Think she might have already done that, bro.
“Uh…”
“Please, Styx. You know I wouldn’t ask if it weren’t important.”
1
KAT
“Why the glum face?” Ryder asks me as I watch my best friend chat and laugh with her boyfriends—plural.
I love River Savage dearly. She’s the girlfriend I never knew I needed, and when she arrived in Savage Falls all those months ago, we instantly hit it off.
But the thing about girlfriends… they usually find boyfriends. And River found three. My brother Diesel included.
So yet again, I find myself lost and alone in this world full of dirty, reckless bikers. The Red Ridge Sinners MC are my family. I grew up surrounded by rubber and steel, grease and whiskey. But lately things feel… different.
I feel different.
It doesn’t help that Mom’s health is deteriorating. She puts on a brave face and Diesel constantly tells me everything is going to be okay, but I see the cracks. I see her struggling to hold it together.
She leaves the house less than ever, locked away battling with MS. It breaks my heart to know how much she suffers, how much she tries to hide it from us.
Especially me.
But Evelyn Walker has always been a strong woman—you have to be when you grow up in the MC.
So yeah, River was good for me. A speck of light in the darkness that so often surrounds me. And now I’ve lost her to Diesel and two of his MC brothers.
I’m happy for her. For them. Anyone who watches them can see how much they need each other. But I can’t deny the stab of pain right in my heart.
Because I’ll never find that.
The boys at Red Ridge High know who my brother is, they know I grew up in the club. Which makes me untouchable. Off-limits.
And it’s no better here. I’m Diesel Walker’s little sister. He’s the Red Ridge Sinners MC Sergeant at Arms and no brother wearing their patch would ever dare think twice about touching me.
No one except… I shut that thought down.
Stygian Johnson doesn’t count.
He isn’t a Sinner.
But he was my brother’s best friend once.
It doesn’t matter though. Just when I thought he was finally letting me in, finally tired of fighting the undeniable connection between us, he shoved me firmly back into the friend zone.
He can stick his offer of friendship up his ass.
I don’t want to be Styx’s friend. I wanted to be his girl.
His.
Stupid, stupid girl.
I shake my head, accepting the can of soda Ryder pushes in my direction.
“Any chance I can get some liquor to go with this?”