Repeat Offender (Souls Chapel Revenants MC 1)

See, I had a learning problem.

Well, back up. I didn’t have a learning problem as much as a brain problem.

When I was four, I suffered a TBI—traumatic brain injury—from falling out of a tree. After my TBI, I started having problems with planning, organization, problem-solving and time management. That practically hounded me all the way through high school, and by the time I’d graduated with a barely passing C, I’d made it a priority to think of my mental health after that. That also included me deciding that college wasn’t going to be something that I could do.

What I could do, though, was photograph and video things—which technically was what had gotten me through my high school years.

With me not being able to remember half the shit that I needed to do thanks to my fucked up head, I’d started to take videos and pictures to help remind me of shit and plan for things.

Which had then led to me doing it just for fun.

Which had in turn allowed me to start doing it for work.

Now I made money doing what I loved, meaning that I never worked a day in my life.

Thanks to all my Instagram followers, I also no longer had to ‘work.’ I made money through endorsements and followers.

“She’s more than ready to be done,” I agreed. “And she’s set to make straight fuckin’ As. She’s smart and beautiful.”

Crockett beamed at me.

“I wish y’all lived closer. Y’all are so awesome,” she said as she cleaned up her grill. “Any new guys in your life?”

I snorted. “No, but I did have someone break up with me a while ago at a party. Does that count?”

“Were you dating him when he broke up with you?” she questioned as she came to take the seat beside me.

I shook my head. “Nope.”

“Then no, it doesn’t count.” She smiled. “Has it already been six months since I last saw you? Dang, that’s crazy.”

It was.

I tried to get out here a lot, but hell, my version of ‘a lot’ and everyone else’s was a little different.

“It’s been what it’s been. I don’t keep time really well,” I admitted. “Speaking of, I really need to go. I have a long hike to get to my usual camping ground for the night, and I’m fairly sure that I’m way later than I intended to be.”

I looked at my watch to confirm, and sure enough, it was already pushing two in the afternoon.

“At least you don’t have to eat now,” she teased.

“That’s true,” I concurred. “I’ll see you in a few days, okay?”

Crockett gave me a thumbs up and walked with me to the door.

“You fed your cats, right?” she asked.

I rolled my eyes. “Of course, I did. Well, kind of. They have an automatic feeder now after the last incident.”

The last incident was me taking three days longer than I’d intended to get home, and my cats having to drink out of the toilet because I’d forgotten about them.

I was such a bad cat mom.

“Good for you,” she said. “Have fun, be careful, and let me know if you need anything.”

I gave her a thumb up. “Will do. Have a good night. Thank you for lunch. I’ll pay you when I come back through, okay?”

Because I’d forgotten my wallet. Oops.

She rolled her eyes. “Your money’s no good here, anyway. Have fun!”

I gave her a chin lift and headed out, patting every single pocket and surface I had for my keys, only to turn around and see Crockett holding them out to me. “You left them at the bar.”

I caught them when she tossed ‘em and grinned. “Like always.”

Laughing, Crockett went inside, and I got into my car and headed for my usual spot.

When I finally got to where I was going, I pulled out my phone, video equipment and camping shit and started out.

The first hour wasn’t too bad seeing as I was used to the work. The second hour, however, proved to be tremulous because of all the damn mosquitos.

I’d seen something on Facebook a couple of months back about how mosquitos preferred type O blood. Which had to be true because those fuckers could hone in on me out of a choice of about twenty people.

It was always me.

And, not only did I get bitten, but I always got huge, swollen knots on my skin where they’d settled and partaken of my blood.

Needless to say, I forced myself to stop and spray down with bug spray, which had also meant me removing almost my entire damn backpack to get to the spray that was at the bottom of my bag.

I’d just gotten started walking again when a baby deer caught my eye in the foliage near the base of a tree.

Grinning widely, I pulled out my phone and snapped a few shots before pulling out my big camera that I recorded videos on.