SHOOTER: RED SIN MC

by Alexa Rynn

  “And this is Cutter,” Blaze said, nodding toward our leader.

  Cutter shot me a look that made it clear he still didn’t get why she was still here. “What’s up?” he said, looking her up and down. Not in a sexual way, he was just sizing her up. “So, are we dropping you off somewhere or something?”

  “Um,” she bit her lip nervously. “If you can just bring me back to town, I can get picked up. It’s about an hour from here.” She glanced at me for help, she clearly didn’t want them knowing where she lived.

  “Fine,” Cutter said, acting like he could care less. “Let’s go.”

  Faith pushed past us nervously and headed outside.

  “She seems nice,” Blaze said.

  “Not really,” Cutter grumbled. “I hope she knows how to keep quiet.”

  Blaze pushed him toward the door. “You know, you think you’d be a little more open-minded considering you’re the only one in this room with a girlfriend.” He shot me a grin.

  “Shut up.” Cutter rolled his eyes.

  Clearly, this was a game Blaze loved playing.

  “Well, I think it’s adorable,” I added, joining in. “I mean, it’s about time you found the Misses. We couldn’t have possibly ran the MC without a woman for very much longer.”

  “If you said anything like that in front of Grace she’d kick your ass,” Blaze informed me, chuckling. “She’s very strong-minded, she doesn’t take any of Cutter’s shit, does she, Cutter?”

  “Strong minded woman are the best kind.” I grabbed my suitcase and started to push it out the door to where Faith was waiting for the three of us by the car. “You’re so lucky, Cutter!”

  “Oh, God, now there’s two of you,” Cutter grumbled.

  “Why don’t you ask him if there’s been any extra drama since he started dating her?” Blaze asked me eagerly, slamming the door shut behind him. “Oh! Or why don’t you ask him if she’s ever snuck into the backseat of his car and tried to listen in on a committee meeting? Oh! No, no, ask him if…”

  “Would the two of you shut the fuck up before I shoot you both in the head?” Cutter snarled, turning around and shooting us both a death glare. “I swear to God, don’t temp me.”

  Blaze and me broke out in laughter behind him.

  Oh, it was nice to be home.

  Chapter Six

  FAITH

  The ride back to my town is pretty silent. The boys seemed really tense and like they really needed to concentrate on whatever was going on inside of their heads. I couldn’t imagine what that could be. I knew they were going to have to deal with whatever happened today even after they left here. I knew it had nothing to do with me but for some reason, it made me feel guilty; like I was getting off easy or something.

  Blade sat next to me in the backseat, worry written across his features. I wondered what he was thinking about. The insecure part of me hoped that it wasn’t about what we had done back there. It had been amazing so I really hoped that he didn’t regret it because I sure didn’t.

  I hated seeing him this way, I wished there was something I could do to help him, something I could do to take the pain away. I reached out and placed my hand on top of his, hoping that he wouldn’t push me away.

  He didn't

  And I didn't let go until we pulled into the restaurant parking lot I asked them to drop me off at. I had already texted my mom and asked her to pick me up here. I thanked the brothers for the ride and jumped out.

  “Give me a minute,” Blade told them, getting out after me.

  He stopped in front of the car and looked down at me. “Nobody followed us here, you’ll be fine, you’ll be safe now.” He stuck his hands inside of his pocket and kicked at the dirt in front of him.

  “Thank you, for taking me back and everything.”

  He nodded. “You’re sure we can’t take you back to your house?” He glanced up at the building in the back of us. “This place looks a little…shady.” He raised his eyebrows at me.

  “Really?” I asked. “It looks shady? Coming from you…” I trailed off and to my surprise, he actually let out a small laugh. “Besides, I love this place, we come here for Easter brunch every single year.”

  “Do people still do that? Brunch?”

  “Of course, they do!” I pushed him playfully. “You should come tomorrow if you don’t believe me, check it out for yourself.” I move even closer to him, smiling in spite of myself. He was even more handsome up close.

  The look of pleasure faded from his face. “Look, I don’t do this.”

  “Oh,” I said, looking down. “The whole Easter thing, right, sorry, I forgot.”

  He shook his head. “No, not that. I mean I don’t do Easter either but I don’t do this…” He motioned his hands back and forth between the two of us. “The whole boyfriend thing.”

  “Oh,” I said, unable to keep the shock out of my voice.

  “Yeah,” he moved a few inches away from me. “I’m sorry, it’s nothing personal, it’s just not for me. It’s just not my thing, you know?” He stuck his hands in and out of his pockets again uncomfortably, like he just wanted this whole conversation to be over with.

  Of course, he didn’t do the whole girlfriend thing. I was such an idiot, guys like him didn’t settle down, especially not with girls like me. What did I think was going to happen? That he was going to proclaim how much he cared about me and then we were going to live happily ever after like this was a book or something?

  “Yeah,” I waved him off. “No, I understand.”

  “It was nice meeting you, though,” he offered up lamely.

  “Totally,” I whispered. “Thanks for the adventure.”

  Blade looked down at the ground, suddenly unable to meet my eyes. “So, take care then.” He turned around and headed back to his brothers without another word. The car pulled out of the parking lot and took off. Blade didn’t look back, not even once.

  It wasn’t until then that I finally let myself start to cry.

  ***

  BLADE

  “Just look at him over there,” Blaze said, taking a sip out of his beer. “Now, is it just me, or is it hard to believe that that’s the same brother you left behind months ago?”

