Page 24 of Ink

“You didn’t take care of your parents?” Ink asked.

“Well, I did, but that wasn’t the reason why I went to California,” she said.

“Why did you go then? I mean, this town was your home, right?” Ink asked.

“Yes, but I needed a break from my boyfriend—well, now ex-boyfriend,” she admitted. “I thought that he might be cheating on me, and I needed some time and space. So, I made up the lie that my parents needed my help out in California. The crazy thing is, they did end up needing my help. While I was flying out, my mother had tried calling me a dozen or so times. She was hysterical when I finally was able to turn my phone back on and call her. My father fell, and I did need to stay with them for a few months to take care of them both. Karma, right?” she breathed.

“I’d say,” Ink agreed. “I mean, she really came for you, didn’t she?”

“Yeah,” Cynthia said. “My father’s fall became my excuse, rather than a lie. Once they got better, I decided to stop being a coward, and come back home to face my ex.”

“You never mentioned a boyfriend. I mean, why don’t you bring him down to the Road Reapers when you come in?” he asked. This was the part that she didn’t want to have to say out loud.

“I don’t bring him into the bar because we aren’t together. Plus, I figured that his wife would be pretty pissed off if we hung out together at the Road Reapers,” she mumbled.

“His wife?” Ink asked. “This story is just getting better and better.”

“Well, I’m glad that you are enjoying it,” Cynthia griped. “It’s not very fun for me to tell, though, so just let me get this partout.” He nodded and she sat down next to him. “I came back to town and after a few weeks, I got up the nerve to go over to his house. That’s when I found out that he wasn’t living there anymore. He was living across town with his new wife.”

“Shit, so you never got to confront him?” Ink asked.

“Nope, and it took me a while to decide if I even wanted to stay in town or make a fresh start somewhere else,” Cynthia admitted.

“Why did you decide to stay here?” Ink asked.

“Because I ran into you and you offered me a job,” she said. “I decided to stay, but gave myself a few conditions.”

“Which are?” he asked.

“Well, the biggest one is that I won’t date for one year after moving back here. I still have another six months, so now you know why I turned down Spade. I don’t trust myself to date right now. He seems like a nice guy, and yes, he is my type, but I need this time for me, you know?”

Ink nodded, “Thanks for telling me the truth, Cynthia,” he said. “And if you don’t want to date right now, I think that sounds like a good enough reason to turn Spade down. But it might be better if you just tell him what you told me because I know Spade and he won’t give up without a fight. You’re a challenge to him, and the guy seems to love a good challenge.”

“Shit,” Cynthia grumbled. “I’ll figure something out because if he keeps asking me out, I might just cave, and that is the last thing that I need right now.” She had a light bulb moment and jumped down from the chair. “If there was another guy in the picture, would Spade back down?” she asked.

Ink shrugged, “I guess so, yeah,” he said. “But you just told me that you weren’t going to date anyone for six months.”

“Yeah, but I don’t actually have to go out with a real guy. I’ll just start a rumor that I’m seeing someone, and I’ll make sureto tell the right people, so it gets back to him. It’s a perfect plan, really.”

“Seriously, a fake boyfriend is the perfect plan?” he asked.

She smiled back at him and nodded. “It is,” she said, “you’ll see.” She just needed to get a few of the details sorted about how she and her fake boyfriend got together, but she actually believed that she could do this. A fake boyfriend would get Spade off her tail and would give her the time she needed for herself. What could go wrong besides everything?

Spade (Road Reapers MC Book 3) Universal Link->Coming soon!

Don’t miss out on what’s coming up next by K.L. Ramsey. You won’t be able to put down Phoenix (Royal Harlots MC book 4) Here’s a sneak peek …

Phoenix

Phoenix had always thought her name appropriate for herself. She had to reinvent herself more than once. But this time, she needed it to stick—if not for her, then for her little girl’s sake.

By the time Phoenix rolled into Huntsville, Alabama, she was out of gas, out of money, and about ready to quit life altogether. Then, she looked in the backseat to find her two-year-old daughter, Lydia, smiling back at her from her car seat. Phoenix couldn’t give up now. Her daughter was counting on her and they were so close to her grandmother’s house, she had to keep trying.

“I guess I’m going to have to call your great-grandma and ask her for some help,” she said to her daughter. Of course, she didn’t answer back. Lydia had no idea what Phoenix was saying because she shielded her daughter from the ugly truth.

She was raised by her grandmother since her teen mom dropped Phoenix off at her house. Until she was about twelve, Phoenix believed that her grandmother was her biological mother—until she found a picture of her real mom. She started snooping around and asking questions and her grandmotherfinally gave in and told her the truth. Her mother was only fifteen when she had her and dumped her on her grandmother. The only good things her mother gave her were her green eyes and a cool name. The rest was all her grandmother’s doing. She had raised her to be kind, giving, and responsible—although that last one was pretty hard to live up to.

When Phoenix was sixteen, she and her grandmother had gotten into a fight about whether or not she was ready to drive. It was such a stupid fight, looking back on it now, but at the time, Phoenix couldn’t see past her blind anger toward her grandma. She promised never to come back as she grabbed her suitcase, filled it, and walked into town to get the first bus out of what she had considered hell. Phoenix had no idea what hell was—not until she ended up sleeping on the streets and working in a strip club for tips to buy herself some food. When she was almost seventeen, the bartender at the club took her in, and let her sleep on his sofa. She didn’t understand that he wasn’t doing it out of the kindness of his heart, but because he wanted to get into her pants. She lived with him for almost a month before he made his move. Phoenix found him standing over the sofa, watching her sleep, and when he offered her one thousand dollars to have sex with him, she took it. He was at least ten years her senior and after he was finished with her, he got up, pulled on his pants, and threw the bills down on the sofa next to her. She had never been so ashamed of herself in all her life. Phoenix took the money and grabbed her beat-up suitcase, again walking into town and getting a bus to anywhere but where she was.

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