Page 3

2

EMBER

“ C ’mon,” the customer who introduced himself as Rocco says. “Come join us. It’ll be fun. And I won’t tell your boss.”

I laugh at that. “You wouldn’t need to. I am the boss. Now, do you need any more drinks before I ring all these up?”

“Even better,” he says, unrelenting. “There’s nothing hotter than a capable woman running her own business. And before that sounds condescending, I come from a long line of women who have run their own businesses. I respect it. Truly.”

Good-looking and raised by strong women. There must be something else wrong with the guy. Bet he’s married. “If you respect it that much, you should go back to your table and let me do it.”

I smile as I deliberately move out of his grasp, but as I do, I catch Atom on his feet, his brow furrowed.

It’s hard to figure out if he really cares. He’d have to be utterly clueless to miss the tension when we’re in the same room. But he’s put so much energy into keeping distance between us, maybe he doesn’t see me the same way anymore. Plus, he’s more likely figuring out whether to call my father because a guy touched my shoulder or calculating whether he’s going to do more damage by taking on this guy too.

Last time he saw a guy make an aggressive move on me, he beat the guy to a pulp, and I banned him from the bar for six months. Tonight, he did the same for a woman he barely knows. It’s not that I wasn’t grateful, but I can take care of myself.

I hold out my palm, face down, and gesture for him to sit.

The glare he gives me is unreadable. I’m not sure if he’s pissed at me because I just told him to stand down or because I let the customer get that close to me.

I’m not sure I care, because there is no way the beer in my bar is warm. I checked the settings on the fridge when I grabbed the second bottle for him, and it’s perfect as always.

Catfish looks over and sees my hand out. He turns back to the girls and encourages Atom to do the same.

“Big watchdog you got there,” Rocco says.

I humph, but I can’t help comparing Rocco’s mischievous dark brown eyes to Atom’s intense green ones. “He’s a friend of my dad’s.”

“And who is your dad? Should I be scared of him?”

If there is one thing I hate most, it’s men who try to use me to get to my father. I’ve been approached by men who took me out for dinner, then at the end of the night asked if I’d broker an intro to Nolan “Butcher” Deeks, the president of the local Iron Outlaws chapter.

I’ve been approached by men my father squeezed for money who want my help brokering some kind of peace. Some are direct. Some try to woo me to fall in love with them in the hope that Daddy won’t do anything that would hurt his daughter’s feelings.

What they don’t realize is my dad won’t care about any of that. While I know he loves me, there will always be the hint of disappointment in his eyes that I’m not the fourth-generation Outlaw son he wanted. That I’m not a good club princess who oversees the domestic duties of the club. I’m not cooking breakfasts for a bunch of sweaty men who won’t treat me as an equal.

I have a love-hate relationship with the club because of it. It’s a huge found family. There’s always someone ready to reach out with help if you need it.

But it also cost me proximity to my mom, who now lives in Austin with my stepdad. She thinks I chose the club over her, which is so far from the truth. Mom used to be my very best friend, but now, things are…strained.

And the Outlaws refuse to let me have my dad because it’s club first, last, and always with him.

He missed my high school graduation because of “club biz” that I’m never allowed to know anything about. He didn’t travel to my university graduation because he couldn’t be away from the club long enough to make the trip. And I’ll likely ask my stepfather to walk me down the aisle for my wedding, because at least I know he’ll show up and be there for me.

I’m maybe fourth on the list of things Dad truly gives a shit about. But I stayed with him because he held Lemmy over me. He knew I’d have to give my horse up if I went with Mom. Refusing to pay for stables and food if I left, knowing Mom couldn’t afford it, was its own kind of cruel.

Thing is, I’ve never understood why he wanted me to stay when he treats me as an inconvenience.

Thank God my grandparents on both sides saw through it all to see me. Most twenty-seven-year-olds don’t own a bar, but as the only grandchild on both my parents’ sides, I’ve been the beneficiary of two significant wills.

On my mom’s side there’s self-made money from investing in car dealerships. On my dad’s side is illegally attained club money. My grandpa was a canny biker who lived cheaply and saved hard.

My mom’s parents wanted me to continue to educate myself with the money. My dad’s parents wanted me to build a house on the land they left to my dad. But who wants to live so close to their parent?

