Page 13 of Gunner

“Thank you, Jamie, but I’ve got to figure this out myself.”

“Okay,” the cute young man said. “I got to clean the shelves, now.”

“Alright, Jamie,” I smiled.

Jamison Bailey was a sweet young man. Mom told me he was a big help in the coffee shop. A little slow because the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck at birth, cutting off oxygen, Jamison wasn’t like other men his age. At twenty-six years old, instead of partying and having fun, Jamison was happy working with my mom and dad. He told me he was saving up his money for his own Harley. He was really excited about that, too.

He really liked the fact that his cousin Bailey worked across the street. She was the new tattoo artist in town. Her shop, Venom’s Ink, was a big hit with the tourists, according to my mom. Even my dad got some ink redone, thanks to Bailey, and seemed satisfied with the results.

I liked Bailey. I got to meet her when she came into the shop earlier. She was a hoot. Sarcastic, opinionated and she said whatever the hell she wanted. I so wanted to be like her when I grew up. She was also dating King, the President of the Sons of Hell Motorcycle club and Gunner’s older brother.

Mom told me that King and Bailey’s relationship got off to a rocky start. Mom was worried for a hot minute, thinking the two loggerheads would never get their shit together, but after Bailey got hurt, everything changed. Now, King worshipped the ground Bailey walked on. Well, more like King perfected the term ‘duck and cover’ according to mom.

I never gave much thought about motorcycle clubs.

I mean, my dad had his own hog, but never allowed me on it. He didn’t ride with anyone, just mom occasionally. But since moving to Rosewood, Dad and King became good friends, and when I’d call home, sometimes mom would tell me Dad was out riding with King and the other brothers. I thought it was cool that my dad was making friends. Since he hardly talked with any of his former Marine Corps buddies anymore.

“Sarah, what are you doing?” my mom said, walking out the back door of the shop. “Those groceries aren’t going to buy themselves.”

Shit!

“Sorry, Mom. Got sidetracked.”

My mom shook her head but said nothing as she dumped a bag of trash in the large bin. Heading for my dad’s truck, I jumped in and headed to the grocery store.

Pulling out of the alley behind the shop, I looked both ways before turning right onto the main street in Rosewood. I had just made the turn on to Heathrow Street when my phone started ringing. Holding onto the steering wheel, I reached over, rummaging through my purse, searching for my phone when it happened.

I should have known it would.

Everything did where I was concerned.

Damn it.

Mom was going to kill me for sure this time.

Turning off the ignition, I unbuckled my seatbelt and stepped out of my dad’s truck to inspect the damage I hadjust created.

I was so dead.

I crushed the whole front end of my dad’s brand-new truck like a tin can. Trust me, there was no band-aid big enough to fix this.

I just killed my dad’s truck.

I knew I should have walked.

It was only a few blocks.

Shit.

“Are you okay?” a good-looking man with pink hair said, jumping out of the large wrecker I just rear-ended. I should have never taken my eyes off the road. I knew better. Who knew that plowing into another vehicle at forty-five miles per hour could do so much damage?

I sure hoped that my dad’s mechanic could fix this.

“You okay?” the hot man asked again, looking at me.

I nodded, staring at the damage.

I was in so much trouble. It was bad enough I got kicked out of school. This was going to make the rents go postal!

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