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That’s how I ended up in the Village Shopping Center in Clayton one perfect fall day. I just had no idea that this one outing would set off a chain of events that would upend my entire life.
“Barrett?”
The sound of my name, my full name spoken by a feminine voice, instantly has me swiveling my neck around in search of the source.
When my eyes land on the red-haired beauty, a dagger spearsthrough my heart, ripping open old wounds that never completely healed.
As she walks toward me, though, I finally notice her dainty glasses and the freckles scattered over her nose and cheeks.
“Lyla?” My sigh of relief could power a sailboat across the Atlantic Ocean. The redhead thankfully isn’t my ex-wife, just her little sister.
“Hi, I thought it was you,” Lyla Perry replies with a warm smile.
Reaching up to swipe the sweat forming on my forehead, I tell her, “For a second, I thought you were…” Saying or thinking her name is something I try to avoid at all costs. “I thought you were your sister.”
Lyla clutches the straps of the leather purse on her shoulder and shrugs shyly as she glances down at her blue-and-red-striped dress and canvas shoes with little dogs on them. “Sorry to disappoint.”
“No, that’s not…I’m not disappointed. It’s probably for the best that I ran into you and not her.”
“Right,” she agrees, giving me a smaller smile that’s full of pity. “So, how have you been? How long have you been out of the army?”
“I’ve been home a little over a year now, and I guess I’m doing okay.”
“It’s good to see you safe and sound, but what’s with the cowhide? Did you seriously join a motorcycle club?”
Now it’s my turn to look down at my own outfit – the jeans and leather cut that have become a part of my everyday look.
“Ah, yeah. I’m a member of the Savage Kings MC. There’s a new Rockland, Virginia, chapter.”
“I can’t believe you wanted to get yourself involved in outlaw biker shenanigans.”
For whatever reason, I’m not thrilled that she disapproves of my decision.
“Why not? What’s wrong with MCs? Isn’t your father still a member of the Devil Hounds?”
“Yes, and unfortunately, he’s no longer just a member. He’s the president. He lives and breathes for the club.”
“Wow. I guess it makes sense, though, for him to be in charge. He was always pretty intimidating…”
“I will never understand the senseless violence of the club.” She pokes her finger into the center of my stomach, making my abs tighten and causing something that’s long been dormant in my lower body to finally stir. “I thought you were better than that, Barrett.”
The tingles stop as soon as those words leave her mouth, making me think I imagined the sensation. She’s disappointed in me? I hate disappointing people.
“I don’t know about the Devil Hounds, but the Savage Kings are a good club,” I say in their defense and my own. “And my three brothers all joined, so…”
“So, they had to drag you into it too?”
“Something like that,” I answer rather than try to explain that the club is exactly what I needed to feel close to my brothers again after being gone for four years.
“Just so you know, my father isnothappy about the Savage Kings setting up shop nearby. He’s been bitching about it since I got home.”
“Home? Where have you been?”
“Oh, I just came home from Lenox.”
“Lenox University? You’ve already graduated from college?”
“Yes.”
