I don’t see the problem. Why does he keep pushing me away?

“You don’t belong in my world, T.”

Tears sting my eyes. That hurt. More than I care to admit.

“I don’t belong in your world? News flash Shadow, I already live in this f**king world.”

“Goddammit, T. You know what I f**kin meant by that. Stop being a f**kin childish bitch!”

I can’t believe he just said all of this to me. I stand straight and start backing away. He opens his mouth to say something, and I hold up my hand to stop him.

“Just don’t okay. I get it.”

My body turns and I flee away, humiliated by his words.

***

Shadow

FUCK!

I throw my sunglasses onto the bar and start rubbing my eyes. Fuckin colored contacts, I need to stop wearing them. I only wear them to hide my black eyes.

My thoughts move back to Tatiana who is a pain in my damn ass. I don’t understand what she’s trying to accomplish by diggin into my side life. She’s gonna get hurt is what’s gonna happen. If someone were to ask me to explain the shit going on between Tatiana and me, my answer’d confuse them. There’s no doubt I want that girl. No doubt at f**kin all. But it’s my past and the other side of my life that has me, and even her dad skeptical. I don’t f**kin blame him from warning me off of T. I would too if I were a father.

“You’re a jackass, Shadow.”

What the hell? I look over and see Bom Bom standing there with her arms crossed glaring at me.

“Shut the f**k up,” I growl.

“Oh my bad, did I hit a nerve?”

That cunt!

“You got two seconds to get the f**k away from me bitch,” I growl standing up, replacing my sunglasses.

“God. I don’t know why the f**k I hang around here. You leather f**ktards are all ass**les!” She huffs.

“And you’re just a muffler bunny who likes to suck cock. We’re all a little f**ked up, baby.”

“Damn brother, what crawled up your ass?” ZZ says as he walks to the bar fridge for a beer.

“Fuck. Nothing. Your daughter just left.”

“At least she’s still alive,” he murmurs popping the cap on his beer.

I walk away without another word to Bom Bom and ZZ. I need to clear my head; I need to go to my f**ked up happy place.

***

Chapter 9

Storm

It’s been two weeks since the construction started on the clubhouse compound. Winter, Piper, Tatiana, and I are sitting in the mom and pop restaurant around the corner from the compound, eating lunch and finishing up the touches to Winter’s wedding. Two weeks ago, Winter almost ripped off Braxxon’s dick with Raps patch party too. Inviting the Breakneck Lady Charter was not smart at all. I still laugh thinking about it.

But obviously, everything is okay because the wedding is less than two weeks away.

“So rehearsal is just nine days away, Braxxon promises to have the brothers that are in the wedding there on time. Just pray shit doesn’t get f**ked up before then,” Winter says before taking a bite of her grilled cheese sandwich. “So everything is in place. The compound is just two days away from being completed. I guess money does talk.”

It does. She offered a lot more money to finish quickly. Grant you not, we have a lot of workers on the compound and I can say with absolute certainty that they’re all f**kin afraid of our biker men.

“Dad’s gonna flip when he realizes he’s gotta walk down the aisle and shit. I can’t wait to see his face though when Storm’s all dressed up and lookin extra sexy.” Tatiana giggles, slurping her chocolate shake.

So glad she thinks that’s funny. I already know my heart will be pounding in my chest the entire time. Not being able to touch him freely is gonna drive me absolutely insane. We’ve grown closer since he’s stopped trying to f**k me. We’ve been texting almost every day, and we talk and joke around like old friends like we’ve been doing it forever. Another reason I know we could work so well if he just gave me his heart.

“I’m sorry Storm,” Tatiana apologizes.

My face must’ve given me away. “It’s alright, T.”

I hate when people pity me for loving a man who doesn’t love me back.

“For what it’s worth, my dad’s an idiot.”

“Thanks Tatiana,” I force out with a smile.

“So final dress fittings are tomorrow and—.”

Bullets pinging through the glass windows cut off Winter’s voice. Winter and Piper throw themselves onto the floor, and in slow motion, my head turns towards Tatiana. My body flies on top of hers and I send us sailing across the floor. Shards of glass cut my bare legs up as we skid across the marble floors.

“Motherfuckers,” Winter roars, reaching for her gun, but it’s too late. The shooters speed off. The patrons of the diner are screaming so loud.

“Tatiana! Look at me,” I demand. “Were you shot?” I ask examining her as I lift my body from hers. “Dammit!”

“I’m… I’m okay. Promise,” she croaks out.

“Piper,” I look over and see right away that she’s fine and I sigh with relief.

“Fuck Storm, you’re bleeding all over the place,” Winter cries rushing over to me.

I look down and sure enough, blood is pouring from my legs. “It’s just from the glass,” I try to reassure her, but it’s no use; she’s already bawling. We lost Haley and Lana by bullets. I can understand her reasoning to cry.