by K. D Clark
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know Dad’s drinking had gotten that bad. I found a place that accepted me, and I was just trying to make the best of it. If I had known, I would have been there.”
She stayed silent. The only sound in the apartment was the air conditioning running.
“In treatment, they encourage us to make amends. I never have,” she admitted.
He waited for her to continue. He made a mistake all those years ago, but Megan had hurt him too. All the lying and stealing was hard to look past.
“I’m sorry for everything. I’ve been so mad at you for so long. I came back because I don’t have anybody else, Kit. When we were little, it was just you and me, and then you joined the club, and Dad got sick, and I was just so mad at the world and everyone.”
He wrapped an arm around his little sister as she cried. He stayed quiet as she let herself feel all the emotions. After a while, she wiped her face and smiled at him.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“I’m sorry, too.”
“Can we start over? I just want to put all this behind us. I want my brother back.”
“I never left,” he reassured her. Even when she’d been in California, he’d always worried about her.
“So, where are you going now?” she asked him.
“Well, now that you’re okay, I have something else I need to deal with.”
“Cam?” she asked
He raised an eyebrow at her.
“We might have talked at the hospital. I like her…a lot. Don’t screw it up.”
He swallowed. “I’m trying not to.”
Chapter Eighteen
Cam
She knew it was him before turning around. Her regulars were already sitting in their spots, and Zeke hadn’t shown up this morning. She figured the whole babysitting thing was over now that they knew what Venom wanted. She wiped a towel over the wet glass, feeling his eyes at her back.
“Can we talk?” he asked, his voice heavy. Ignoring him, she placed the dry glass down and picked up another.
“Cam?”
The way he said her name brought a heaviness to her chest. She was stupid to think there might have been the potential for something more with him. The sound of the barstool scraping across the floor finally made her turn around and face him. His hand was on the back of the stool he’d pulled out but hadn’t sat down yet.
“You’re going to ignore me?” Kit asked
Ernie sipped his beer and watched the two of them.
“Like the way you ignored me when I called you five times? Or when I showed up in your bedroom and tried to talk to you?”
She set the glass in her hand down and walked away, trying her best not to cause a scene in front of her customers. His heavy footsteps followed behind her. She got to the office and tried to close the door in his face, only for him to put a hand on the wood and stopped it from closing.
“I fucked up. I was just messed up after everything that happened with Megan--”
“Did you agree to convince me to sell the bar?” she snapped.
He swallowed, and his eyes dropped to the floor. That’s the only confirmation she needed.
“Well, so that you know, I’m not selling. And you can tell the rest of your club that.”
His jaw ticked. “Cam, this is serious, you need--”
“I don’t need to do anything! How about you go back to your fighting buddies if you’re that mad about what I do with my bar? That’s where you go when things get hard, right? I was fine before you guys came in and decided to make this your new drinking spot, and I will be fine afterward.”
“Fine?” he snapped. She couldn’t help being happy that she finally got under his skin like he had been getting under hers. “You owed a debt to a man that wouldn’t hesitate to kill you.”
“News flash, nothing has changed. I’m in the same spot I was in before.”
He put his hands up in front of him. “You know what? Fine. You want to put your head in the sand and act like you never need anyone’s help. Well, I’m not going to be there when it bites you in the ass.”
She watched his back as he walked away. With a heavy sigh, she lowered herself into the office chair and allowed the tears to come. The lump in her throat became bigger the longer she sat there. After a moment, she wiped her eyes and stood up. Just like any other time in her life, she had to be strong and get through the day, even when she felt like complete shit.
*****
Two Weeks Later
Beep. Beep. Beep.
She searched the bed for her phone and swiped to turn it off. Her head was killing her, and it had nothing to do with drinking. She was up most of the night, trying to play catch-up on all her homework that she’d fallen behind on. She hadn’t gotten home from the bar until one a.m., and she wasn’t even sure how many hours she’d been doing homework.
