Pushing the Limit

Peppermint

Ifinish off another crawfish and toss it on the pile. I have tonight off, and I’ve been with Owen ever since he asked me to leave with him from the Bastards’ clubhouse. We rode through the city a couple hours before stopping at his clubhouse for a crawfish boil.

“A kid,” he says. “That’s why you stopped calling me.”

“My son is twenty now, almost twenty-one. But yes, that’s why. I knew he wasn’t yours, and I couldn’t put that burden on you.”

I also didn’t want to give him the option of being the one to walk away. It would’ve confirmed he didn’t love me the way I loved him. Me choosing to leave was easier for me.

“Damn, woman, you didn’t give me a chance.”

“It wouldn’t have been fair to Ryan either. He didn’t deserve that.”

“You said he died of cancer, right? That fucking sucks. My old man was diagnosed with colon cancer right before I became president. Chemo, radiation, all that shit. Just prolongs the inevitable.”

“So, that’s the real reason you became president. Nothing to do with a broken heart.”

He grins at me. “That is the main reason, but I wasn’t lying when I said you broke my heart. You changed your number. I couldn’t find you. I felt like a helpless idiot. I took my dad up on his offer to hang around the club, even though it drove my sister, Anita, crazy. But the club made things better.”

“Guess you aren’t so helpless when you have these guys.”

He looks around at his members, everyone eating, drinking, or lounging by the bonfire. They’re a lot like the Bastards. They’re a family too.

“It’s been tough. We lost some guys the night we took down the Souls. They were good guys, and they were fighting my battle.”

That knowledge bothers him. It was his niece who’d been taken, almost sold into human trafficking, and they lost their lives trying to get her back.

“That’s what this life is, though. Always a risk. I’m honestly surprised you’re a part of it,” he comments.

“It’s weird. I knew there were motorcycle clubs in the city. I watched Sons of Anarchy, so I kind of knew how it worked. But I didn’t plan on pledging to the Harlots. It just sort of happened. I’m happy I did.”

“Any idea when you’ll be getting your patch?”

I shake my head. “We’ve had so much going on getting the Haven open, I haven’t thought too much about it.”

“Being a prospect is one thing, but getting that patch is something else. You know you’ll always be part of something, part of a family.”

“I like the sound of that,” I admit. “When I was younger, I always felt like something was missing, but couldn’t place it. I was with Ryan because I was expected to be with Ryan. I fell right into marrying and having a kid young, and didn’t get to figure out who I was.”

“Seems like you know now.”

Owen wipes his hands and leans over the table, hovering a moment before he presses his lips to mine. He must not mind the fact that I have crawfish breath because he deepens it, sliding his tongue inside. The guys whistle, making me blush and pull back.

“Damn, woman. You still affect me.”

“Listen, Owen, I just got out of something. I don’t really know what it was, but I’m not ready to jump into something else.”

“Well, shit,” he says, then smirks. “Tell you what, I’ve waited years for you to come back into my life, I can wait a bit longer.”

There is so much more to Owen than the big, bad biker. But the same can be said for Dash. And for whatever reason, I still miss him.