Page 26 of Weatherman

A memory flashed in my brain. A parking lot outside a church. Dark night. Me, desperately trying to keep it together and not fall back into the hell I’d fought to escape. Wild cravingsabout to consume me, and then a pair of hazel eyes appearing to rescue me from the abyss.

Only this time, it was a different pair of eyes that stared into mine. A different man. A different time. One second, we were acquaintances who rubbed each other the wrong way, and the next we were somehow bonded. A shared moment when everything in me was totally exposed. Somehow without words, he recognized the demons that had sprouted in my belly.

And he didn’t look away.

His gaze dropped to my mouth, and I stopped breathing.

He was going to kiss me. I knew it. He knew it. Like it was the most natural step to take.

Even more shocking?

I wanted it.

I wanted it badly.

He swayed toward me, and I readied myself for his touch.

At the last second, I turned my head. I might be okay for now, but anxiety still bubbled below the surface. I’d been here before, on the brink of losing my shit entirely, more times than I’d care to remember.

Pearl grunted and shifted on my shoulder, breaking this weird trance we were trapped in. He stepped back and cleared his throat. “I’m sorry. I… I… keys?”

“My jacket pocket.”

The opportunity closed, but there was still a residual sense of connection. One that would be with me for quite a while. Only time would tell what that union would mean, but for now, I had to retreat behind the walls I’d put up so carefully.

He beeped the locks. “Text me when you get home so I know you’re safe.”

I watched as he loaded the stroller into the trunk and then shut it with a firm click before turning to me with somber eyes. “I’m serious. Text me.”

“The Dragon Runners have a code when it comes to taking care of the women in this town. You see a man wearing this emblem, you can trust that he won’t leave you on the side of the road until you’re safe.”

Weatherman’s words came back to me in a rush. Safe. I was safe with him. Only one other time had I ever felt this cared for and protected. It was taken from me, but that one taste left me with a desire to find something like it a second time—and also scared as hell of what it would do to me to lose it once more.

“It’s okay to let your heart beat again.”

I wanted to. I wanted that connection, but was it too much to ask to have it twice in a lifetime? Was I being greedy?

“You bet,” I squeaked out before getting in my car. The engine started, and I backed out carefully, hearing the gravel crunch under the tires. The outside lights barely made a dent in the dark, but I still saw his figure watching me as I drove away.

CHAPTER 13

The station loomed aheadas Weatherman pulled into the worn lot. He blew on his hands to warm them, as he’d forgotten his thick biking gloves, and the mornings were finally getting colder. The Dragon Runners would be on the road until ice covered them. The way the dry fall had delayed winter, he expected they’d still be on bikes in December.

This morning, his head wasn’t on his job, or the club, or even his mother. It was on Opal and had been the past few days. The scene outside the Lair sat with vivid colors in the forefront of his mind, and he doubted he would ever forget the sight of her nearly collapsed on the ground in a full-fledged panic attack. He’d grabbed the abandoned jackets and stroller, then rushed out to the parking area with the intent of ripping her a new asshole. Instead, what he found was a woman on the verge of a total breakdown, and he had an epiphany.

She wasn’t a stuck-up bitch.

She wasn’t a snob when it came to his beloved club.

She wasn’t a man-hater.

She was broken.

Something in her life, her past, hadshatteredher, and she was here in Bryson City to pick up the pieces. His first thoughtwas drugs and that being around the club triggered her. He wasn’t sure why, though, as Betsey didn’t allow that kind of shit in her house. A few members snuck out to the giant garage or the camping cabins to smoke a little weed, but no one dared bring it to the main house. That was a prime way to have your patch taken. Still, some event or words or scene at the Lair had brought out a bad memory of something that had shaped her into the person she was now. His newsman curiosity wanted to investigate. His Dragon Runners code was to protect. His male instinct…

Fuck! Get your head outta your ass! What is wrong with you?

His self-admonishment continued as he tucked his helmet under his arm and entered the squat building.

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