SHADES: An Evil Dead MC Story (The Outlaw Series Book 3) (12 page)

“I doubt that.”

Crash let out a laugh. “
I
don’t.”

“I’m sure you’re exaggerating.”

“You still stir up some feelings in him. That’s no exaggeration. You should call him. Talk it out.”

“I don’t think so.”

Crash blew out a breath. “Right. I’m gonna leave his number on the fridge. In case you change your mind.” He bent and kissed her forehead. “Sleep tight.”

He turned to go.

“Crash?”

Her soft voice stopped him at the door, and he looked back at her. “Yeah?”

“You should take your own advice.”

A frown marred his forehead. “What do you mean?”

“I’m sure there’s unresolved issues between you and that woman back in California.”

A grin pulled at the corner of his mouth, and he winked at her. “Touché. Night, sweetheart.”

CHAPTER NINE

Shades watched Crash walk out of the clubhouse. He’d just turned in the loaner bike he’d borrowed and said his goodbyes. He was heading back to his California Chapter. Shades followed him out the back door. He paused to light a smoke as he watched Crash walk toward the back gate, saying a few final goodbyes to a couple members in the yard.

Shades’ eyes moved to the open gate and the alley beyond where a silver Miata idled, Skylar in the driver’s seat. Crash climbed in, and Skylar gunned the engine, spraying gravel as she tore out of there like she couldn’t wait to be rid of the place. Shades only hesitated a moment before crushing his cigarette beneath his boot and heading for his bike.

A few moments later, he was pulling out, following the Miata to the airport. He wasn’t sure what he meant to accomplish. He probably wasn’t thinking straight, but that was only because the thought of Skylar leaving again was twisting his gut. He just knew that he couldn’t stand by and let her walk out of his life again for the third time.

Yeah, he was wrong to do it. He knew there was a brother standing between them, but he didn’t think even that was going to stop him. Not now. Not this time.

Maybe she wouldn’t want a damn thing to do with him. Maybe she’d tell him to go fuck himself. But he had to give it a shot.

They’d had something once. Something good. Something he’d never been able to find with any other woman since then. And he’d thrown it all away.

As they approached the airport, Shades expected them to pull into the parking garage, but instead, Skylar headed the Miata toward Departures. Shades followed after her, keeping a ways back and ducking behind some other vehicles dropping travelers off.

Shades watched as Crash got out of the car, grabbed his duffle out of the trunk, and then came around to the driver’s side. He leaned over and gave her a quick kiss, and then headed into the terminal.

What the hell?

Why wasn’t Skylar going back with him? He frowned as he watched Crash disappear through the revolving glass doors. And then his eyes moved back to the silver Miata still idling at the curb. Her head was turned toward the doors. She was watching him leave. And then her blinker came on, and she pulled away.

Shades stared after her. Skylar was still here.

She’d stayed.

Goddamn.

He only hesitated a moment, before letting out the clutch and taking off after her.

Shades followed the silver Miata back through downtown and over the mountain south of town. The whole time he trailed behind her at a distance, he couldn’t help but wonder where in the hell she was going. And when he wasn’t wondering that, his mind was consumed with the thought that she was still here, she hadn’t left.

He still had a shot.

A shot at fixing everything with her. A shot at making things right again between them.

He was still pissed at her though. Pissed at her for taking that grand in cash he’d had stashed. And pissed at her even more for taking his rosary. But mostly pissed at her for leaving town like she had. Yeah, they had a few things to talk about. A few things to get straight between them. And he was gonna need to maintain his cool and keep a lid on it if he was going to do that.

Finally, he was going to have a chance to do that. Away from Crash. Away from her ol’ man. Christ, it still made his jaw clench just thinking about her belonging to another man.

She exited off I-65 at Hwy119 and headed east. He followed her a couple of miles until she put on her blinker and slowed, making the turn off into a drive that led to a gate. Shades drove past, continued down the road over a rise and made a U-turn. He coasted back over the hill and glided to a stop and watched as the gate swung closed with a clank and two little taillights disappeared around a bend into the trees.

