Page 8 of Untouchable

“Oh. Um, don’t worry about it.” It’s not his fault he doesn’t know why they made me so angry. He pauses to look at me, and for the second time this week, I feel like he’s actuallyseeingme. I feel my cheeks dare to burn and I will them not to.

“See you around.” Just like that, he’s gone. I turn around to watch him leave, but he’s already gone once I get the courage to. He’s a complete mystery to me. One minute I don’t exist, completely invisible to him, the next he’s checking on me, bringing me ice and…apologizing? The worst part in all of this is that I’m pretty sure my feelings for him aren’t as buried as I thought they were.

Agh, fuck me.

Tabitha plops back down in her chair with a plastic serving glove full of ice that is dripping water from the fingertips. “Whew. Okay, I had to go to two restaurants and pretty much beg them for something to hold ice in that wasn’t a cheap napkin, but I finally got—” she stops and her eyes fall to where I’m holding the bandana on my hand. “What the hell is that?”

“Ace brought me ice in a bandana.” Her eyes grow wide, and she drops the ice glove on the ground.

“Shut up, tell me everything.”

I love her.

CHAPTER 5

Ace

“OFF LIMITS”

Fuck me for getting protective over Katarina Andersen. Seeing her punch a guy in the face in the middle of a mall, all to protect some kid she doesn’t even know, just proves that I was right in thinking there’s more to her than the fragile little thing her father makes her out to be. He just can’t seem to see that she’s not a little girl sitting on the back of his bike with her teddy bear anymore.

Nope, she’s all grown up now.

“She good?” Mikey asks as I approach where he and Bodine are propped up on their bikes.

“Yep. All good.”

Bodine stands from his bike, walking close to me. “She wasn’t shaken up or anything? That dude was nasty looking.”

The look of concern on his face pisses me off. Like I’d just leave if shewasn’tfine? “I said she’s fine. Let’s go.” Lenny requested we not get too far from the clubhouse this week, just in case Striker shows up again, so I was a little irritated when Mikey insisted we go with him to the mall while he picked up a new pair of sunglasses. Although now I’m glad we did. It’s clear Katarina thinks she can handle herself, but I don’t want to think about what that guy would have done once she was alone again. Iimagine it’ll be hard for him to bother anyone for a while, though with the broken arm and all.

She looked good.

Long blonde hair in a ponytail, fitted white T-shirt, and blue jeans that hugged her ass in all the right ways.

Fuck.No.

I will not turn into one of them. She’s Lenny’s daughter. She didn’t look good. She looked…off limits.

I turn my focus instead to my bike—the way it sounds, the feeling of freedom as we speed down the freeway. Trying to clear my mind of the forbidden fruit, and focus on the one thing that's always been most important to me—my place in this club. These guys are my family, the very ones that have held me together when I thought I’d fall apart, kept me out of trouble, and stood by me when I was entrusted with the responsibility of VP. If I want to be President one day, I owe it to Lenny to keep my head on right. When we pull back up to the clubhouse, I barely get my helmet off before my phone is buzzing in my pocket.

“Yeah?” I shake my head, listening to Ghost tell me about the bike Bodine brought in the other day. “Shit, I’m on my way.”

“Everything okay?” Mikey asks.

“Not fucking really. You remember the bike you brought me the other day?” I direct the question at Bodine.

“Yeah?”

I fasten my helmet. “Ghost just found drugs on it.”

“Shit.” Bodine follows suit, putting his helmet back on.

“Mikey, hang here, call us if dipshit shows back up.”

He nods. “You got it.” He heads inside as Bodine and I pull off the lot again, headed to my shop. Ghost looks as white as one when we walk into the garage. “Where is it?” He looks over at my desk, where there’s an old carburetor box sitting in the middle of it. I look inside to see a full brick of white powder sitting inside.

“Carajo!” I throw my helmet down, turning to face Bodine. “Where did this come from?”

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