AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Linc chokes on his drink next to me, and Barrett and Wyatt laugh so loud, a couple of the other patrons jump at the booming noise.
I shoot Lucy a shut-the-hell-up stare, and she shrugs.
Do all bikers have a sixteen-year-old boy’s sense of humor?
After stuffing our faces without anyone having to unhinge anything, thank you very much, we make our way back to the motel. Though it’s only about six in the evening, we’re all exhausted.
The second my head hits the pillow, I fall into a blissfully dreamless sleep.
Chapter seven
Linc
MybrothersandIhaven’t slept for over twenty-four hours. When we return to the motel, Jude flops face first onto his bed and soon, there’s loud snoring coming from his side of the room. It takes me a little longer than thirty seconds to fall asleep. My mind is still racing with the events of the day.
Charlie is hiding something, there’s no doubt in my mind. Whether it has to do with the club or only with Jace is yet to be determined. Considering how Jace is intertwined with the club because of his cousin, it means anything having to do with him will undoubtedly affect the club somehow. Fuck, this is not a complication I want to deal with.
The idea of Charlie not feeling as though she can confide in me and trust me to protect her doesn’t sit right. Neither do the feelings I was having at dinner. I shouldn’t be thinking about what her mouth looked like while chewing her food or the little moans she let out when she took that first bite of her burger, as if she had never tasted something so delicious. And I definitely shouldn’t be imagining other things that she could put in her mouth that would make her moan like that. The way the heat from her thigh spread into mine while we were sitting next to each other in the booth also shouldn’t be playing on repeat through my tired brain.
When the gray matter between my ears finally slows down enough for the exhaustion to take over my body, blue eyes and dark hair haunt my dreams. They aren’t the same sad eyes I dreamt about in prison. These ones are rimmed in smokey black liner and looking at me with heated desire.
Waking with a start, I jolt up in bed, disoriented and breathing fast. Sometimes, I have the sinking feeling I’m still locked in prison with my cellmate snoring above me. It takes me the span of a breath to remember I’m in a motel in some little no-name town, and the snoring I hear is Jude, still asleep in the bed next to mine.
The shot of adrenaline coursing through me means I won’t be getting any more shut-eye anytime soon. Instead of tossing and turning like I usually do, I decide to get some fresh air. On nights like this, walking outside and seeing the starry sky helps ground me, reminding me I’m not still in a six-by-eight cell.
After throwing on a pair of jeans and grabbing the pack of smokes I keep on hand out of habit more than anything, I make my way to the pool area of the rundown motel. It’s after the posted open hours but the lock on the flimsy gate is broken. There’re a few loungers set up and a couple tables surrounding the small, kidney-shaped pool that’s probably seen better days.
Lighting my first cigarette of the day, my sore ass plops down on one of the old plastic chairs. I inhale the smoke into my lungs and let out a long breath as the nicotine rushes through my bloodstream.
God, this is all such a cluster fuck. We have about twelve more hours of driving before we’re back in Shine. That’s twelve more hours on my bike with nothing to keep me company other than the thoughts racing through my mind. I have no idea what Ozzy and the rest of the brothers are going to say about the shitstorm we’ve found ourselves in or rather the one I’ve put us in with, once again, taking on Charlie’s problems. There was no way I could have walked away last night, knowing her ex was after her. I couldn’t do it six years ago, and it cost me my freedom.
Makes me wonder what it’s going to cost me this time.
“I didn’t know you smoked.”
The soft voice startles me from my thoughts. I turn to see the dark-haired beauty that starred in my dreams just minutes ago at the gate.
“I don’t.”
Charlie lets out a breathy laugh that hits me in my chest.
“The lit cigarette in your hand says otherwise.”
I look at the cigarette smoke curling through the air. “Huh. How did that get there?”
Charlie shakes her head, and a small smile tips up the corner of her mouth.
“Come have a seat with me,” I tell her, patting the lounger next to me.
She opens the broken gate and lies down next to me, looking up at the stars.
“Why are you awake?” she asks turning her gaze to me. “I thought for sure you would be passed out cold like everyone else.”
I shrug a shoulder, taking one last hit from my cigarette before stubbing it out.
“Sleeping isn’t always easy to come by these days.”
Charlie’s gaze softens in understanding. I’m sure she’s had plenty of those nights herself.