Her body ached as she forced herself out of the comfort of her bed. And into the shower before getting dressed in a haze. Putting one foot in front of another felt like a challenge when she was this exhausted, but she did it anyway, so she could get some coffee in her system. She jumped as she came around the corner and saw Jen awake and sitting at the table.
“Shit, you scared me. Why are you up so early?” Cam asked as she walked to the coffee pot and grabbed the Folgers out of the cabinet.
“I just go home. After I got off, I hung out at the clubhouse with Hugo. I ended up staying the night.”
Cam wanted to ask about Kit, but she shoved that thought to the back of her mind and pressed the on button so the coffee could brew. She leaned against the counter and watched as Jen scrolled through her phone.
“I have my early class today, so I’ll be at the bar for the rest of the day if you need me.”
She didn’t know why she was telling Jen that. Jen knew where to find her. An uncomfortable silence hung between them. Cam already knew how Jen felt about the bar situation. She had expressed to Cam nearly every day since their last conversation that the bar was losing money.
“Kit asked about you,” Jen said.
Cam’s ears perked up. “What did he say?” She hated that she sounded so desperate.
“He just asked how you were doing… I wasn’t sure what to tell him.”
“Tell him I’m doing fine.”
“Cam--”
“I’m fine, Jen. I’ve been fine without the stupid motorcycle club. I’m doing what I’ve always done. I go to school, and I run my bar.”
“The bar isn’t making any money, and you’re exhausted!” Jen snapped.
Cam ignored her and walked out of the kitchen, forgetting about the coffee. She’d have to buy a soda on the way. The summer heat was finally starting to die down into fall weather, but she barely noticed the cool breeze against her bare arms as she walked outside. She hopped in her truck and slammed the door.
Once inside the stillness of the cab, she put her hands up to her face. She could do this. She did this last year, and she was fine. Except that she almost failed all her classes and the bar never made money, a little voice said in her head.
She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. For a brief second, she wished life came as natural to her as it did Jen. Jen never had anything to worry about. She made her money bartending, paid her bills, and blew the rest on clothes or now dates with Hugo. Cam could barely even imagine a life without one hundred things on her plate. She started the truck and headed to school. Because unlike Jen, Cam had a lot on her shoulders.
Chapter Nineteen
Kit
“Come on, let me help you out tonight. You look stressed,” one of the club sluts cooed.
Yeah, he was stressed. He hated the way things ended between him and Cam. After being sent to voicemail so many times, he had stopped calling. He’d shown up at the bar like an idiot.
“I said I’m fine,” he said to the woman who sat close enough to him that her bare legs were probably stuck to his jeans.
She pushed her tits togethe
r so he could get a view of her cleavage. But he felt nothing. The smell of her perfume was overwhelming when he was used to the faint scent of Cam’s strawberry shampoo. He didn’t want to look at or touch any other woman. He wanted Cam, but she was stubborn. She didn’t want to face reality, but she was going to have to, whether she liked it or not. If she didn’t sell the bar, Venom was going to come after her. She thought she was tough, but she couldn’t handle everything by herself.
“What’s wrong? Got something on your mind?” the woman asked.
He didn’t even know her name. He was trying to be nice, but he was losing his patience. “Go bother someone else.”
The woman huffed and stomped away.
“Kit!” Gunner called from the bar. “We got Church.”
As if Kit didn’t already know that. That’s why he was sitting at the bar instead of underneath a car at the shop where he wanted to be.
With a sigh, he slid out of the booth and followed behind Gunner to the meeting room. He closed the door behind him since it looked like everyone was already there. He took the empty seat beside Zeke.
“You look like shit,” Zeke told him.
“Thanks,” he grumbled. He felt like shit too. He never thought he’d be the kind of guy broken up over a girl, but Cam had changed something in him. He missed her feisty attitude and the feel of her soft skin against his. She wasn’t like anyone he’d ever been with. She was curvy and funny and had no hesitation calling him out on his shit. He hadn’t been to the fighting rink since he and Cam broke things off. He couldn’t deny that her words had some influence on him: That’s where you go when things get hard, right?
