Page 27 of Ink

“As I’ll ever be,” she joked.

“And you’ll be right next door, huh?” she asked.

“Um, yeah,” he said, “when I’m not working, which feels like that is all I do right now.”

“Well, maybe you could take a night off and bring me back here so that I can see what a real biker bar is,” she said. He wasn’t sure if she was teasing or not, but he knew that it wasn’t a good idea to take Mrs. Aggie’s granddaughter to a bar.

“I’m pretty sure that you’re not twenty-one yet, Phoenix, and if that’s the case, you won’t be allowed into the bar,” he said.

She barked out her laugh and he wondered what that was about. “I’ll be twenty-one in a month,” she admitted. “So, how about you agree to take me out for my first drink to this bar?” She pointed to the building, and he shook his head.

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Phoenix,” he said. “I don’t think your grandmother would approve of a thirty-year-old dating her twenty-one-year-old granddaughter.”

“I get it,” she said. He could tell that she was lying by the disappointment he saw on her face, but he decided not to call her out on it. “Thanks for the help tonight, Riggs. I’ll get Lydia and her car seat out of my truck. Can we ride with you back to Aggie’s?” she asked. He wasn’t sure if she sounded disappointed or not by him turning her down flat, but he knew for sure that he was disappointed in himself. A beautiful woman had asked him out and he pushed her off because he didn’t want to piss off her grandmother. He knew that he was doing the right thing. She was way too young for him, but he still felt like an ass for turning her down. He was an idiot—but then again, that was something that he already knew.

Phoenix Universal Link-> https://books2read.com/u/bPnN6x

If you loved Ink’s story and want to see how The Road Reapers began, you should check out Riding Hard (Dirty Riders Book 1). Here’s a sneak peek …

Owen

Owen Blaine wasn’t about to let the sexy redhead in the corner go home with anyone else except him. She was the hottest woman he’d seen in a damn long time and the way the other guys seemed to be circling her just plain pissed him off. Even his older brother, Maverick was eyeing her and if he let his brother get to her first, there would be no doubt that Mav would be the one she’d be leaving with tonight. He couldn’t let that happen. The last time he and his brother were involved with the same woman, they both ended up heartbroken, not that Mav ever let on that he was.

“Who’s the hot chick in the corner?” Maverick asked.

“No idea,” Owen admitted. She hadn’t ever been into the Dirty Riders club before. He would have remembered her if she had. “She’s not that hot,” he lied, trying to throw his brother off her scent. From the hungry look in his eyes, Mav wasn’t buying what he was selling.

“You’re a fucking liar,” Mav accused. “I saw the way that you looked at her. Hell, every guy in this fucking place is looking at her. You going to do something about it or is she up for grabs?”

“Up for grabs,” Owen repeated. “Jesus, Mav, you’re an asshole, aren’t you?”

His brother threw back his head and laughed at what Owen had said and he blew out his breath. It could have gone either way with his brother. Either he’d say something that would have Mav pounding on his face or he’d just laugh. Owen was glad that his brother thought that he was being funny because he didn’t have time for stitches tonight.

“Thanks, man,” Maverick said. “So, you gonna go over there and talk to her, or am I? After the deal with both of us dating Amy, I don’t want to have to deal with any of that shit again. You followed her around like a fucking puppy.”

“Did not,” Owen shouted over the music. “You’re an asshole and I’m going over there and talking to her.”

“All right then,” Mav said. “When you strike out, let me know so that I can beat these other fuckers to her.”

“I’m not going to strike out,” Owen insisted. Sure, he probably would, but he was trying to stay positive, even if his brother was most likely going to win the girl. It’s how things usually went when they wanted the same girl. Hell, they even fought over girls back in high school, not that any of them ever paid attention to Owen once Maverick or his twin, Steel, walked into the room. His older twin brothers always got the girls, and he was getting sick of playing second fiddle to them both.

When they weren’t fighting over a woman, things were usually pretty good between them. It had been just the three of them for so long, that Owen had forgotten how life was when their parents were still around. His dad left when he was just a little kid and for a long time, it was just him, Mav, Steel, and their mom. She got cancer when he was a junior in high school and died before he graduated, but Maverick and Steel were there to watch him walk across the stage. They even got him a cake and threw him a little party—just the three of them, to celebrate.Maverick and Steel had become his only family and the three of them had learned how to get along in life together.

Steel joined the Navy at about the same time as Owen had joined the Army. He was a medic and had served two deployments so far. He knew that them both taking off on Maverick wasn’t fair, but he insisted that they follow their own paths. Maverick stayed in town, opening his own bike shop, and whenever Owen and Steel could get home for a visit, they did. The one thing Owen was sure of—if he needed one of his older brothers, they’d be there for him, no questions asked.

He knew that Mav was right—if he didn’t go over and ask the pretty woman out, one of the other guys would, and then, he’d miss out on his chance with her. Owen walked across the bar to where she sat and stared her down. He was willing her to turn around and notice him, but she just kept her eyes on the beer that she had been nursing. He cleared his throat twice before she turned to look over her shoulder at him.

“Can I help you?” she asked. God, he hoped so.

“Um, I saw you sitting here alone and thought that you might let me buy you a drink,” he said.

The woman held up her beer and shook her head. “I already have one,” she said. “I’m good.” She was blowing him off and sure, that was like a kick in the nuts—especially when he looked over to find his older brother laughing at him. There was no way that he was going to give Maverick his chance with her. Not without a fight.

Owen sat down on the barstool next to her and she sighed, picked up her beer and purse from the bar top, and slid down one stool. Ouch—that hurt, but he wasn’t about to let it deter him. Even with Mav’s laughter playing like a record skipping on a record player behind him, he felt some crazy determination to get to know this woman.

“My name’s Owen,” he said.

“Well, Owen, I’d say that it’s nice to meet you, but that would be a lie. I thought that you’d take the hit to get lost when I turned your drink offer down,” she said.

---