Page 2 of Rider

Tessa takes my hand in hers, squeezing slightly. “You’re not guilt-tripping me. I’ve been meaning to stop by the house and see you, but I just…” She trails off, looking over her shoulder at Hawk.

I grin at Tessa, whose cheeks are slightly pink.

“No worries. Seriously. I’d rather see you here or at Hawk’s,” I tell her.

Tessa lifts an eyebrow at me, and I realize I may have been less subtle than I had hoped.

Thankfully, Hawk hands Tessa her helmet, distracting her enough not to ask follow-up questions. Good thing, too. I’m unsure what I’d tell her if she asked why I don’t want her coming to the house.

“We’ll talk later!” Tessa calls out as Hawk starts up his bike.

I nod and wave, watching them ride off into the night. With a fortifying breath, I straighten my shoulders and walk to my car, hopping inside and starting the engine.

When I reach the end of the parking lot, I don’t turn left toward the house Tessa and I lived in together. Instead, I turn right, taking the gravel road further away from town. After a few blocks, I pull off to the side and ease my car under a large tree close to the edge of the road.

Turning off the car, I heave out a breath and sink further into the seat, resting my forehead on the steering wheel. This is not how I thought my life would turn out. Twenty-two and homeless.

Feeling sorry for myself isn’t going to fix anything, however.

I dig around in my glove compartment for a granola bar I stashed there yesterday, but I can’t find it. My stomach growls, and I try to ignore it.I’ll pick something up in the morning, I tell myself, even though I’ll have the same amount of money tomorrow as I do now. None.

Throwing open the driver’s side door, I quickly get out and settle into the back seat, where I’ll have more room to stretch out. Not much, but more than the front seat.

I grab the blanket I keep folded up against the back window and spread it out on top of me, using my purse as a pillow. As I curl up into a ball in the back seat of my car, I try not to let the tears break through. If I cry now, I might never stop. Besides, what good will tears do?

Even as I tell myself that, my eyes start to sting. I sniffle as the first tear falls, squeezing my eyes shut until the world around me is nothing but darkness. A pit opens in my chest, an endless void of loneliness that I fear may never leave me. I struggle to get a full breath in as rivers of despair pour from my eyes.

Eventually, I cry myself out. My eyes are swollen, and my throat is raw, but I have nothing left. At least now I’ll finally be exhausted enough to sleep.

Pulling the thin blanket around my chin, I try to get more comfortable, only to be stabbed in the hip by a seatbelt holder. I’m sure I’ll have a bruise in the morning, but right now, I’m too numb to feel anything.

Tomorrow will be better, I tell myself, even though the last fourteen days have seemed to get sequentially worse until I ended up sleeping in my car. Still, I have to hang on to that hope. One day, it will get better. Right?

CHAPTERTWO

RIDER

What the fuck am I looking at?

I circle the decades-old Toyota Corolla for the third time since finding it partially hidden on the side of the road. I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to head to the Savage Saints clubhouse to see if there was anything to clean or fix up. That’s when I stumbled upon Sutton’s car.

Peering in through the back window, I still can’t believe what’s right in front of my eyes. At first, I thought the car had broken down, and Sutton abandoned it. Upon further inspection, I discovered the woman herself curled up in the back seat.

Looking down on her now, I can see her curvy little body covered in a tattered and worn blanket. Sutton is shivering slightly, her inky black hair tangled around the strap of her purse, which she’s using as a pillow. Her eyes flutter slightly, and I notice her nose and cheeks are red. Has she been crying?

My gut twists into a knot just thinking about this precious woman sleeping in her goddamn car. Why didn’t she tell anyone? Why didn’t I figure it out sooner? I saw how tired she was at the clubhouse last night, but never in a million years did I think it was because she didn’t have anywhere to sleep.

Fuck, I should have caught her before she left. I had to deal with Slinger slamming his glass down on the bar. He scared my woman, and I won’t stand for that.

My woman.I have to stop thinking about Sutton that way. She’s not mine, even though I want her with every cell in my body. God, I can still remember the first time I saw her. I stumbled over my words, grunting at her like a caveman before shoving my giant, meaty paw in her face.

Sutton blinked at me, and those teal eyes reached into my very being and rearranged my chest to make room for her right next to my heart. When she didn’t respond in any way, I realized what a fool I was.

Of course, she’s not interested in someone like me. I’m a solid decade or so older than her, I’ve served hard time, and my presence alone is intimidating, especially to my sweet Sutton. I don’t know what she’s been through in her short life, but the mysterious, teal-eyed goddess can’t even look at her own shadow without cowering away from the darkness.

With all of that stacked against me, I’m under no delusions that Sutton could ever be mine. That doesn’t mean I won’t do everything in my power to ensure she’s safe.

My eyes drift to the door handles on her beat-up car, and I clench my fists, thinking about how easy it would be for someone to pry them open even if they were locked. Hell, it wouldn’t take much to smash the goddamn window.

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