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“Look, I didn’t know she has a boyfriend,” her date declares, trying to pull away, but my hold only tightens.
“He is not my boyfriend. He isn’t my anything.” Sukie folds her arms beneath her breasts. “Let him go, Harlem.”
Sukie and I engage in a tense standoff, our eyes locked in a fierce stare. After a few moments, I reluctantly cut the motherfucker loose.
He moves quickly, creating some distance between us. “No piece of ass is worth all this shit. I’m out of here.” He jogs away from the restaurant, and I move to go after him, but Sukie steps in my path, pressing her palm against my chest and stopping me.
“Let him go,” Sukie says, her voice filled with anger. She turns and watches her date peeling out of the parking lot. “Good thing I decided to pay the bill so I could leave,” she mutters, then turns back on me and jabs her finger into my chest. “What is your problem?”
When I don’t answer, she lets out a frustrated growl. Sukie turns away and marches across the parking lot, and I follow. She stops at her car, fumbling for her keys. “Why would you ruin this for me?” Her hand is shaky, so I unlock it for her.
“He’s not good enough for you.”
Sukie’s head whips around, her eyes locking on mine. “Oh really? Then who is, huh—you?” She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. “Stop looking at me that way.”
“What way?”
She opens her eyes. “Like you want me.”
I do.
Wanting her is a fire I can’t control. I fight the need to kiss her and make her mine.
Instead of telling the truth, I tell her, “I don’t. I’m no good for you.”
Hurt swirls in her eyes, and my chest tightens. Tension and an uncomfortable silence hangs between us. Before I change my mind, I decide to put us out of misery and end things here.
“Get in the car.”
With nothing left to say, Sukie gets in her car. I get to my bike and pull behind Sukie as she leaves the parking lot. I follow her home, making sure she is inside her house before heading home myself.
My night ends the way I’ve always preferred, in solitude. But tonight, I find no sanctuary in the walls I’ve built around me. Instead, I find myself looking up, searching for a way out.
* * *
I roll out of bed feeling hungover even though I only had one beer the night before. Why? Because sleep evaded me. I couldn’t stop thinking about how Sukie’s skin prickled from my touch, and I sure as shit still can’t stop reliving how I almost crossed the line and kissed her.
I stroll across the bedroom and into the kitchen and pour some coffee beans into the grinder, my mind still fixed on the previous night’s events. I couldn’t stop thinking about the hurt in Sukie’s eyes when I said I was no good for her. It was almost enough to make me take back my words and beg for forgiveness.
I dump the grounds into the machine and push the button. It’s only a matter of seconds before the robust smell of fresh coffee fills the air. Once brewed, I pour myself a cup and take it outside to the front porch, leaving the front door open. I settle into my recliner and stare out at the lake.
The sun is slowly beginning to rise. Its rays filter through the trees and cast a warm golden light across the sky. I take a sip of coffee and listen to the quiet sounds of nature. The gentle lapping of the water calms me as I watch the mist hovering over the lake’s surface slowly disappear. The atmosphere pulses with renewing energy as the start of a new day takes its first breath.
I take a deep breath, taking it all in, latch onto the calm I only find here, and try to erase Sukie from my mind.
The phone rings from inside the house.
As much as I want to ignore it, I stand and wander back inside. My phone has stopped ringing by the time I reach my bedroom. I lift it from the nightstand and pull up the missed call from Salem. Knowing it could be club shit, I call him back.
“Hey, brother.” I hear a bike motor in the background before it sputters and the engine dies. “Fuck,” he grumbles, then releases a frustrated sigh.
“Workin’ on the Knucklehead?” I ask.
“Just workin’ out the kinks, brother.” He pauses. “Listen, I need you to swing by the liquor store and grab several cases of beer and some whiskey. Wolf and his brothers are making a pitstop in our neck of the woods, so we’re hosting them for the night.”
This means there will be one hell of a party at the clubhouse tonight, because if there’s one thing true about Grim Knights MC, it’s that they know how to have a good time.
“Understood.”
