“Fuck me, Veep. You've got your hands full,” Skin said, his eyes following a clump of mud sliding off my jeans to the floor. “You want me to tell the boys to send her away?”
“Nah. I'll do it myself, jettison whoever the fuck she is so I can clean up.” I walked past him and Skinny boy shrugged, careful to sidestep so I didn't brush my muck on him.
Rage nipped at the back of my brain. Fuck, why today? Why now with these damned disruptions?
Wanted nothing better than to hunker down in a nice, hot shower, before I decided to figure out how I'd un-fuck my head tonight with the usual distractions.
Lion and Tin nodded at me in the garages. They still manned the gates most of the time, even though we'd made 'em full patch a couple months ago, both the wounds they'd taken in our dustup with the Torches MC healing nicely.
“She's out there, Veep,” Tin said, pointing to the shitty, rusted blue hatchback sitting by the gate.
I marched right past them, already muttering under my breath.
What the fuck was this? Who was it? Why hadn't the bitch been smart enough to walk the fuck away after we'd finished?
Every girl in the county oughta know by now I didn't touch the same * twice unless it was fuckin' amazing. And it damned sure never went beyond that.
When I saw the little honey step out behind the car with her long, black hair rolling across her shoulders, my dick twitched. She held her face to the side, and I forgot all about Honey-Bee and the other bitches at the Heel, wondering if I'd found my fuck for the night without having to leave the clubhouse.
Shit, whoever the fuck she was, maybe I'd be giving her another ride on my bullet after all.
Then she looked at me, full frontal, and my blood turned to ice.
Summer. Fuckin'. Olivers.
Like a ghost who'd reached through the past, caught me by the throat, and slammed me against the pavement with the force of a thousand suns.
“Hi,” she said softly. Just husky enough to ring my ears. Like I needed another shot through the heart. “Uh, holy shit. What happened to you?”
I stepped up to her, my jaw clenched, trying to stop my heart from tearing out my ribs and slapping her in the face.
“What the fuck you doing here, Summer?”
Her face soured, causing her bottom lip to stick out.
I remembered biting it. Fuck yeah, I did.
Feeling its softness. The little curl it'd make beneath my tongue when she moaned. Tensing for the hot air rushing out her mouth, all the pleasure I swallowed, all the times I fucked her 'til she collapsed.
“I came to see you, Joker. It's been awhile. But maybe this isn't a good time...looks like you have your hands full. I can come back, whenever it's better for you.”
“Babe,” I started, and stopped. Balled my hands into fists for using that word. Fuck!
Old habits never died easy. They died harder than most men.
Her big green eyes widened. I shook my head, coming closer, making her back up so she wouldn't touch my muddy fuckin' chest.
“Summer, ain't never a good time to see me. You oughta know. Get in your rusted out box and go the fuck home. Whatever you've got to say, I'm not hearing it.”
I kept moving. Backed her straight into her car. She stood up straight, making herself a little taller, but she still fell at least a foot short of me. Those defiant little eyes I'd rolled into the back of her head those summer nights so long ago went off like firecrackers.
“I don't care,” she said, defiant as ever. “I've been thinking about the past. About us. You told me to back off after the horrible things that happened that night. I don't blame you. But I can't stay away forever, Jackson. I haven't forgotten. I tried. I can't. I can't forget you.”
That shit struck deep, found its target somewhere deep inside me, and exploded. If it wasn't for the nervous tremor in her voice, I would've believed every word.
Maybe I would've grabbed her, thrown her against my chest, and held her the way I'd started to when I took those trips to Seddon for more than club biz. Maybe I would've pushed my lips on hers, searching for the spark I'd smothered for three fuckin' years, trying to find out if I was still human.
I didn't. Something about her voice was strange, off by half an octave, strained. Off.
Something that stank like desperate bullshit.
“Jackson, please,” she whined again, when I went too long without giving her an answer. “I can't forget, I'm telling you –“
“I can, Summertime.” Pain criss-crossed her face like spiderwebs when I called her that name. “You wanna use names you really shouldn't around here, then so will I.”
Her lips popped open, shocked and kissable as ever. I pushed my palm against her mouth, held her face, silencing her.