Page 16 of Shadow

“I don’t see how. I’m from New York City. I’ve only just recently moved here. My name is Kali. I’m…”

“The ol’ lady to the President.”

The pretty woman smiled brightly. “Yes.”

“Kali,” Monk interjected. “Honey, you need to be inside. It’s not safe out here.”

The woman huffed, turning on her little booted foot. “I have three hulking men protecting me. I’m safe. Besides, Hope is worried about her brother. I told her I would check on him.”

“Shit,” I muttered. “Where is Hope?”

Kali linked her arm with mine before she started walking towards the clubhouse. “She’s inside with Angel.”

I couldn’t help it. I knew it was wrong and a little creepy, but the woman looked so damn familiar to me. I knew I met her somewhere. I just couldn’t get my head to work correctly. I allowed her to lead me away from the others, listening as she talked a mile a minute. About what I didn’t know. My mind wouldn’t assimilate the words. It was too busy filtering over the thousands of faces I’d come across in my lifetime. The women were easier to decipher, but I couldn’t place her.

I heard when she told me she was from New York.

I’d never been there.

Not once. The whole thing was aggravating me to no end.

Where the fuck did I know this woman from?

“Shadow!” Kansas shouted, making me jump.

Blinking, I realized I was sitting in his office.

Inside the clubhouse.

Shifting in my seat, I nervously looked around to find all the officers in the office with me. Each one in varying degrees of anger. Each willing and ready to tear me apart with their bare hands.

“Did you even hear a fucking word I said?”

Ignoring the question, I asked, “Your ol’ lady. Has she ever been to California?”

Kansas growled, pushing off his desk to stand directly in front of me. He was angry. I got it. Ol’ ladies were off limits. I knew that. I wasn’t encroaching. I just needed to figure out this puzzle.

Several of the officers stepped forward.

“I meant no disrespect. I’m only asking because she’s familiar. I’ve met her before. I just can’t place where.”

“You stay the fuck away from her or I will do what I should have done months ago. Do you understand me?”

I nodded.

Kansas shouted angrily, “Say the fucking words!”

“I understand.”

By the time I walked out of Kansas’ office, he had literally served my ass to me on a silver platter. As the man himself escorted me out, someone laughed, and the sound trickled into my head as my mind took me back to that night.

The bar was damn near empty for a weeknight. Not that I expected anything less. I wasn’t here to make friends. I just wanted another drink. Just one more and I might be able to sleep like the dead tonight. Lately, alcohol was the only thing keeping their faces away from me. They haunted me. All of them.

Picking up my glass, I downed the whiskey and asked the bartender for another when someone laughed heartily. Looking over my shoulder, I saw a Diamondback club brother talking with one of the waitresses. The brother was about as tall as me, only a few pounds heavier. His blonde hair almost touching his leather cut.

Turning back to my empty glass, I motioned for another when the laughing biker got to his feet and walked out of the bar.

Good. I didn’t need any trouble tonight.

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