Page 12 of Striker's Yield

His phone rings loudly in his pocket, interrupting him and making his eyes look like he’s pissed at the call coming in without him even seeing who it is.

“You better get that,” I say, trying to pull away. Only he tightens his fingers in my hair while using his other hand to yank his phone out of his pocket.

Again, without looking, he swipes a finger across the screen, puts it to his ear, and demands, “What?” He listens for a brief moment and curses, eyes flashing with fury. “Fine, I’ll be there soon as I can.”

I don’t know whether to feel relieved he’s leaving or disappointed.

“Right, yeah, I’ll be there,” he says and drops the phone from his ear, anger vibrating off him as he shoves the phone back into his pocket.

“So, you, ugh, have to, um, go, huh?” I blather.

Striker’s angry eyes come to me, and his nostrils flare like he wanted to breathe fire. “Yeah, shit happened, and I need to get to the club.”

“Something happened at Devil’s Nirvana?” The question is out of my mouth before I can stop it.

Striker’s eyes lose some of the heat in them as he watches me closely. “No, I gotta get to the clubhouse.”

“Oh, um, okay.” I’d heard stories from Kenny and the others about what happens at the clubhouse, and I don’t think that’s somewhere I’d ever want to be. The things I heard women do there, I don’t think I could handle seeing. Even when I catered, I was out of there as quick as I could. “I guess I’ll see you later then.”

Unfortunately for me, Striker doesn’t allow me to pull away. “Not so fast, Mama.”

There it is again, him calling me ‘Mama’.

“Why do you keep calling me that?” I whisper.

“I’ll explain that tomorrow evening when I get here,” he murmurs, leaning in close. “I’ll be here same time.”

“I can’t,” I utter, dropping my gaze.

“Then tomorrow I’ll be at the café when you finish up for the day. You’re on the back of my bike,” he announces and leans in closer. “Now, since our night is being interrupted early, I’ll tell you this. You might think it’s sudden. It might just be, but you and me, we’re gonna see where this goes. It might lead to nothing, but I’m willing to bet it’ll lead to something else entirely.”

My stomach tightens, and I swear butterflies start fluttering loud enough I can hear them.

“Tomorrow, when I pick you up, we’ll talk. You’ll listen, and I’ll explain the way things are gonna be between us.”

“What if I don’t want there to be an us?”

Striker grins and leans in even closer, so much so that his lips brush mine when he speaks again. “Autumn, you want there to be an us. It doesn’t take much to see that. The way I make you nervous, it ain’t a bad thing. You just gotta get used to me, and you will.”

I part my lips to say something, but I don’t get the chance to do that, mostly because he’s kissing me, his tongue taking the parting of my lips as his opening. It’s not a small kiss. It’s not a deep one, but it’s a good one. The best. No sooner he kisses me, he pulls away, lets my hair go, and gets to his feet.

Striker grabs both his plate and glass, as well as mine, and takes them to the sink before heading toward my door.“See you tomorrow, Mama, don’t forget to lock up.”

I sit there for long moments staring after him, well after the door closes behind him, thinking about how much trouble I’m in where it concerns him.

CHAPTER 6

Striker

Leaving Autumn in her apartment is the last damn thing I want to be doing right now, especially after that kiss. It wasn’t much, but at the same time, it was more. I don’t think there’s ever been a woman I wanted to kiss, let alone kiss like Autumn.

I knew she was shy and sweet. I figured that once I actually started paying attention to her. Instead of finding her ums and ughs annoying as I probably would someone else, I have to admit they’re cute.

What I don’t get is why she’s so damn shy? The one time I saw her not be totally shy was when she’d been talking to my sister and called me a jerkface. Right after, though, I’d seen the way her cheeks blushed.

If Twister hadn’t called telling me Gadget had some intel on the bastards who’d been in Autumn’s apartment, I wouldn’t be leaving. This was shit I had to see too, though. I also knew that once I left the building, she’d still have eyes on her just as she’s had this past entire week.

After Athena clued Brass and me into the shit on the security footage, Brass and I took it straight to Twister and Horse. We filled them in on what we saw on the feed, including what’s been going on with Autumn, and how she’s been leaving for work as early as two in the morning.

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