Shades pushed his bike behind some bushes in the tree-line, walked around the gate and crept up the drive, following the curving drive into the woods.

When he reached the house, he crept around to the corner and peered around it, hiding behind a bush.

Skylar was climbing out of the car, grabbing her purse and heading toward the house. As Shades watched, she unlocked the door, stepped inside and paused to deactivate an alarm. She snapped her fingers and cursed.

“Damn. I forgot to get milk.”

Shades watched as she spun around, slammed the door, dashed back to her car and jumped inside. Then she fired it up, pulled around the circle drive and headed back out toward the road. Shades ducked down behind the bush as she drove past. After her taillights disappeared down the road and he’d heard her shift through the gears as she pulled back out onto the highway, Shades turned to look up at the house.

Hell, is this where she and Crash had been staying?

****

Skylar grabbed the grocery bag from the passenger seat and climbed out of the car. She’d gone down the road to the combination quickie-mart/gas station and picked up a half gallon of milk, and then as an indulgence, she’d grabbed a box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts. They’d just been delivered, and the smell of them was too tempting to refuse.

She headed inside. Juggling her purse and the grocery bag, she went to deactivate the alarm, and then realized she hadn’t activated it when she’d run out. Shrugging, she set it again, and then headed into the kitchen. There was a dim light burning over the sink, giving the room just enough light that she didn’t bother with flipping on the overhead lighting. Plopping her purse and the grocery bag down on the granite island, she dug the milk out and put it in the refrigerator. Turning back, she pulled out the box of doughnuts and tossed the bag in the trash can. As she crossed the kitchen to place the doughnuts on the counter next to the coffee maker something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. She glanced over toward the dining room.

A man was sitting in the shadows by the dining table, his chair angled toward her. It only took a split second for her eyes to flick over him. His face was completely in shadow, but a small amount of light spilled over his legs which were encased in jeans, one booted foot crossed over the opposite knee. He wore a black leather vest, a cut, covered in patches. In the dark, she couldn’t make out what MC it was, but her panicked mind went straight to the Devil Kings. They’d found her.
A DK was sitting in her house waiting for her
.

Stumbling back, she whirled to make a dash for the back door. She didn’t make it three steps before the man was on her, her body slamming up against the cabinet and countertop. One arm locked around her throat as he pulled her back against his chest, restraining her as easily as a child. Her hands grabbed his forearm, but she couldn’t break his hold. As every worst-possible scenario ran through her head, her eyes fell on the block of knives on the counter in the corner. She reached out her hand, frantically grasping toward it and felt the smooth wooden handle in her palm as she closed around the cleaver and yanked it from the block. At the same time, the unmistakable cold metal of a gun barrel pressed against her cheek.

“Drop it.” A man’s voice. Deep and rumbling and somehow familiar. It triggered some part of her brain, a memory buried deep inside a vault she’d thought she’d locked away years ago. She froze, her hand still clenched tight around the handle of the clever.

“Sky, drop it. Now.”

There was only one man that had ever called her that.

Shades.

The clever clattered to the granite counter as her body sagged back against him with relief. It was Shades. Not the Devil Kings. They hadn’t found her. They weren’t here to kill her.

The barrel of the gun was no longer pressed to her cheek. Shades stepped back long enough to spin her around, and then he was stepping right back in, crowding her against the edge of the counter again.

Something about the look in his eyes had her shoving him back. She managed to twist free of his hold, but didn’t get two steps before his hand closed over her upper arm, and he was pulling her back. She fought his hold, slapping at him and yanking back. When he’d apparently had enough, he spun and pinned her to the wall, his right hand coming up to close over her throat holding her there. He wasn’t choking her, but there was enough pressure there to let her know he was serious.

“Calm the fuck down,” he snapped.

“Let me go!” she tried to pull his hands away, but it was no use. He was too strong.

