After we got back home and had filled in Iron, I finally got around to calling Amber back.
She knew I’d been on a run and so I was pretty sure that she wouldn’t be pissed that it had taken me over a day to get back to her.
She was as familiar with this life as I was, only she knew more bad than good.
Not all MCs were like us. I wasn’t blind to that fact. Like attracted like and when you got a bunch of evil men together, the evil only grew.
She hadn’t had it easy and from what she’d told me, she’d done some fucked up things. But she was trying her hardest to outrun her past. Only, some days, I could tell she wasn’t doing such a good job of it. That life messed up her head and as sad as it was, Amber wasn’t strong enough to let it go.
Most of the time I was convinced that I was only holding her back. But there was something in her that kept coming around. Kept hanging on. And I thought we were pretty good together. Maybe most of the time it was because we saw that need to escape in one another and we gave in.
“Hey,” I said as soon as she answered. “I’m back.”
“You okay?” she asked and it wasn’t unusual.
“Yeah. Just a little tired.”
“Okay,” she said and I could hear a distance in her voice.
Maybe I was the one that had been distant. I hadn’t seen much of her over the last few weeks and even then, I had fallen asleep while we watched something. I could see how I’d kind of been an asshole lately, but I hadn’t done it on purpose.
“Carla home?” I asked, ready to get back on my bike despite my sore ass.
Her roommate wasn’t a huge fan of me for some damn reason. I didn’t get it. Carla had been the one to drag Amber to the club-owned bar in hopes of catching some biker dick. And she did. Only I didn’t think she expected Sketch to throw her out on her ass as fast as he did.
Come to think of it, Carla bringing Amber to a biker bar was kind of shitty. That night I could tell that Amber wasn’t all that thrilled to be there but she was trying to be a good friend. She was trying to support Carla and look out for her at the same time.
Then again, I wasn’t sure how much of Amber’s past Carla was clued in on.
So since Carla liked to throw attitude and stomp around when I was there, I tended to avoid the place when I knew she was home.
“She gets off work in about an hour, but I don’t know if she’s staying in tonight or has plans to go out.” Amber sounded a little frustrated but I wasn’t sure why.
“You wanna come over?” I asked in an attempt to get her to see that I wanted to spend time with her and maybe pull her out of whatever funk she was in.
“Whatever you want. It doesn’t matter. If you’re tired, I get it.”
“We can watch that chick movie you keep saying you want to see.” This was my last plead because I really was too exhausted to deal with this.
“Really?” she asked and a hint of excitement rang out in her tone. A small smile tipped up the corner of my lips.
“Sure. And I’ll try not to fall asleep.” I let out a little laugh at my own joke.
“Okay,” she said and I could hear her keys jingling in the background like she was ready to dash out the door this second. “Be there soon. You want subs?”
“Yeah. That sounds great. I’m fuckin’ hungry.”
“Me too. I have this huge craving for a meatball one. But I think I’m going to get mayonnaise and mustard on it. I don’t know, it sounds good in my head.” She let out a husky laugh and it made me smile again.
“Go for it. Get me one too, but just normal. I don’t feel adventurous tonight,” I told her.
We ate and watched a movie. Though we were both on the bed it felt like there were mountains between us. I wasn’t sure why. I wasn’t purposely trying to be standoffish but maybe I was wary from the long ride and all. Fuck, I sounded like a whiny little brat.
“You’re heavy tonight, Mouse,” she told me, her blue eyes cutting to look over at me.
“Fuck,” I breathed out and ran my hand through my hair. She was right but I wasn’t sure why.
“We don’t do heavy, remember?” She gave me a flicker of a smile.
