Page 39 of Charger

I exhale, making my way to our upstairs apartment. Once we’re inside, I carry Chloe to bed, day clothes and all. I give her a kiss to the forehead after tucking her in.

Knowing she’ll be fine for now, I make my trip back downstairs, smacking right into his stone chest. It takes a second to regain my balance.

“What are you doing here, Venom?” I ask him in disgust.

He smells like cedarwood. Had this been months ago, I would have found it to be a turn on. Now? Not so much. Even though he’s tall, muscled, and screams bad boy biker, his eyes stare at me with darkness. Emptiness. I may have made a mistake before, in being with this man. But I sure as hell learned my lesson.

He casually walks back to the bar. “I haven’t heard from you in a good while, so I thought I would swing on by,” he says it with amusement, like he’s taunting me.

“Yeah, well, I can’t say I’m happy to see you.”

“Now, it hurts me to hear you say that. I thought what we had was special.” He sneers, rubbing his thick dark hair.

“If you honestly thought what we had was special, then you are clearly delusional.” I throw my hands on my hips, jumping back when he makes it over to me in two easy strides. He pushes me against the wall, holding me there with his hand to my chest. He leans forward and I can smell the alcohol and cigarettes on his breath.

I turn my head to the side, to avoid his way too closeness, but he grabs my chin and turns me back with aggression, before planting a hard kiss to my lips. The sick feeling in the pit of my stomach forms and I hold back the bile that fills my throat.

“Don’t think for one second that we’re done here.” His voice is low and gruff, but I try to hold my own. However, looking tough and being tough are two completely different things. I refuse to show him weakness. Besides, Venom gets off on that sick sort of thing.

He relaxes and takes a step back, that venomous smile never fading from his twisted face. I now understand why they call him Venom.

My palms are still flat against the wall, and I hold my head high.

“I’ll be seeing you around, babe.”

Spinning on his heel, he walks out, gets on his bike, and takes off down the road. When he’s finally gone, I feel like I can breathe again. I sink against the wall with my hands on my knees. Fuck him and the Steel Valley Skulls.

FIFTEEN

Charger

Fuck this. I whip the bed sheet off me after another sleepless night. Resting my elbows on my knees, I slouch to the side of the bed. My thoughts immediately go to her. It’s not like I’ve been able to think of anything or anyone else since seeing her. Shit, she was all I could think about before. Now, I can’t sleep, eat, jack off, without her inside my thoughts.

Not even bothering to put a shirt on, I head downstairs in nothing but my grey sweats and Converse. It’s summer in Ohio so there’s no need to bundle the fuck up.

I leave the clubhouse, walking next door to Tank’s gym. The only one who would be awake this early is our very own spitfire, Angel.

Pulling the doors open, I see her violently kicking, before throwing punches to the standing bag in the middle of the gym floor. Her long blonde hair swings with every movement. She’s sexy, that’s for sure, but it’s never been like that between us. To be honest, she’s a little too intimidating for me—probably could cut my balls off in seconds.

Chain wasn’t happy at first, letting a chick into our club as a patched member. It’s unheard of… It’s also hard to get the shit we need to get done, when we have to worry about her getting hurt. But the girl has proven herself enough, proven she’s got more balls than some of the dudes.

I cringe when I hear Avril Lavigne blasting from the soundbar. It’s that song “Girlfriend” or some shit. She doesn’t notice me as she makes one quick move. I lean back to avoid the insane round-off kick she just gave the bag.

She stops to catch her breath as soon as she realizes she almost decapitated me. “Shit, Charger, a few more inches there and you would have been smoked. What the hell are you doing sneaking up on a girl like that?” She swipes a strand of hair that’s stuck to her cheek from the sweat. “And Jesus, you look like hell. When was the last time you slept?”

“It’s been a couple of days.” I grab the jump rope to begin warming up.

“Ah, does this have anything to do with the raven-haired hottie you saw the other night?” She gives another punch then a kick, causing the bag to swing back and forth.

“And how do you know about that?”

“A little birdie told me.” She smiles as she wipes the sweat from her chest. Any other guy would get a straight fucking hard-on watching her right now. And a little birdie? Guess I’ll have to remind myself to pound Tank into the ground later. “So, who is she?”

“She’s no one.” Even that statement doesn’t settle right.

“I doubt she’s no one.”

“Oh yeah, you read minds now?”

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