She wasn’t wrong. That’s where he’d been letting all her frustration out for years, ever since his dad’s drinking had gotten worse. Maybe his new outlet needed to be dealing with all the fucked-up shit instead of running from it. Damn, he was pussy-whipped.
“Alright, let’s get started,” Gunner said at the front of the room. The chattering stopped.
“Lily wanted me to remind everyone that we are required to be at the school charity event this weekend.”
Groans filled the room. Lily organized all the charity work they did for the year. Part of being in the Savage Spades was doing good for the people of the town. But that didn’t mean they’d choose to spend the day at an elementary school instead of...well, anywhere else.
“Can’t we just donate money?” Otis asked.
Gunner shook his head. “Nope, we need to be there on bikes and help collect the donations. On another note, where are we with the bar?”
Gunner turned his attention to Kit.
He sat up straighter in his seat. “She won’t sell,” he said.
“She doesn’t have a choice,” Ace said.
“Yes, she does,” Kit gritted out. If Cam didn’t want their help, there wasn’t anything he could do.
Gunner’s eyes softened as he looked over Kit, as if taking in his overgrown beard and dark circles under his eyes. “Talk to her.”
If she’d answer her phone, he would have been talking to her. Kit nodded his head, deciding not to argue. At the end of the day, Gunner was his President. Despite Kit’s disagreement with the decision the majority had decided, that was the rule. If he didn’t hold the level of respect he did for the club, he might have gone out and taken care of Venom himself, but the club had done a lot for him. He had to return the gesture, even if that meant stalking Cam until she talked to him.
Gunner continued talking about news happening around the town and their upcoming ride. Kit tuned him out. It wasn’t until the gavel hit the table and his brothers started to leave that he was pulled from his trance.
“You want me to go with you to talk to Cam?” Zeke asked.
Kit shook his head. If she felt bombarded, she would lash out.
“Can I offer some advice?”
He didn’t have anything else to lose. “Shoot.”
“Make the decision easy on her. She has a lot to lose.”
“How am I supposed to do that? I have nothing to offer her.”
“You’re wrong. You gave Megan a lot when she came here. I know you don’t think it’s a lot, but it is. She had nowhere to go, and you gave her a place to live and a support system. You gave her the opportunity to find a job and get back on her feet. That’s not a small thing, and you can do the same for Cam if you think about it. She doesn’t want to sell the bar because after it’s gone, she has nothing. Give her something to run to.”
He stared at Zeke, as if he’d grown two heads. Zeke patted him on the shoulder as he stood. “You’ll figure it out.”
*****
Kit parked his bike in the empty spot up front and took a deep breath. Convincing her to sell the bar was a challenge he wasn’t sure if he was up for. Especially because he had no idea why she was still hanging on to the place. He ran a hand over his beard before climbing off the bike and crossed the sidewalk. The door creaked as he opened it.
Her green eyes met his before she quickly looked down again at her notebook. Yeah, this wasn’t going to be easy. The entire place was empty. Not even the regulars were here today.
“Where is everyone?” he asked her as he approached the bar. He didn’t bother sitting down.
“Ernie’s in the hospital. His daughter called. Apparently, he had a bad fall last night. According to the gossip, Melinda and her husband are trying to save their marriage again. She’ll be back next month.”
“So, now, you don’t even have your regulars?” he challenged.
She shoved the notebook away and stood to her full height before crossing her arms over her chest. It made her tits look bigger as she pushed them up with her arms. She didn’t wear a touch of makeup, but she was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. She didn’t have to try so hard like the girls at the clubhouse. Cam, when she first woke up, looked better than all of those women put together. God, what he’d give to have her waking up next to him again…
“Did you just come here to argue?” she asked, pulling him from his thoughts.
