Page 22 of Gunner

“She doesn’t know you’re leaving. You brought her here.”

“You’re here.”

“And? You brought her here.”

“So you think I should tell her?”

“Yeah, I do. You can’t bring someone into your home and then just bolt, Gunner.” Maybe he’s right. I’ve never had anyone to answer to before. I’ve never had anyone around I needed to tell. I nod my head and walk past him, heading for Nat. I see her and Whip talking, and it makes my skin crawl. She looks up as I approach, and that’s when he makes himself scarce.

“I need to leave for the day, maybe two. There’s nothin’ for you to worry about here. Just eat and rest,” I tell her.

“I can go.”

“You’re not gonna, though. You’re gonna stay here and do what I said.”

“You’re not the boss of me, Gunner.”

“You like to think that, don’t you?” I step closer to her, looking down at her like I could eat her in a second if that’s what I chose to do. She slowly blinks as she stares back up at me.

“What does that mean?”

“It means you’re gonna stay here and wait for me, Nat. I won’t be gone long.”

“It feels weird knowing you won’t be here,” she finally says.

“Kiki is here. The other girls are here. Rick isn’t goin’ anywhere.”

“Doesn’t matter,” she mutters as she looks anywhere but at me. I grab her chin in my hand and force her gaze to meet mine. I lick my lips, catching her attention before smiling at her.

“You know where my room is, baby girl. You’re welcome in there anytime.”

“Even if you aren’t here?”

“Even then.”

“Okay.”

“That’s my good girl.” Then I lean in and press my lips to hers. I let her taste me on her tongue. I fucking kiss the girl like shebelongs to me. This is all a mess. A fucking mess my head can’t seem to straighten out.

When I pull away from her, she smiles up at me. That’s what I want to see all the time. The happiness I see in her eyes. She deserves that much.

“Few days, baby girl.”

“Few days.” I nod before I turn and walk away from her, heading for the door. I notice we caught an audience, but I don’t give a shit. It’s none of their business what I do. Rick waves and I give him a nod as I head out the door.

“Playin’ the manly role well, Prez.”

“Fuck off, Remy.”

“No, I like it, Prez. You answerin’ to her and all that,” he laughs. I flip him off, continue to my bike, and climb on. The guys do the same, and we take off, heading toward the warehouse to meet up with our drivers.

It doesn’t take long to coordinate things. We basically had things set up ahead of time, and now all we have to do is run this down to Georgia and come back home.

I let my mind wander as we ride. Thinking about what I’m going to do about Natasa. She isn’t going to want to stay with me forever. Then what? Where’s she going to go? What’s she going to do? I want to know more about her. More about her past. About why she doesn’t talk to her family but there’s just no right way to ask her. She’s closed off about things like that.

We cross the Georgia state line, and that’s when I hear the sirens. Some of the guys take off, but a few linger, knowing we can’t outrun all of them. I glance over at Locke and shake myhead, letting him know we need to stop. He nods his agreement, and we watch as the fucking vans we are following take off ahead of us.

We pull over on the side of the road, and the police get out of their cars. I pull out a cigarette and light it up as they approach us.

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