Page 2 of When It Reins
Which is fine. I am fine.
I don’t really need the extra hassle of someone who can’t sort out their feelings. Or deal with their demons. I’m not interested in someone who has no interest in me.
We are…friends.
Okay, maybe not friends. He is never really friendly with me, more like protective.
“Okay. I’m sorry, Juniper,” Shelly says, coming to give me a side hug. “I wasn’t trying to make fun of you.”
I shrug, embarrassed, but know Shelly wasn’t trying to hurt my feelings. “It’s fine. Just—It’s fine.”
“Complicated.”
I look at her, seeing her brow lifted in a question. “Not really, honestly. If I would just take the signs he was giving me, then no. It’s not complicated at all.”
Shelly gives me a pat and moves off the stage, letting me get the final tweaks in before the set starts. I used to get really nervous about this, especially when I first started coming up here. My hands would shake, my palms would get sweaty, and I would have to take a few minutes to get my breathing under control.
But now that it is becoming a normal thing for me, the only time I ever get stage fright is when he is not here.
Probably not the way it was supposed to go, but I feel that way, anyway.
Some nights, Mitch would have to take off and go do whatever it was he does with his motorcycle club.
I hate those nights. Not because I hate that he’s in a club. I’ve actually found his club brothers to be really nice. They come in all the time, ordering drinks, and frankly, they keep more order in here than most security would be able to.
Mostly because no one wants to mess with any of those guys.
But I hate the days that he’s gone, knowing that he is probably—most definitely—off doing something incredibly dangerous.
I hear the rumors all the time about how dangerous the club is, how they are mixed up in drugs and gun running. Not that there is any evidence of it. And it seems that most people around here don’t care as much so long as they keep to their own and keep the dangerous stuff to themselves.
Of course, I don’t visit the other side of the tiny, infinitesimal border between our town of Acton and the town the club resides in, Fall Springs, much. I’m sure I would have heard if there are seriously nefarious things going on.
“Hey, baby.” I turn, smiling at the sight of David. He is ridiculously handsome in his suit, sans tie. He always takes it off when he comes to visit me at the bar. His short blonde hair is styled expertly with mousse, and his brilliant white smile is aimed right at me.
His grin stretches broader as I step toward him off the stage and wrap my arms around his shoulders. His hands catch me around my waist, and I let our lips fall together, keeping my mind focused on him and only him.
But I can feel it.
I can feel the burn of his eyes drilling into the back of my head. I can feel the way his anger burns at seeing me with David, and when I look back over at him, despite telling myself not to worry about his feelings, I can feel his hurt when he won’t look me in the eye.
2
mitch
The club reeked of weed,beer, and a few other unmentionable things. There were bodies strung about couches and even on the floor, the leftover remnants of a party no one would even remember.
When I joined this club, I knew it would be something that I would either cherish or regret. Considering how much the men in this building have helped me and my family over the last couple of years, I couldn’t bring myself to regret it.
Though it wasn’t something I ever actively wanted.
It was fun at times, I admit. When we did a run somewhere out of this town, and it was just us and our bikes and the road—no women, no drama, no bullshit—it was one of the best times of my life.
Until I came back home, and things were back to the way I didn’t want them to be, despite not wanting to admit it to myself.
Over the last year, I’ve worked hard to develop a friendship with my brothers again—blood, not patch—and it’s been a long road. I’ve even gone as far as offering to babysit my big brother, Logan’s, kid. He didn’t take me up on it, thankfully, but I offered.
Jax and I have more work to do, but I feel we are slowly getting there with the help of Felicity, one of my high school best friends and his new wife. She is our glue right now, but I don’t want to always rely on her for that.
