Page 2 of Riding Rough
“Sounds like you’re evading the question.” His tone is low and hard, like he thinks he’s trying to get some sort of edge on me.
The man doesn’t know who the fuck I am.
“Where is she?” I growl unintentionally.
He pauses in theatric measure like assholes do when they’re about to lay bullshit. “Cut the fuckery, Kane. She called you two days ago.”
My muscles tighten and suddenly I need to hear what the fuck this asshole is saying. It’s been months since I’ve heard from Amber. Every single one of those days along the way has been torture. Not a day goes by that I don’t wait for her call. Not a night goes by that I don’t check my phone nine hundred times. So, the fact that I somehow missed her doesn’t seem right.
I pull the receiver away from my ear and scroll through my missed calls. Sure enough, there it is.Amber. Nine fifty-two. Tuesday night.
How the hell did I miss that?
My pulse quickens and my teeth grind against one another at the thought of what she called about so late at night.Is she in trouble? Is Jed hurting her?
“What’s wrong with her? Is she okay?”
Jed clears his throat. “Why would she callyou? Out of everyone on Earth, Tuesday night, myfiancécalls…you. Why?” Jed speaks to me like he speaks to everyone… condescendingly. I don’t know what she sees in him. Amber deserves everything. He may give her a big house and all that shit, but he doesn’t have the emotional capacity to know her like I do.
He can’t give her what she needs. I assume that’s why he’s so threatened by my presence.
“Maybe she got sick of you, Jed. Maybe you fucked something up? Sounds like these are questionsyou’dknow the answer to, not me.” As I’m talking, I grab the keys off the counter and get a bag ready to leave. It’s a five-hour trip to Wyoming from here, but there’s no fucking way I go back to normal after this weird ass conversation. I need to see her and confirm that she’s okay.
Jed grumbles under his breath. “Stay away from my fucking fiancé. Understand?”
I have stayed away from her, and that’s the problem. For years, I’ve wanted Amber. At times, we’ve gotten rather close and the feelings I built for her only grew stronger. If it weren’t for the fact that her father is my best friend and we’re twenty years apart in age, maybeI’dbe the one engaged to her.
Instead, I’m stuck with fantasies. Fantasies that a good man wouldn’t have about his best friend’s daughter. Fantasies that keep me up at night with an aching urge to find her, own her, and protect her from everything and everyone that threatens her happiness.
Fuck!She has to know she deserves better than a detached asshole who wears sweater vests and spends his free time yelling. I don’t know this for a fact, but Rugged Mountain is small and word travels fast. Jed grew up here and his reputation as a piece of shit followed him. That’s why he left town.
“Your name comes up,” Jed continues. That must have been hard for him to admit. I wonder if he’s had a few drinks. “I hear her talking with her friends. The big guy with the ink, the bike, and the ranch. I know you fucked her. Admit it.”
A sense of vindication and warmth radiates through me. I don’t know why she’s talking to her friends about me, but I like it. This has to be why Jed is so turned up.
I laugh. “Do you know I’ve spent years wanting Amber?Years.Never once did she do anything inappropriate with me. We’d meet up, we’d have lunch, we’d talk…but never once did she stray.And I’m not a good man, Jed.I wanted her to myself.I still do.”
His chest rattles. “So that’s the fucking prize? I suppose you think I should be thankful she didn’t fuck you… not that I believe that shit. She’s always had feelings for you. You and your dirty fucking hands.”
The anger comes back heavy and hard like a stone and my jaw locks. Not for my feelings. He can say whatever the hell he wants about me. My anger is for Amber. “Maybe that’s the difference between us, Jed. You believe the worst in her.I don’t.” I hang up the phone and start heading over to my brother’s to drop off the dog. In less than twenty minutes, I’ll be on my Harley on my way to Wyoming.
I need to see Amber… now!
Chapter Three
Amber
I scroll through my phone until I land on a picture of Kane. He’s leaning against his Harley, wearing a leather vest and a black tee that showcases all the ink on his arms and hands.There’s a lot of it.His baseball cap is turned back and his big hand scrubs over his beard as he stares at the camera. We’d just had lunch at Huckleberry’s Diner in Rugged Mountain. I miss that place on Main Street almost as much as I miss seeing Kane.
That probably sounds awful, but when you’ve spent the better part of a year being abused in every way possible, you look for escapes where you can.Kane is mine.
Unfortunately, everything I think about him is strictly a fantasy. He’s off limits, and the relationship we’ve built over the years is only a friendship.It has to be.Not only is he way too old for me, but my father co-founded Rugged Mountain MC with him. If I were to start anything with Kane, my dad would lose his mind. There’s no doubt about that.
My heart thumps hard in my chest as I stare at the blue-eyed man I’ll never have. Hell, he didn’t even answer my call the other night. I figured at the very least, he’d help me hide until Jed was off my back. But apparently, leaving is harder than I expected.
I close my eyes and let my phone fall to my chest, contemplating whether or not to call my father. I know he’d be sick to hear of the things that happened here, but there’s a part of me that’s still too proud to ask for his help. I foughtsohard to leave Rugged Mountain, and even harder for Jed when everyone told me what an idiot he was. I was so hellbent on running my own life, I literally ignored a few dozen people on my way out of town.
The deep rumble of a motorcycle catches me mid-thought. This isn’t a TV or my phone. The noise is thick and close, like it’s going to drive through the house. I jump from the bed and rush to the window, peeking through the shades as my chest tightens. I can’t imagine who would be here on a bike. Jed detests everything about motorcycles.