcycle-riding guy in leather had been powerful. But the reality had been closer to a nightmare than a teenage fantasy. Axel was manipulative and volatile, with an unpredictable temper. I’d ended the relationship.

Soon after, I’d found out I was pregnant.

Axel had been in prison for my ten-year-old son Nate’s entire life. A lot of those guys lived that way—prison was just part of club life.

I’d left—Axel, the club, the town, all of it. I was determined to get away. I didn’t want Nate to grow up in that world.

But Midnight Mayhem had never quite let me go.

I tried not to hate my mom for it, but when it came down to it, their attachment to me was because of her. If I’d been some random girl, they wouldn’t have given a crap about me. But they still saw me as their property. An extension of the ownership they claimed over my mom.

No matter where I went, eventually they’d show up. Two or three of them would roll into town, find where I worked, and make sure I knew they could still get to me. When Buzz and Hammer had come in that morning, it had been like a storm rolling in. Not the refreshing kind that brings life-giving rain to the desert. A flash flood that hits when you least expect it, leaving destruction in its wake.

After writing down table four’s order, I took it to the kitchen and smiled at the line cook. He’d been there for almost a month, and I still couldn’t remember his name. But he was a nice enough guy.

“How are we doing on table five?” I asked. “Two burgers with fries, one with no onions.”

“Another minute,” he said without looking up.

Tess, one of my coworkers, slid behind me to turn in an order. “I see your admirer was back this morning.”

“What admirer?”

“The big guy with all the tats.”

“Who, Reese? He’s not my admirer.”

“You’re on a first-name basis? That’s interesting.”

I rolled my eyes. “He’s a regular. It’s not weird that I know his name.”

“Maybe. But if you can’t tell he’s looking at you like he wants you for dessert, you’re blind.”

My face warmed and my mouth dropped open. The line cook chuckled.

“He doesn’t look at me like anything.”

Tess raised her eyebrows. “Mm hmm. And I suppose he wasn’t about to drag those two bikers outside and rip them to pieces when one of them touched you, either.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but what could I say? When Buzz had grabbed my arm, Reese had surged to his feet, the promise of violence burning in his eyes.

He must not have realized who they were or how dangerous they could be.

“That doesn’t mean he likes me,” I said. “He’s just a nice guy. Chivalry isn’t dead.”