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Chapter 1
Hallie
"Mom, are you even listening to me?" Iris furrowed her brows at me, irritation written all over her face. "I swear, you never listen to anything."
I jerked my head away from the front door of the café. "Yeah, I'm listening. I'm sorry. I just keep thinking that I might see someone I know."
She rolled her eyes at me, her nine-year-old self not lacking any sass. "You say that any time we goanywherehere."
"That’s because it’s the truth. This is a lot smaller town than San Francisco, and I grew up here.”
Andhelives here.
But there was no way to would be discussing my former love life with my daughter. She asked enough hard questions as it was.
“Okay, but who cares if you see someone you know? You just duck and hide anyway. No one ever sees you.”
Jeez, she’s too smart for her own good.
“You’re a mess,” I nudged her under the table, both of us smiling. She went back to happily eating her ice cream, and my eyes shifted back to the door. It had been ten years since I’d been in Sans Verta, and it was like nothing had changed in the somewhat small town…
Right down to the motorcycle club, the Steel Heretics, running the whole place.
Their support stickers and banners still hung in the café where they always had, but I did my best not to even look at them. Those wrench head outlaws were the reason for my heartbreak ten years ago—a heartbreak thatstillhurt if I thought about him too long.
“All done!” Iris quipped as she set down her napkin. “Granny was right, this ice cream isamazing.I can’t wait to tell herallabout it.”
“I’m sure she’ll love to hear about it.” I laughed at the thought of my mom. Despite me leaving town, we’d stayed close. She had always traveled to visit us. Besides…
It was much safer that way.
“Let’s go!” Iris was already out of the booth, tugging on my hand.
I smiled at my daughter before sliding out of the old red and black booth. My faded jeans and t-shirt had flecks of magenta paint on them, and my ashy blonde hair was up in a messy bun on my head. I’d spent the entire day painting Iris’s room and hadn’t even bothered to clean up too much.
“Are you excited for school next week?” I pulled the café door open, the warm, dry air seeping in.
“I guess,” she muttered in reply, suddenly much less giddy.
“You make friends easier than anyone else I’ve ever met.” I grabbed her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “It’ll be good.”
Before anything more could be said, the familiar sound of a loud Harley Davidson engine echoed down Main Street. I froze in my tracks, my heart stumbling over itself like I had never heard the noise before.
“What isthat?” Iris pointed to the origin of my panic, the sight of a shiny black motorcycle and helmet-clad biker rolling up to park…Rightnext to my Mazda SUV.
It could be anyone. It might not be someone you know.
But the reassurance I was trying to give myself wasn’t working, my chest was still starting to feel tight. I pulled Iris toward the SUV, refusing to look at whoever was getting off the bike. More than likely, whoever it was, wouldn’t even know who I was—or remember me. There was only a handful of men who might know me…
And they weren’t even bikers back then.
“Hallie?” A voice called as Iris climbed into the back seat, the door still open. “Holy shit, is that you?”
Everything in my body came unglued at the sound of his voice, my mind filling with the images of his fingertips on my curves and his lips caressing my flesh… My wet memories were interrupted by a gentle hand landing on my shoulder, burning up the skin beneath my white t-shirt.
I spun around, locking my gaze with dusty emerald green eyes. “Gunner…” was all I managed to choke out. I took in his broad, strong six-foot-two frame. He had definitely grown in muscle since we had been together, but even with all that brawn, he still had this boyish charm to his facial features. His blonde hair was cut short, and his face clean-shaven. He didn’t reallylooklike a biker.
But the black leather vest with all the club lingo gave him away.
