Page 10 of Property of the Hellfire Riders

“Come on,” Vance prods. He takes a hearty swig from his beer,

“I said no thanks.” He sideeyes me for a moment, patting my leather vest.

“Are you good?”

“Fine,” I lied.

“Bullshit. You look more like death than usual, man.”

He’s right. I haven’t slept in days. My eyes feel like lead, sunken in my head. Guilt eats at me like a fucking parasite. They know this though, and that’s why they’ve decided to throw a party.

Tank elbows me hard in the chest.

“What about her?”

Who?

I follow his line of sight to the far end of the bar, where a woman in a tight red dress sits alone. High slit, low V-neck, long legs crossed over one another. A smile on her face that screams fuck me.

Our eyes meet briefly for a moment.

Something’s off about her, like she doesn’t belong here. A sheep who’s wandered into the wolf’s den, except this one’s trying to wear a wolf’s fur. My eyes narrow for a moment.

“Who’s she with?” I ask.

“Does it matter?” Tank prods. “No one’s gonna stop you.”

No one ever does. They know better.

I shake my head and down the remaining whiskey. It’s not typical for a single woman to find her way in here. If she was from this part of town, then she’d know a hell of a lot better than to step foot into our clubhouse without a clear invitation.

Or maybe I’m just being paranoid.

For now, it’s not my problem.

“I'm going out for a smoke,” I grunt, pushing off my stool. I need to clear my goddamn head.

“Are you going to talk to her?” Vance asks, eyebrows shooting up in amusement.

“If he doesn’t you should,” Tank says, nodding his head.

I push past them and make my way through the kitchen, out the back door. Out here, the air smells clean and fresh. A cool night breeze settles through the leaves.

Pulling a smoke from the pack in my jacket, I light it up. I take a drag, exhaling. I should be happy, drunk as a skunk wasting my night being a complete jackass, but I can’t relax like that anymore. I knew being President wasn’t going to be easy, but I hadn’t expected to lose a guy so quickly. I’m the reason a bullet ended up in his back.

“Mind if I join you?”

I don’t look at her. Of course, she’d find her way out here. “Suit yourself, darlin’,” I say through a puff of smoke.

“That’s very kind of you, thank you.”

She’s way too polite for a girl who’d be hanging around here.

She shuffles through a purse slung over her shoulder. I study her out of the side of my eye. She’s a pretty little thing. Shepauses for a moment, and I half expected her to pull out a gun and tell me she’s with the police, but she doesn’t.

Not yet anyway.

She finds a pack of Marlboros and sticks it between her lips, waiting for me to light it for her.

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