Page 52 of Torn In Two

I stiffened, my tongue freezing up at the thought of her at one of those places. I knew how they worked. Especially when it came to women. I didn’t know why I’d never considered Kara could be living with Hawk, and that if she was, they could be living at a biker clubhouse. The thought made me physically ill.

“Your silence sounds a little like judgment,” she said quietly.

“No,” I said in a rush, though it wasn’t quite the truth. “Just took me by surprise. I’ll be there. Five thirty, Friday?”

“That would be great. Thank you.”

“Bye, Kara.” I ended the call and turned on the TV fast, forcing myself to pay attention to the screen. I’d been five or six the last time I’d been inside the walls of an MC compound, and I had nothing but bad memories of the things that had happened there.

I’d never wanted to step foot back inside one.

But apparently, the time for hiding was gone. And Hayley Jade wasn’t the only one who was going to have to face her past.

17

HAYDEN

For once, Sinners wasn’t filled with the sounds of nail guns and table saws. There was no sawdust flying all over the place for me to clean up for the thousandth time. There were none of Luca’s workmen wandering around, erecting walls or installing appliances. All of that was done, and the only thing left to do before opening night was for me to finalize and print the menu.

Which was proving the hardest part of the entire thing.

Nothing I made seemed good enough. I’d gone through every dish I’d ever practiced after hours in Simon’s shitty diner kitchen, and at the time, they’d looked and tasted amazing. I’d been so damn proud of them I’d flaunted them all over my Instagram.

Only now, when I made them again in this state-of-the-art kitchen with all the bells and whistles, they didn’t seem enough. I wasn’t enough and I was in way over my head. Luca was expecting world-class quality from a dumbass street thug from Saint View.

We were days away from opening, and I was going to expose myself for the fraud I was.

I’d covered the kitchen in an array of ingredients I couldn’t figure out how to bring together in an edible meal. I’d been leaving the clubhouse at the ass crack of dawn each morning and getting home near midnight, because every waking moment had to be dedicated to getting the food right.

Though it seemed that no matter what I did, I wasn’t satisfied.

From the front of the restaurant, someone knocked on the door I’d locked after letting myself in earlier. I probably should have been annoyed by the interruption, but I dropped the tasteless sauce I’d been trying to rescue in the sink. Any excuse to walk away from the mess I’d made and the crushing pressure of knowing I wasn’t cut out for this.

Kara waved at me from the street side of the glass door, Hawk a few steps behind her, scowling at the sign with my name on it.

I opened up quickly, gaze devouring her like the oasis in the storm she was. Something inside me relaxed just at the sight of her, and when she smiled warmly and squeezed my arm, it was like dark skies had parted to let her sunshine through, and all of it was focused on me.

I slid a hand along the side of her face and to the back of her neck, leaning in to kiss her cheek. “What are you doing here?”

She shrugged happily. “Day off from the hospital. We just took Hayley Jade to school. I asked Hawk to bring me over so I could see where you’ve been spending your time.”

I eyed him warily, unsure why he’d do anything for me, especially after the display I’d put on with Kara in the clubhouse earlier in the week. “And he agreed?”

Hawk stared at me. “He agreed to give Kara what she wanted. Because that’s the only thing he cares about. She wanted to come here. So he brought her.”

I raised an eyebrow. “And does he always talk about himself in the third person?”

He flipped me the bird. “Fuck off. Can I trust you to take care of her for a few hours? I’ve got something I need to do.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to say something smart, but a part of me also realized that though he was asking casually, the request was anything but.

Hawk was in love with Kara. It was obvious to anyone who paid attention to the way he cared for her. Him leaving her safety to me was actually putting a hell of a lot of faith and trust in me. So I didn’t give him shit.

I nodded. “Go. I’ve got her.”

He stared at me, and whatever he was searching for in my expression he must have found, because he leaned in, kissing Kara’s cheek gently. “I won’t be long. A couple of hours max. Call me if he’s a prick and you want me to come kick the shit out of him.”

She laughed, but I knew he actually wasn’t joking.

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