“I’m not gonna hurt you, Sky. Now settle down.” He stared down at her, his eyes intent on hers. There were strong feelings there reflected back at her, but hell if she could read them. Anger? Frustration? Desire? She couldn’t be sure. And then she was distracted from figuring it out as the thumb of the hand on her throat started stroking, the sensation stirring something back to life within her. She suddenly remembered how gentle his touch could be when he wanted. Swallowing, she pushed the thought out of her head. Her voice trembled when she spoke. “You scared the shit out of me. What are you doing here?”

“You know why I’m here.”

She shook her head, as much as his hand allowed. “There’s nothing for you here.”

He let out a huff of laughter. “You couldn’t be farther from the truth.”

“I’m not yours anymore. Get your hands off me.”

“Where’s your ol’ man?” he asked with a smirk because he already knew the answer. And that just pissed her off more.

“You know he left town. He was at the clubhouse saying his goodbyes not two hours ago.”

“Then maybe the question ought to be… what are
you
still doing here? He leave you behind?”

“That’s none of your business.”

He shook her. “I’m makin’ it my business.”

“Why? Why do you care? You made your choice years ago and it wasn’t me,” she reminded him.

“Sky—”

“Let me go,” she ground out.

He stepped closer, leaning down, his face just inches from hers. “Fuck, no. Not until we’ve talked this shit out.”

“There’s nothing to talk about. It’s all ancient history now. You mean nothing to me.” She spit out the lie. That must have gotten to him, because she saw his head pull back as if her words had physically struck him.

“I went back for you.” His voice came out whisper soft, and his hold on her throat released, his palm gliding down to her collarbone where it stopped and rested warm against her skin.

She frowned, completely thrown by his words. She couldn’t have heard correctly.

“What?” she whispered back, barely audible.

“I went back for you. That night. I went back for you, Sky.”

She shook her head. “No. I don’t believe you.”

“I went to your house later that night. Your fuckin’ dick of a foster dad informed me you’d packed your shit and left without so much as a goodbye. Said you left without saying a word about where you were going. I wanted to punch him in his fucking smirking face.”

“Why? Why did you go there?”

“Because I realized I’d made the wrong fucking choice, Sky. I knew it the moment you drove away.”

“Bullshit. I don’t believe it. The club meant everything to you. I learned that the hard way.”

“It’s not bullshit.”

She let out a huff of laughter. “Right. Easy to say now, but I’m not stupid enough to believe for one minute that you would have given up the club for me.” She watched his jaw work as he stared down at her. “You just want what you can’t have. That’s all this is. I was off limits before, and I am again. It’s just the attraction of that. It’s the challenge you crave, nothing more.”

“Off limits? I don’t see your man around. He left town. Left you.”

“Let me go.” She tried to pull away from him but he now had her wrists in a vise grip.

“I got somethin’ to say to you, and I need you to hear it.”

She settled down and bit out, “Fine. Say it and go.”

He took in a frustrated deep breath, apparently not pleased with her attitude. Tough shit, she thought.

“Biggest mistake of my life, lettin’ you go.” He searched her eyes. “Sky, I’m sorry. For everything. For all of it. I’ve been sorry about everything since the moment you drove away. That’s the God’s honest truth. It’s eaten at me, all these years. Swear to God, not a day has gone by that I haven’t thought of you, wished I hadn’t done what I did. I fucked up. Big time.”

She stared up at him, trying to maintain that cold shell that protected her heart, but with every word that fell out of his mouth she felt another brick of ice shattering.

“Forgive me, baby. Please.” His hands released her wrists and they cupped her cheeks, tilting her face up to his as he stepped closer, mere inches between them. “I need you to forgive me.”

His words were tearing her up inside. Part of her wanted to believe him, wanted to forgive him. But part of her was afraid she was just opening herself up to more hurt. If she let him in again, believed his words again, it would break her this time, and she didn’t think she’d ever recover from it. No, she couldn’t afford to let herself believe his words, not when she had to protect herself. Protect her heart. So she let her face harden, her jaw tight, and she looked away from him.