I lick my bottom lip but don’t argue.What she wants and what I need are two very different things.I’m not ready to settle down and play house.An ol’ lady isn’t even in the distant future for me.My life is good.I’m not looking to change a damn thing anytime soon.
“Let’s call it now.One day isn’t going to change how either of us feels.Was fun while it lasted, yeah?”
“You bastard,” she cries out as she slaps me.Black tears, stained with mascara, roll down her cheeks as she pounds against my chest with her fists while hurling every insult in the book at me.I don’t try to stop her.I stand here and I take it.I deserve it for breaking her heart.
Tawny’s a good woman.
But she’s not the one for me.
She shoves at me one last time.“Just go.”
“Take care of yourself, babe.”
“Guess I know why they call you Ice.”She shakes her head and picks up a glass off the counter and throws it at the wall behind me.
That’s my cue to get the fuck gone.
She’s still cursing me as I pull out of the driveway.“Fuck you, Ice Delgado.”She throws rocks at Prez’s truck.She had better not have scratched the paint job.
I swing by my place and grab my go-bag that I keep packed for nights like this.I never know when Prez will send me on a run.I do a quick inventory check, making sure I have extra cash and my piece.
Never know what kind of trouble I may meet on the road or what brand of it will be waiting for me with Diesel and his crew.Devil should have stripped their colors years ago.
But it’s seeing Neva again that I’m worried about.
Chapter Two
Ishoveanextrasweater down into my bag.Not that I need to pack much.I still have a whole wardrobe at my old bedroom.I could’ve stayed here for winter break, but Allie’s boyfriend is coming, and I really don’t want to be here for their bang fest that is about to go down.Dad didn’t say who he was sending to pick me up, but I told him I’d prefer if he sent Justice Delgado.AKA Ice.My brother’s best friend I’ve always had the hots for.
We sort of grew up together even though he’s ten years older than me.He practically lived with us until he was in his early twenties.Until he patched into my father’s motorcycle club, Blackwood Knights MC.
Meow.Meow.Mr.Tinkles rubs against my ankle, begging for me to give him butt scratches.“My sweet darling boy.”I scoop him up in my arms, rubbing my nose against the neck of his soft gray fur that feels more like velvet.“We’re going on a trip.”He wiggles out of my arms and plops onto my bed and begins making biscuits on my fleece throw.
The towel wrapped around my wet hair falls to the floor as I continue dancing around my bedroom in my underwear and get the last of my stuff packed.Allie went to the airport to pick up Issac.I could have flown home.Well, to an airport a few hours away from home, but flying scares the shit out of me and I’d prefer to keep my feet on the ground.
I would drive myself if some asshat hadn’t drunkenly driven down our street and sideswiped four cars, including mine.Allie probably would have let me take her car, but I’m banking on my father granting my wish.
He can never tell me no.
I grab my cell phone to check the time.I should dry my hair and get some sleep, but all I can think about is Justice and spending seven hours alone with him.
I know when Ice looks at me, he sees a bratty girl, but he’s all I’ve ever wanted.
My brother has always teased me about my crush, but I think he always believed I’d outgrow my feelings.Especially once I moved to Wayward Heights but if anything, the distance has made those feelings grow deeper.
There’s no one who compares.I knew I loved him the first time I laid eyes on him.
He came home for dinner with my brother.God, he was gorgeous with his tan skin, dark hair, and even darker eyes.His home life wasn’t the best.His mom was in and out of jail, and he never knew his father.Our house, though a bit nontraditional, was his safe space.
Dinner was on the table every night, no matter what.Sometimes Dad cooked or ordered takeout, but mostly the ol’ ladies of the club fed us.My Aunt Deidra, my dad’s sister, raised us.Occasionally we’d be raided, CPS would threaten to take me, but in the end we all turned out all right.We were loved, fed, clothed, and had a warm, safe bed to lay down our heads on.
I grew up around men who looked like killers, some probably are, but they’d protect me with their lives.
The front door slams shut.“You could have told me,” Allie shrieks.
“It wasn’t a big deal,” Issac shouts.
I wish our walls weren’t so thin.This is why I’m definitely going home for break.Allie and Issac will have some dumb fight, and then they will make up with super loud sex that will have the people who live under us hitting the ceiling with a broom while yelling.I turn up my music a tad and power on my hairdryer to drown them out.
