Page 10 of Sweet Revenge

“Nah.” He shook his head. “They asked who wanted overtime with overtime pay, and I signed up. They’re building that new development and putting in a ton of hours. Thought it couldn’t hurt to help out.”

I put the bottle to my lips and tilted my head back, finishing the last swallow. “The overtime pay doesn’t hurt either.”

He smirked. “No, it sure as hell doesn’t.”

“You savin’ up for something?”

He put his hands on his hips and nodded at Bull who passed us and punched him in the shoulder. “I have my eye on a piece of ground.”

My eyes widened in surprise. Race had a room in the clubhouse and had lived here since he joined a few years ago. I’d never even heard him talk about getting a place of his own. “Tired of the club?”

He looked over my shoulder for a moment before his eyes came back to mine. “Just want a place of my own. Haven’t had that in a long time.”

I dropped the bottle and let it dangle from my fingertips. “How much ground you lookin’ at?”

“About an acre.” he answered. “Enough so I can put a house up and not hear the neighbors fighting or fucking.”

I chuckled. “Not a bad dream, brother.”

He grinned and looked over my shoulder again, but this time his grin fell. I glanced back and saw Becs had shown up and was talking to one of the prospects. When I turned back around, Race was looking down at his boots.

“You got a problem with Becs?” I asked the question that needed to be asked.

His head snapped up. “Nope.”

My brow furrowed in confusion. “You sure about that?”

“She puts herself in bad spots.” He glanced at her. “She should be more careful with her brother being the president of an MC.”

“She knows club life, brother,” I reminded him. “She grew up around this shit and so did Bear. You know that.”

“Maybe.” he said, but I wasn’t done.

I laid my hand on his shoulder. “You want her, brother, you better make that known. You’ve been tiptoeing around each other for a while now, but I gotta warn you, a girl like Becs isn’t gonna be unattached forever.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Good thing I don’t want her.”

He made it look real, and I gave him credit because if I didn’t know him, I’d think he wasn’t interested. But I did know him, and I’d paid attention over the past few years. He wanted her, he’s always wanted her, and I’ve still never figured out why the hell he didn’t just go after what he wants.

“Maybe if you say it enough, it’ll actually be true.” I squeezed his shoulder and walked out around him, heading for the bar where I sat down my empty bottle.

“Want another, Gunn?”

I shook my head at Skinner who went back to serving drinks and staring at the tits working their way out of the blonde’s shirt. The kid was gonna have a damn good night.

There wasn’t much I’d ever wanted out of life. Good friends, club life on my own terms, and creating custom work on cars and bikes. Looking around the bar tonight, I knew I had all of that. What I never thought I wanted was a woman by my side.

Until the night I saw Maggie.

It was by chance. She was sitting on the back of Snake’s bike, but she was all alone. I’d know his bike anywhere from the snake detailing he’d had added, but I’d never seen a girl on the back. Looking behind me, I saw the sign for the convenience store and figured he went in for cigarettes. I don’t think I’d ever seen him without one hanging from his lips.

We were in a shitty part of town. I was working at a garage to earn money to put into the custom garage Bear and I were building, and I’d just left work. I barely made it out the door before I saw her and stopped in my fucking tracks. I’d never seen a girl that beautiful in my entire life, but I knew I needed to move on. We didn’t need any trouble with the Black Widows, at least not yet, and especially since we were trying to keep our noses clean in this town and start new, but my feet refused to move.

Her attention had been focused on the door to the convenience store, but she must’ve felt my stare because her head turned, and her blue eyes landed on me. She looked scared, and I had to stop myself from stepping forward to tell her I wouldn’t hurt her. When the door to the store opened, she broke our stare and jerked her head that way. I watched as Snake threw his leg over his bike, started it up, and did a U-turn in the middle of the road.

Then I watched them drive away until I couldn’t see that damn bike anymore.

But I made it a point to go to that convenience store every chance I got, and some days, I was lucky enough to see her. I made sure she didn’t see me, though. I didn’t want to scare her, but I knew if she was ever alone, I’d approach her.