Page 2 of Haze (Serpents of Chaos MC #2)

LU

Thirteen Years Later

“Bones, who is that?” I ask, staring up at the stage.

I haven’t been able to take my eyes away from him—short brown hair, tall, muscular build, and a leather cut that says he’s a patched member of the Serpents of Chaos Motorcycle Club.

My gaze touches the ink on his arms and drops to the silver rings that cover his talented fingers.

He’s singing about love and loss, and I’m both saddened by his lyrics and turned on by the man himself.

He’s somehow familiar. I’m so drawn to him, I’m about to do something I rarely ever do—I’m going to make the first move.

“That’s Haze,” Bones replies, grinning. “He’s our treasurer and local heartthrob.”

“Haze, huh? I’m going home with him tonight,” I declare with a smirk. I’m tipsy enough to announce this to Bones instead of keeping it to myself like I should have.

Bones laughs and tips back the rest of his beer. “You’ll have to fight off a few to get there… unless you don’t mind sharing.”

My lips curve upward. “I’m an only child. I don’t share.”

I have another shot before I walk up to the stage.

Ora, my best friend and co-worker at the bakery I own, has disappeared with her man, War, leaving me to my own devices.

She’s the reason I’m here at this biker party in the first place.

I haven’t always been known for making the best decisions, but when I glance up into the most handsome face I’ve ever seen, and amber eyes look down at me, recognition hits me.

He’s familiar.

Could it be?

No, this isn’t him.

It’s just the eyes.

The song ends, and Haze puts down his guitar, standing in front of me. “Hello,” I purr, offering him my hand.

He stares down at it for a moment before taking it, his gaze not leaving mine.

Closing the space between us, I press my free palm against his chest and look up at him.

At five foot nothing, he towers over me, but as my soft body presses right up against his hard one, there’s no missing what I want from him.

“Want to get out of here?” I ask, and a muscle works in his jaw.

“How much have you had to drink?” he questions, tilting his head to the side as he takes me in. He licks his bottom lip, and I can see a flash of metal. How is that going to feel on my clit? I’m guessing fucking amazing.

Two women appear on either side of us, herding us in. “Haze, you told us we’d be in your bed tonight,” one pouts, batting her fake eyelashes.

Haze doesn’t look away from me. There’s tension between us, but it’s something more than just sexual. The way he’s looking at me is like he wants to both devour me and never lay his eyes on me again at the same time. “Go get some water. You don’t belong here, Luella.”

He turns his broad back on me and wraps his arms around the club girls.

Dismissed.

Fucking ouch.

And then it hits me.

I never told him my name.

Fuck.

No?

“Hayden?” I call out, and he stops in his tracks but doesn’t turn around.

It’s him.

He looks so different—his body is bigger, wider, taller

He never used to have any tattoos or piercings, and his hair was never this short.

He’s a man now, no longer the sweet boy who played guitar for me through his window so I could fall asleep to something other than the sounds of my parents fighting.

But those eyes…

I knew I recognized them.

“Go home, Luella,” he replies, turning his head to show me his profile. I watch in horror as he then starts to make out with both women right in front of me.

Like I mean nothing to him.

Like our past means nothing.

And I guess that’s the truth.

We’re both living in different worlds now, as different people, but he still rejected me again.

Some things never change.

I blink away the sudden rush of tears in my eyes.

The Hayden I knew, my Hayden, doesn’t exist anymore. It has been thirteen years, so what did I expect? Hayden is gone, and now only Haze, the callous, tattooed, manwhore biker is left.

Bones was right. I guess one woman isn’t enough for him.

Then again, I never was.