  His eyes were locked the same place mine were. On the other side of the room where Cutter and Grace were laughing loudly at something they were watching on her phone. It was Easter morning and we were all chilling at Blaze’s dad’s bar having breakfast. Actually, we had never gone to bed last night so it still felt like the middle of the night to me.

  My time schedule was all fucked up anyway.

  “No way,” I told him, shaking my head back and forth. “You think you could ever have that?” I asked him, gesturing toward the two of them. Grace, to her credit, was actually a pretty cool girl. I could see why Cutter had fallen for her; if he had to go and fall for anyone at all.

  Blaze shook his head. “Nope, I think you could, though.”

  I spit my scotch out on the floor in front of us, unable to control the laugh that emerged from me. “Me? Yeah, right. You know how I am, never been a one woman type of guy if you know what I mean.”

  Blaze rolled his eyes. “Oh, please, are you really trying to act like you haven’t been thinking about that girl since you left her yesterday?” He narrowed his eyes at me, daring me to lie to him.

  “I haven’t!” I told him, risking the lie anyway.

  “Then why haven’t you touched the Easter present Cutter got you?”

  I looked to the other side of the bar where the club whore Cutter had set up for me was waiting. Ugh, no thank you. The truth was that Blaze was right, I didn’t want to fuck any girls right now, and that never happened. Well, not no girls, I wanted to fuck one.

  Faith.

  “I’m just not in the mood.”

  Blaze laughed loudly. “That’s a joke.”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “I know that I’ve never seen you hold hands with a girl onc
e in ten years until yesterday,” he pointed out, referring to when Faith had taken my hand in the backseat of the car and I hadn’t stopped her.

  “Shut up, you don’t know what you’re talking about, Blaze. What? Because you saw some high school bullshit in the back of Shutter's car?” I puffed out my arms. “Please, that shit meant nothing.”

  He shook his head. “It wasn’t about holding her fucking hand, it was about the look on your face when she did it. The same look Cutter gets when he’s with Grace.” Blaze shook his head. “You see that?” He pointed to Cutter and Grace again. “I’ll never have that, ever, it’s not in the fucking cards for me. You? You can have it, you’re just too much of a coward to go and fucking get it.”

  “Blaze…”

  He slammed his beer down and shook his head. “It’s cool, just don’t put us in the same category because we aren’t. It’s different, completely different.” He sighed and turned his back on me. “Happy Easter,” he mumbled, leaving me standing alone.

  I was in a room bull of my brothers but I’d never felt so alone in my life.

  Chapter Seven

  FAITH

  I glanced down at the menu in front of me, trying to act like I cared about any of this. I wanted to enjoy this, I really did, I loved Easter, but it seemed almost impossible. All I could think about was Blade. What was he doing right now? Where was he? Was he thinking about me as much as I was thinking about him?

  No, of course, he wasn’t because he didn’t give a fuck.

  “You sure you’re okay, sweetheart?” My mother asked me, looking at me over the menu on the other side of the table. “You seem really upset about something.” Concern crossed her brow.

  I shook my head. “I’m just a little tired, mom.”

  She sighed and went back to her menu. She wouldn’t stop bothering me. I needed someone else to get here and distract her so she would stop playing twenty questions with me but, of course, my brothers and dad were late, like always. I looked up, searching the parking lot for them again and there he was.

  Blade.

  He was dressed all in back, leaning against a white car with a terrified expression on his face. I did a double take just to make sure that it was him and then pushed up from my seat and ran toward the door. I could hear my mom calling after me, but I didn’t care. He was here. Why was he here? What had happened, was I in some kind of danger after all?

  I ran toward him, stopping inches from him and clapping my hand over my chest. “What’s wrong? Did they follow you or something? Am I not safe after all?” I felt like I was about to throw up.

  Blade looked me up and down. “God, you look really good in that dress.”

  “Oh,” I blushed. “Blade… what are you doing here?’

  “You invited me, right?” He looked down. “I hope this is okay, I didn’t know what to wear to a brunch. I’ve never been to one before, let alone one on Easter.” He shot me a nervous smile.

  “But… I thought you didn’t do the whole girlfriend thing.”

  “I don’t,” he declared. “I mean I want to, I just… I’m just not sure I know how. I’ve never, I’ve never really felt this way before, this open, so I’m probably going to mess up, like a lot… but if you can try to be patient then… oh, what am I saying? What girl wants a boyfriend she has to be patient with? What I mean is…”

  “Oh, just shut up and kiss me!” I yelled, throwing my arms around his neck and pulling his lips down onto mine. Ugh, I missed his lips and his arms. I missed his touch; I missed the feeling of my stomach flipping all over.

  He pulled away from me. “Wait, wait.” He took his phone out of his pocket and started hitting a number. “I just need to call Blaze really fast.” He pushed the phone to his ear and let it ring.

  “Really?” I asked. “You’re thinking about Blaze right now?”

  “Voice mail,” he declared. “Blaze, bro, I just had to call you and tell you that you’re wrong, you’re so wrong. It is in the cards for you, I swear it is, you just haven’t been dealt the right hand yet but that’s only half of it because once you get there, once you get that perfect hand, you have to be willing to bet it all to collect but if you do, if you just get out of your own way, I promise you… you’ll win big.” He clicked his phone off and looked down at me.

  “Happy Easter, Blade,” I whispered.

  “Happy Easter, Faith.”

  And then he picked up right there in the middle of the parking lot and swung me around while we kissed…

  Just like it was the end of a book.

  SIGN UP FOR ALEXA RYNN'S MAILING LIST HERE!

  CLICK HERE FOR CUTTER: RED SIN MC