“Lay off, Gun!” Val warns from behind the counter. “Don’t you start harassing my customers. Especially that one.” She points in Ninja’s direction with a large knife. “Kinsley has been coming here a lot longer than you.”
I chuckle to myself as Gunner gets reamed out. Then, as Val’s words sink in, I’m curious as to why we’ve never seen her here. At every turn, this little enigma becomes more and more perplexing. It’s as thrilling as it is fucking irritating.
“She just moved here. How the hell does she even know about your place?” Gunner asks.
“You know, I’m sitting right here and can hear everything,” Ninja says.
Val interjects. “You boys have been regulars for years, but this one here”—she nods toward Ninja as she wipes her hands on a dishrag—“she’s like family. So back the hell off.”
Gunner grips his heart. “Val, you’re wounding me with your harsh words.”
“Harsh but true, boy. What can I get you? The usual, too?”
Gunner strolls over to Ninja as if he’s getting ready to make a move. She, in turn, looks up at him as if she’s already bored.
“How’s that art project coming?” he asks.
“It’s not,” she replies.
Levi sits down across from her. “You want help with that…”—he shifts her book to look at the subject—“biology?”
“No thanks. I think I got it,” she says.
“Bro, you couldn’t help her if you wanted. You barely made it through biology.” Gunner slaps his twin on the back. “Nice try.”
Levi knocks Gunner’s hand away. “Dude, trust me. I got this.”
Ninja pulls her book back into place. “Sure ya do.”
“You want me to tell these boys to get lost?” Val asks.
Ninja looks up to Val. “Nah, they’ll get bored with me in no time.”
As I watch their back and forth, I’d bet my entire trust fund that Ninja will never become boring. Even now, she’s doing the most mundane thing, homework, and I’m unable to look away from her as I lean against the glass fridge that’s filled with bottles of water and cans of soda. It’s not that I don’t trust my boys. I trust them with my fucking life. They’re like brothers. But I never told any of them I saw her the night of the last fight—the night her father was killed. Hell, I never thought I’d see her again. And for some fucked-up reason, there’s this tugging in my gut that has me on alert withanyonewanting to get close to her, even my best friends. This invisible need to protect her has grown on its own, and it’s getting out of my control.
Levi points to her tattooed forearm. “I got to say, you don’t look like the type.”
She looks up at him with those icy blue eyes. “You don’t know my type.”
“Oh, I bet I do.” He grins as he squares his shoulders and rolls his neck.
She sets down her pen and settles back in her chair, waiting.
Levi folds his arms on the table. “Let’s see. You ride a blacked-out, badass motorcycle. You have a big dragon tattoo, probably hiding more ink under those tight clothes. You got face piercings that Monarch girls never have. And you can climb a rope faster than Edge over there.”
He points over his shoulder at me. Ninja follows his gesture, and our eyes capture each other’s. She slowly licks her bottomlip and then pulls it between her teeth. I wish it were my teeth biting that lip. Her eyes trail down to my arms to my busted-up knuckles, then back up to my face. In just those few seconds, questions emerge in those ocean-blue eyes.
Levi taps her forearm to get her attention back on him.
“Yeah, so what? You see what everyone else does. That’s all obvious stuff. But that sure as hell doesn’t mean you know me,” she says.
He cocks his hand like a gun, pointing it at her. “That’s the thing, they still can’t figure you out like I can—who the real Ninja is.”
“And, old wise one, what did you come up with?” she inquires.
“Your secret boyfriend is Tarzan. You like the kinky shit, and you’re in a motorcycle gang.” He smacks the table. “And just like that, I’ve blown your cover.” He points his thumbs back at himself. “That’s right! This guy right here!”
Gunner bursts out laughing. Kade even has a grin on his stoic face.
