Page 87 of His Flawed Ride

The me before India was killed.

This was definitely the right decision.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Annie

The sun set a while ago and the moon shines brightly over the club. I would normally enjoy it, but I can’t hold my attention longer than thirty seconds without glancing at the gates. I ventured outside a couple of hours ago, not wanting to miss Shane when he returned with the club. They left hours ago and there hasn’t been any word on where they have gone, how they are getting on, or when they’ll be back. There’s a chill in the air and I pull my jacket tighter together. I keep my eyes on the prospect at the gate.

“Hey, you’re Shane’s woman, right?”

Cutting my gaze from the prospect to a beautiful woman sitting beside me, I smile. “Right.”

I’m Shane’s woman.

“I’m Harper. JJ’s old lady.”

I know who she is, but again I smile, and say, “Hi.”

“Are you waiting for Shane?”

“Am I that obvious?”

She laughs but it’s shrouded in sadness. I look closer and there’s not much else than sadness about her. It’s not a good time for her to be Lily’s daughter with the suicide. Her lack of hiding away to grieve tells me she wasn’t close to her mom, and I force myself not to wonder who Lily truly was.

“I’ve heard a lot about you,” she says. When she sees my frown, she adds, “Old ladies talk. We like to know who’s around us.”

“I get that, but I’m sure you haven’t heard anything great.”

She shrugs. “We don’t tend to judge. Okay, so most of the time we do, but not this time.”

I laugh. She isn’t competition. Her husband is easy on the eye but doesn’t have a patch on my Shane.

I dare to ask, “What have you heard?”

“You’re pregnant, you didn’t want to stick around, but you’re also sick. So yeah, it’s quite varied.”

“All of it is true, but things change.” I turn and angle my body toward her. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

Taking a deep breath, I ask, “Is Shane true to his word?”

“I don’t know him all that well but from what I do, he’s a stand-up guy.”

It doesn’t really answer my question so I’m going to have to rely on my own judgements.

“How do you feel about him?”

“I fell for him the minute I saw him but there’s no point telling him because it wouldn’t be fair on him to care when I don’t know how long I’ll be around for.”

“Is there nothing you can do?”

I shake my head and look back to the prospect. He still hasn’t moved. He’s still on his damn phone. Shane didn’t say why he had to go but I can work out it’s not for a good reason. I didn’tmiss the amount of guns the brothers were rounding up before they rode out.

“I’m sorry this is happening to you. Life certainly has a way of shitting on you when you least expect it.”

I agree whole heartedly.