Total pages in book: 12
Estimated words: 11468 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 57(@200wpm)___ 46(@250wpm)___ 38(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 11468 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 57(@200wpm)___ 46(@250wpm)___ 38(@300wpm)
6
Willow
I didn’t have to worry about the morning after being awkward because I wake up late and have to be at the salon in thirty minutes. I walk quietly around the bedroom grabbing all of my clothes from the night before and dress on my way to the door.
I hold my hand to my temple. Fuck, I don’t have my car.
I look at the keys hanging by the door and Rider’s truck keys are there. He won’t mind; I’ve driven his truck plenty of times.
I grab them and write him a note. The note takes me ten minutes because I worry about what I should say or shouldn’t say. In the end, I write, Running late to work. Had to take your truck. Willow
I made it simple. I wrote the note three times finally sticking with the third one. The first one, I wrote it all out. Told him all my feelings. But I wadded it up and threw it away. The next one, I thanked him for last night and I wadded it up too, because I felt like I should be leaving some hundred dollar bills with it. I cringe at the thought of what we had last night being reduced to some fling. Finally, the third one, I just wrote about me taking his truck and left it at that. I set it on the counter and walked outside.
I run by my apartment and shower quickly and get ready for the day. I run into work, and I’m only ten minutes late.
I could spend all day thinking about last night, but my clients keep me busy and I get lost in my work.
* * *
Rider
I heard my truck start up and I knew she was escaping. I worried about how today would be after last night, and I tried to find some way of telling her how I felt without actually telling her. I woke up several times in the night and stared at her in the moonlight, holding her tight in my arms. I swear everything was right in my world in that moment.
Lying here, I think of all the things I need to be doing today. I’ve been doing club business, helping out at all the businesses and also helping Keeper with his woodworking. He’s gotten so many orders he can barely keep up now. But even with all I have to do, I know that I won’t be able to concentrate on anything until I get everything with Willow worked out. I just need to tell her.
I get slowly out of bed and take a shower. I notice Willow’s note on my way out the door and I swear reading it makes me feel even worse. It’s so impersonal. Determined, though, I grab my keys, jump on my bike and head to the salon.
I sit outside her shop, getting up the nerve. When I’m about to go in, I notice her supposed to be ex-boyfriend walk in. They talk for a minute. She puts her hand on his arm, and my whole body tightens. All I want to do is go in and rip that arm off. When they embrace, I see red. My body is rigid and I want nothing more than to destroy something. When they pull apart, I know I can’t watch them kiss. It would destroy me. I sit back on my bike and when the motor roars to life, I take off down the street.
When I pull up to the clubhouse, I release the breath I didn’t know I was holding. I feel the worst pain in my chest for a minute, making me wonder if I am in fact having a heart attack. When, honestly, I know that it’s just my heart breaking.
I walk, if not stumble in and head straight to the bar. It’s dead around here, and even though I want a drink, I don’t. I know that’s not the answer and I need a clear head.
“What are you doing here?” Brewer asks me.
I didn’t even notice him sitting there. His eyes are bloodshot and it’s obvious he had a rough night.
“Probably the same thing you’re doing, trying to forget last night,” I tell him.
“That’s the fuckin’ truth,” he says and takes another drink of beer.
At that moment, Keeper walks out of Sniper’s office and looks over at the two of us, both with our heads hung low.
He walks behind the bar and stops in front of me. “You coming in to work today?”
I nod my head. “Yep, I just needed to clear my head a bit.”
He sets a bottle of water in front of me and turns to Brewer. “What about you? Aren’t you supposed to be at the repair shop today?”
Brewer just tips his bottle at him. “You know, Keep, regardless of what everyone thinks I’m not a child.”