Page 23 of Property of Prowler (Kings of Anarchy MC: Nevada #1)

TEN

TAYLOR

After putting her trash out, she packed a bag and left for her rental house. It was small and sterile, but it would do for the respite she needed.

The wound that was Prowler was too raw. Her hope was, with time, she could spend all her time at the house that she loved and the pain of seeing Prowler with another woman wouldn’t be as sharp.

If only she were his mate, like in fiction, and everything could’ve been unicorns and daisies. He wouldn’t ever cheat if she were.

Rationally, she knew that if Prowler found his mate, the kind of love that was in her favorite shifter novels, she could eventually move on. She wanted that for him. Hell, she wanted it for herself too.

It just couldn’t be Allie. That she couldn’t stomach. She told herself she was a one-time thing for whatever reason because the thought of that vile woman with him was too much to bear. And poor Cass, she was not a fan of her mother. She especially hated the idea of her parents together.

No, if it was Allie, she would definitely sell her dream house and move.

She’d lose both Prowler and Cass, and that would suck.

The first thing she did after getting settled into her rental was text Cass to see how she was feeling. Taylor didn’t discuss the things that had happened or tell her she wasn’t staying at her house. Cass didn’t need to be in the middle of what was going on between her and Prowler.

As much as she wanted to ask about Prowler, she didn’t, even when Cass had indicated that he was in wolf form. That made her question if her lie was worth it after all. Would he have come after her if he could have?

The answer was deep in her bones.

No.

Prowler was not the type to accept that another man had been in her bed. That’s why she let him think the worst of her.

She was still wrapping her head around Prowler being a wolf and that shifters were real, but it made sense.

She’d thought over the last few months how animalistic some things he did were.

The way he stalked instead of walked. The way he used certain words.

How he rubbed his cum onto her skin to mark her.

Humans were ridiculously na?ve if they thought they were the most superior species in their vast universe. Hell, Taylor had no problem believing that aliens were out there, just not little green men. Personally, her fingers were crossed for blue men from a very cold planet.

But humans certainly were not alone, and if that could be true, then why not shifters? The legends had to start somewhere. That was the only reason the whole thing didn’t freak her out more than it had, because on some level she’d always believed in things like that.

After getting cleaned up, she donned her uniform and headed for work.

She’d gone in a few hours early, hoping to catch Claire before she left.

Taylor was thinking of taking the next few days off, to sit around the rental and feed her broken heart into submission.

She hoped Claire would be down to cover a few shifts.

With that handled, she fixed her face and stepped out onto the casino floor.

Throughout her entire shift, she felt like someone was watching her, but she couldn’t see anyone creeping in the crowd. In fact, the whole crowd was pretty tame for once.

It felt like the shift that would never end, but thankfully, it did.

One of the small pleasures in life was getting out of her skimpy outfit and putting on a baggy tee and comfy sweats after a shift.

But pulling off her heeled boots was downright religious. After getting dressed, she stood.

“These sneakers feel way too good. My dogs were barking.”

“Same, sister, same,” one of the new girls said. She didn’t know her name, nor had she realized she was in the room.

“Right? Nike is missing a huge market by sticking to athletes. They could market to waitstaff and dancers, really any working-class girl on her feet all day in heels, and they’d double their profits.”

“Preach.” New girl closed her locker and turned.

“Oh, I’m Taylor, by the way. We haven’t officially met.” She shouldered her bag and extended her arm. “Welcome to the Himalayas.” Taylor did Yeti’s voice from Monsters. Inc, but her coworker seemed puzzled.

“It’s from a movie. I’m a little weird like that, sorry.” Taylor dropped her hand.

Way to make it awkward. For some reason, the exchange had her holding back tears. Cass would’ve got it, rolled her eyes, but then laughed. Maybe even made an old lady retort.

“Oh, I know that. I’m Nikki. I just thought you said your name was Taylor.”

“Yeah, I did. See.” She pointed to the masking tape with TAYLOR N. stuck to the front of the locker behind her. “That’s me.”

“I thought it was Makayla. That guy must’ve made a mistake.”

Taylor’s blood ran cold. Fucking Travis was at her work again. It had to be.

“Guy?”

“Yeah, some guy tipped me a hundred dollars and asked about you. Called you Makayla.”

