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Shades’ eyes moved to the open gate and the alley beyond where a silver Miata idled, Skylar in the driver’s seat. Crash climbed in, and Skylar gunned the engine, spraying gravel as she tore out of there like she couldn’t wait to be rid of the place. Shades only hesitated a moment before crushing his cigarette beneath his boot and heading for his bike.
A few moments later, he was pulling out, following the Miata to the airport. He wasn’t sure what he meant to accomplish. He probably wasn’t thinking straight, but that was only because the thought of Skylar leaving again was twisting his gut. He just knew that he couldn’t stand by and let her walk out of his life again for the third time.
Yeah, he was wrong to do it. He knew there was a brother standing between them, but he didn’t think even that was going to stop him. Not now. Not this time.
Maybe she wouldn’t want a damn thing to do with him. Maybe she’d tell him to go fuck himself. But he had to give it a shot.
They’d had something once. Something good. Something he’d never been able to find with any other woman since then. And he’d thrown it all away.
As they approached the airport, Shades expected them to pull into the parking garage, but instead, Skylar headed the Miata toward Departures. Shades followed after her, keeping a ways back and ducking behind some other vehicles dropping travelers off.
Shades watched as Crash got out of the car, grabbed his duffle out of the trunk, and then came around to the driver’s side. He leaned over and gave her a quick kiss, and then headed into the terminal.
What the hell?
Why wasn’t Skylar going back with him? He frowned as he watched Crash disappear through the revolving glass doors. And then his eyes moved back to the silver Miata still idl
ing at the curb. Her head was turned toward the doors. She was watching him leave. And then her blinker came on, and she pulled away.
Shades stared after her. Skylar was still here.
She’d stayed.
Goddamn.
He only hesitated a moment, before letting out the clutch and taking off after her.
Shades followed the silver Miata back through downtown and over the mountain south of town. The whole time he trailed behind her at a distance, he couldn’t help but wonder where in the hell she was going. And when he wasn’t wondering that, his mind was consumed with the thought that she was still here, she hadn’t left.
He still had a shot.
A shot at fixing everything with her. A shot at making things right again between them.
He was still pissed at her though. Pissed at her for taking that grand in cash he’d had stashed. And pissed at her even more for taking his rosary. But mostly pissed at her for leaving town like she had. Yeah, they had a few things to talk about. A few things to get straight between them. And he was gonna need to maintain his cool and keep a lid on it if he was going to do that.
Finally, he was going to have a chance to do that. Away from Crash. Away from her ol’ man. Christ, it still made his jaw clench just thinking about her belonging to another man.
She exited off I-65 at Hwy119 and headed east. He followed her a couple of miles until she put on her blinker and slowed, making the turn off into a drive that led to a gate. Shades drove past, continued down the road over a rise and made a U-turn. He coasted back over the hill and glided to a stop and watched as the gate swung closed with a clank and two little taillights disappeared around a bend into the trees.
Shades pushed his bike behind some bushes in the tree-line, walked around the gate and crept up the drive, following the curving drive into the woods.
When he reached the house, he crept around to the corner and peered around it, hiding behind a bush.
Skylar was climbing out of the car, grabbing her purse and heading toward the house. As Shades watched, she unlocked the door, stepped inside and paused to deactivate an alarm. She snapped her fingers and cursed.
“Damn. I forgot to get milk.”
Shades watched as she spun around, slammed the door, dashed back to her car and jumped inside. Then she fired it up, pulled around the circle drive and headed back out toward the road. Shades ducked down behind the bush as she drove past. After her taillights disappeared down the road and he’d heard her shift through the gears as she pulled back out onto the highway, Shades turned to look up at the house.
Hell, is this where she and Crash had been staying?
****
Skylar grabbed the grocery bag from the passenger seat and climbed out of the car. She’d gone down the road to the combination quickie-mart/gas station and picked up a half gallon of milk, and then as an indulgence, she’d grabbed a box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts. They’d just been delivered, and the smell of them was too tempting to refuse.
She headed inside. Juggling her purse and the grocery bag, she went to deactivate the alarm, and then realized she hadn’t activated it when she’d run out. Shrugging, she set it again, and then headed into the kitchen. There was a dim light burning over the sink, giving the room just enough light that she didn’t bother with flipping on the overhead lighting. Plopping her purse and the grocery bag down on the granite island, she dug the milk out and put it in the refrigerator. Turning back, she pulled out the box of doughnuts and tossed the bag in the trash can. As she crossed the kitchen to place the doughnuts on the counter next to the coffee maker something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. She glanced over toward the dining room.
A man was sitting in the shadows by the dining table, his chair angled toward her. It only took a split second for her eyes to flick over him. His face was completely in shadow, but a small amount of light spilled over his legs which were encased in jeans, one booted foot crossed over the opposite knee. He wore a black leather vest, a cut, covered in patches. In the dark, she couldn’t make out what MC it was, but her panicked mind went straight to the Devil Kings. They’d found her. A DK was sitting in her house waiting for her.
