Page 50 of Cold Foot Komodo

“Goodnight, friend.”

As he loaded into his truck, she already knew what she was about to do. She wasn’t sad watching him drive away as she made her way back into the house.

Something big was going on with that man, and sometimes when a world fell apart, all a person needed was someone to listen—like Beth had done for her today.

Sasha would see him real soon.

Chapter Fourteen

Reed had changed his shirt in the truck, but he could feel the wounds still seeping. Gah, it hurt, but that old familiar feeling was upon him—this was normal. This was what happened. Scars were a byproduct of survival.

He’d been a fighter before Cold Foot, but in prison he’d worked hard to shed his old skin and be the man he wanted to be. He’d had the opportunity for growth when Farrah couldn’t get to him.

He didn’t know if he could stay here. It felt like Farrah was inside of the Crew somehow, and it made him want to put distance between himself and Wreck’s people.

What if the kid was his?

Reed took another sip of his whiskey and looked over at the door, noting the exit as he rested his chin on his shoulder. It was torture being in his mind right now.

The door to the 406 Saloon opened, and he sat up straighter at the realization of who had just blown in here.

Sasha stomped off a pair of charcoal-gray ankle boots on the mat just inside the door. Shiny black leggings clung to the graceful shape of her legs like a second skin, accentuating every curve. She wore a see-through, thin black sweater over a lace crop top., and her jacket folded over her arm. Her hair was cascading in relaxed curls down her shoulders, and her makeup was all done up. She wore an oversized black purse with long fringe that slapped the side of her leg as she made her way to a table on the other side of the bar.

Holy shit, she was gorgeous in relaxed clothes, but she was an absolute stunner when she did herself up like this.

She smiled at a couple of guys at the table next to her who were telling her hi, and then she swung her gaze to him and offered the same polite smile. Oh, it was like that, huh?

He’d stopped things with her, and now she would make him regret it? Fair. He had regretted it since the moment he’d done it, with or without the sexy clothes she was wearing.

He could still remember the way her lips tasted.

Reed lifted his drink to her and did a silent cheers. Sasha nodded, and then smiled up at the bartender who approached her table.

He couldn’t take his eyes away from her as she ordered. Sasha had one of those smiles that lit up an entire room.

“She’s a looker,” someone said from down the bar.

Reed swung his gaze to the man in the backwards baseball cap and the Carhartt jacket. The animal in him perked up, but he was over fighting tonight. She wasn’t his. He had no right to be territorial. “She sure is.”

“She must be new in town. I would remember a lady like that. I’ve never seen her.”

Reed angled his face and cracked his neck to ease the tension building in his shoulders. “Maybe so.”

The man leaned over the bar and called the bartender over. “Can you send that pretty lady over there a beer. Tell her it’s from me?”

“She likes cosmos,” Reed advised him.

The man tossed his hands up in surrender. “Maybe you should be the one buying her a drink then.”

Reed nodded to the bartender.

“She was in here earlier with her mom,” the bartender enlightened him. “She likes a splash of lime.”

“That’ll be fine, thank you.” It wasn’t her mother she was with. It was Beth, but Beth was probably kinder than herreal parental unit. He could see how the bartender would’ve assumed.

She took it over to her, and Sasha looked truly surprised. The bartender pointed back to him, explaining, and she grinned big. God, she was a beauty.

He lifted his drink again in a toast, and this time she lifted hers too. Her smile went soft, and she took a sip.