“No, I came here to talk to you. Talk to me for once. Give me a reason why you are holding onto this place that is costing you money and stress. This bar is killing you, and it’s not giving you anything in return!” He tried to keep the bite out of his voice, but he wasn’t successful.
She looked away from him. A beat of silence passed.
“Talk to me, baby,” he begged.
She faced him again; her eyes tearing up.
“He’s here, Kit. His scent is in the walls. His favorite songs are bookmarked on the jukebox. Every time I pour a customer a drink, I think about how he laughed at me as I attempted to make my first cocktail. I know I need to sell the bar, but that’s easier said than done.”
He walked behind the bar and pulled her close to his chest. Her tears stained his t-shirt as she let it all out. Her body shook as the tears fell freely. She hiccuped, as if trying to get herself under control, but it was like a broken faucet overflowing the sink. Finally, she gave up and her muscles relaxed under his hold. He was helpless. All he could do was hold her as she sobbed out months of stress and grief. Kit rubbed her back as she let herself feel everything she had tried so hard to avoid. It felt like hours before she was able to breathe normally. She pulled back from him, but he didn’t let her go.
“I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have pushed,” he said.
She shook her head. “It’s not that. I know I need to sell. I’ve known for a while. It's inevitable. My dad couldn’t keep this bar afloat, and neither can I. What am I going to do? I don’t know how to do anything besides run this bar and go to school. How am I supposed to make money?”
“Move in with me?” he blurted out. He’d been thinking about what Zeke had said, and he wanted nothing more than to have Cam live with him. To wake up with her in his arms every morning. He wanted to find a way to make her life more comfortable, and getting rid of the overhead of rent would give her one last thing to worry abou
t.
Her eyes widened. “Are you sure? That’s a big step.”
“I know, but I want to help. Megan is still living at my apartment for the next few months, but until then, you can stay at the clubhouse with me.”
She seemed to be thinking it over. “What about Jen?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Talk to her. Who knows, maybe she’ll move Hugo in.”
She laughed. “I don’t know about that.” She took a deep breath. “So we’re doing this? I’m putting the bar up for sale and moving in with you?”
He nodded.
“What am I supposed to do for money?”
“How about you help me at the car shop on the weekends?” he suggested.
“I don’t know anything about cars.”
“Then you can deal with the horrible customers.”
She laughed but then got quiet again.
“Tell me what you’re thinking,” he said.
“I can’t do this if you’re going to keep fighting. That’s a deal breaker for me. You can get hurt, and if we’re going to make this relationship work, I need you around for a long time.”
“No more fighting, I promise.”
She raised an eyebrow at him, like she didn’t believe him. “So what are you going to do when you’re mad or frustrated or anything?”
He smiled. “I guess I’ll have to find another way to get my energy out.” He squeezed her ass.
She laughed. “I’m okay with that.”
“Are you feeling a little frustrated now?” she asked.
He gripped her ass before he lifted her onto the bar and settled between her legs. He ran a hand over her exposed leg. Fuck, he missed her soft skin. Two weeks was way too long to be away from her. His dick strained against her pants, as if begging to be let out.
“I missed you,” she said before pressing her lips to his. Her scent filled his nose, and it was like coming back home. This is where he belonged: with Cam. Wherever she was, that was where he needed to be. He tangled his hand into her dark strands before gripping tight to pull her neck back. She let out a gasp, and he moved his lips from her mouth to her neck. He gripped her thighs, and her legs spread further apart like she was begging him to get closer. He trailed kisses down her chest until he got to her cleavage. He let go of her hair, so she could lift the shirt over her head. She unhooked her black bra. He watched as her perfect tits were exposed. Her nipples were hard and begging to be sucked. Her hands ran over his shoulders then down his back where she tugged at his shirt. He took a step back to quickly undress while she took off her shorts, so she sat on the bar completely naked. God, she was the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen. Every curve was made specifically for him to run his hands over.