Alarm bells were going off in her head. Travis knew she had changed her name to Taylor and wouldn’t need to ask about her unless he was trying to send her a message.

“What else did he say?”

“I don’t remember to be honest. It was loud, and up close his breath stunk of beer, so I kept leaning back. But he did mention something about how you looked different from when he knew you.”

Her breath locked inside her lungs. It couldn’t be Billy. No way he would’ve found her. Maybe one of his buddies found his way to Vegas again, that’s all. Those guys fall out all the time. Billy got rid of his friends for any minor infraction.

That’s all it was.

Or at least that’s what she tried to convince herself of because the alternative was unthinkable.

She put on her happy face like she’d learned over the years, no matter what turmoil was going on under the surface. “Ready to head out?”

“No, you go on. I’m going to grab a bite.”

Taylor nodded and opened the door. As expected, security was right there waiting to walk them out.

“Nikki’s not coming just yet.”

“Cool,” he answered and followed her to the garage and all the way to her car door. She was not making the same mistake as last time.

“Be safe, Taylor.” He tapped the roof of her car and walked off before turning back. “Oh, and avoid the Charleston exit. Just heard there’s an accident that has it backed up.” With that he waved and watched her back out.

All the way to her rental house, paranoia had her in a death grip. Every car that pulled in behind her was surely following her. In Vegas, that was a lot. No street ever seemed completely void of traffic.

Her rental was in a mid-sized older community that was experiencing a revitalization.

When the houses were redone, they ended up practically eliminating the driveways for a few hundred more square feet, so it was all street parking.

Since her unit had been vacant for a few months, one of her neighbors had taken to parking in front of her house.

It was annoying to have to park a bit away, but at least she wasn’t in those god-awful heels. She was walking on the sidewalk in front of her unit when a man started jogging her way and calling out.

Immediately she dropped her bag and took up a fighting stance.

“Whoa.” He stopped and raised his hands. “Didn’t mean to frighten you. My wife wanted me to come move the car. She said someone was staying here now. When I saw you walking, I realized I should’ve done it when she asked instead of waiting. Sorry about that.”

Taylor not only breathed a sigh of relief, but she may have even laughed about it a little.

“Sorry about the Tyson stance, but I mean, you came out of nowhere in the dark. I could barely make out your shadow.”

“Yeah. That’s on me. Bad choice.” He bent to retrieve her bag. “That and these three streetlights have been out for months. My wife has called the city a million times, but, as you can see, still in the dark.”

“Thanks.” She re-shouldered her bag.

“Anyway, I’m moving my car now if you want to move yours up.” He unlocked his door. “Have a good night, um?”

“Taylor.”

“I’m Miguel. Me and my wife Maria and our boys live over there in the blue house. You should come for dinner some night, Maria makes some mean tamales. She’d love to meet you. We just moved in, and she doesn’t know anyone in the area yet.”

“Nice to meet you, Miguel. And the first thing you should know about me is I never turn down good food, so don’t just offer to be polite. Warn Maria though, if the tamales are as mean as you say, she may never get rid of me.”

Miguel laughed. “Maria is going to love you.”

The whole exchange lightened her mood. Maybe her time spent there wouldn’t be so bad. Keeping busy was a bonus. If she was eating tamales with Maria and Miguel, she wouldn’t be wondering what Prowler was doing.

Who he was doing.

After setting her things down on the counter, she went to move her car. Having it almost a block away was fine for the night, but having to hoof it tomorrow when the sun was out and it was over one hundred wasn’t her idea of a good time.

“Fuck,” she cursed as she rolled up next to the curb in front of her house. She hopped out to check her rims. She had gotten really close to the curb. Reaching for her phone, she realized she’d left it in the house.

“Guess I’ll have to assess the damage in the morning,” she groused before heading inside. Realizing she’d left the door ajar when she went to move her car, she double-checked that she locked it before she went to draw a bath.

When she leaned over to adjust the faucet, she froze. There were footsteps behind her.

“I always did like that view of you, Mykayla.”

Billy’s voice triggered something inside her. For years she froze at that sound, made herself small, but not anymore. She whirled around, swinging and kicking. Not having a clue where he was, she didn’t care. She’d already proven that she could and would fight back, even with Billy.

Her fight was short-lived when he headbutted her, rocking her back before spinning her into a bear hug. That’s when she saw her brother.

Travis.