Page 8 of Ink

I nod. “Yeah, old habits die hard.”

“Well… keep that habit going. Your house wasn’t the only one broken into tonight.”

I look between Griz and Theo. “Whose got broken into?” It’s Theo that speaks first.

“I got an alert about thirty minutes ago from Prez’s house. Someone tried to break in but they tripped the alarm. He’s got a way more sophisticated alarm system than you. They didn’t make it past his front door. It looks like they got in here though by the looks of your door.”

“He’s got surveillance cameras that cover all of his property and especially the front door. From what the footage shows it was two guys wearing masks, no cuts on them but one of them had a very visible tattoo. Idiot. He had his club piece right there on his forearm for us to get a decent view of it,” Griz explains, gesturing to his arm and the size of the tat.

“Let me take a wild guess. The MC in Oregon?”

“Yep,” Griz replies, popping the p.

“Well, I don’t have cameras but I’m going to take another guess and say that it was the same people who broke in here. I can’t see that anything’s been taken, and everything appears to not have been disturbed.”

Theo starts walking back towards his motorcycle in my driveway. “Let me know if there are any other problems. I’m going to look at some loopholes and see how they might have worked around the system since it didn’t alarm. If you say you set it.”

Asshole, of course I set the alarm. Didn’t I?

Carmen

The plan is to only stay an hour. Have a nice quiet dinner with my best friend, talk about her wedding, and maybe even indulge in a glass of wine. Then get back to Lucia who is spending the evening with my parents. That plan quickly went to shit when we were interrupted ten minutes into dinner. Rider got a call that immediately had him bolting out the door and then Rayleighn was so occupied with thoughts about Rider, I basically could have talked to myself and had more interaction.

Now I am ninety minutes into an evening that is off the rails and I am two glasses into the wine bottle. The wine at least loosened up Ray.

“So seriously. I’ve got to ask you. I’ve waited long enough. How did you come to be driving Ink’s truck?”

I knew this was coming. I am surprised that she waited so long to ask but with the evening not going as planned it’s probably what had her giving me an eighty-nine-minute reprieve. I saw her eyeing it when she opened the door to let me in so I was surprised not to immediately get interrogated. I groan. “He’s working on my car and when I suggested getting a rental he became adamant that I didn’t spend the money and literally shoved the keys to his truck into my hands.”

“Uh-huh.”

I scoff. “What? You think I’m lying?”

“No. No, of course not. You know I’m always on your side. But… girl.”

She pauses and the pause has me setting my wine glass down and tensing. Rayleighn is always open with me so if she has cause to be worried, then I should be worried. When she stays silent for another moment I can’t take it.

“Spit it out, Ray. What is it?”

“He hasn’t said a whole lot to Rider but I know he wants back in your good graces. I think he knows how much he screwed up a good thing back at Christmas. He wants another shot at being with you and not just a quick thing either. From what Rider has said to me, he wants a commitment.”

Fuck me. I am going to have to break down and tell her about Ink and everything he’s said. If not, she is going to keep going and worrying on my behalf. I have been playing it pretty close to the vest the last few days. I love Rayleighn. She is more than a best friend to me—she has become like a sister but she is worse than a dog with a bone. The girl never gives up. I know she wants the best for me but damn girl. Let me process.

I open my mouth to spill the beans but before I can get a word out Colton comes out of his room asking for a drink of water. While Ray goes to get him some water and helps him settle back into bed I gather my thoughts. I sit back on her couch and cross my legs under me, getting comfortable. I get out my phone to kill the time because I know how toddlers can be. It can take her a minute to get him back to sleep. I open up my messages and read over the last few between Ink and me. Oh, what the hell. Life is too short. Before I can talk myself out of it I shoot him a quick text.

A few seconds pass and I can see the dots appearing. I sit there waiting with a big cheesy smile on my face. I can feel it on my face and I don’t even mind if Ray comes out to see it. His text pops up and I can’t devour his words fast enough.

The smile I just had wipes off in an instant. I sit up and type as fast as my fingers can go.

Ray walks back out into the living room and sits down beside me. She can tell something is wrong from my posture and my facial expression. “What’s going on?”

“Ink’s house got broken into.”

“Hmmm, well that explains why Rider blew out of here like his ass was on fire. He would only do that for either me or if one of his brothers were in trouble.”

“Why would someone break into his house? I mean everyone in town knows the MC and not to fuck with them. They're just asking for trouble.”

Ray has the decency to look sheepish as she shrugs her shoulders and eyes the wall like it has just started shooting colors out of it to entertain her.

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