So, I got a business degree, bought a bar, and live above it. Sure, I have some loans, but I’m privileged enough to know they aren’t the kind that will devastate me financially for years.

“Rocco, you should be scared of me,” I say with a wink.

He laughs, placing both palms on the bar. “You’re too fucking cute to be scary.”

I bite down on my lower lip. “Looks can be very deceptive.” I turn and ring up his drinks before taking his payment.

“Look, I get that you’re working, but what are the chances there’s a night when you aren’t? Can a guy take you out to dinner?”

“We’re out of slices,” Jada says as she walks by me.

I glance at the tray where we keep lemons and limes. “I’ll go get them.” I turn back to Rocco. “I would like that. Come find me before you leave, and I’ll give you my number.”

He grins at me. “I will. It’s nice meeting you…?” He lets the question hang, and I know what he’s looking for.

“Ember. My name is Ember.”

“Ember,” he says. “I like it.”

I push away from the bar and head towards the access to the kitchen.

“You really gotta flirt with every guy who comes in here, huh?” Atom says as I pass by him.

I stop in my tracks. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. I’m just wondering what you think it adds to your bottom line. An extra five…ten percent?”

“You know, being friendly probably does add to my bottom line. Customers return when they find a place they feel welcome and appreciated. Sometimes, customers buy an extra drink they weren’t intending to because I smiled at them.”

“If you didn’t flirt, they wouldn’t get so clingy like that last guy.” He takes a swig from his beer.

I glance at the two girls with him and Catfish. Legally old enough to be in here. Folks aren’t allowed in without showing their ID. One of them hooks her arm through Atom’s.

I glance at their arms, then back to Atom. “I could say the same about you.”

A tension hovers between us. It’s like elastic, strung so tight that it’s gonna snap. I hate that he has that effect on me. But until I find a man who can stir me with a glance like Atom does, I’m screwed. “Do you two know each other?” the woman asks.

“Not anymore,” I say, just as Atom says, “Yes.”

“People spend money when they feel special.” I tip my chin in the direction of the woman and try to find a smile. “You may want to try it.”

My heart races as I step through the entrance to the kitchen. “You may want to try it,” I mutter out loud in disgust at myself.

Such a terrible line. Like high school. I hate how Atom sometimes reduces me to the most ridiculous fraction of the woman I actually am.

Pettily, I march over to yank the walk-in refrigerator door open. The containers holding the sliced fruits are cold, and so is the air, but I pause.

I take a deep breath and let the cold air nip at my skin, energizing me.

Hudson “Atom” Addams is the bane of my existence.

And yet…

There have been moments when he shows me who he really is. I remember the time I went camping and hiking with a friend and got hurt because of a rockfall. He was the first one to get to us because he raced there on horseback.

Then there was the day this place almost didn’t become mine. At the eleventh hour, the contractor tried to increase our agreement for renovations by twenty percent because he’d assumed E. Deeks was a man when he made the deal. Atom made a personal visit to him at my father’s request and got my agreed rate back.

From the look of Atom’s knuckles when he came back with the agreement signed, I’m certain fists were involved.

Then he told me I shouldn’t be running a bar and should probably live anywhere other than here.

“Urgh,” I say as I shiver.

I head back to the bar and place the slices of fruit where they belong, but on the way, I pass Atom. He’s talking to one of the girls, who laughs. I bet her name is Summer or some shit. All-American. Bet she’s a cheerleader with an IQ lower than her age.

And now you’re just being petty.

She puts her lips near his ear, and he bends his head to hear her better. And I wish his shoulders didn’t fill out his shirt quite so well.

When she squeezes his bicep like I once used to, I realize I’m staring.

“I’m gonna go collect some glasses,” I say to Jade, then flip the end of the bar so I can cut through. Some bar owners don’t even work their bars. But for me, this is my world. It’s a fully legal enterprise.

I don’t allow the club’s leather cuts in here because if you let one biker in wearing their cut, next time they bring a friend wearing theirs. And before you know it, the place is overrun with them and locals avoid the place because it’s become a biker bar. The Outlaws clubhouse exists for that reason. I want everything aboveboard. Wouldn’t even accept my dad’s offer of security through the club. And definitely didn’t agree to clean money through the accounts for him.

Because now I have something legal I can be proud of. A place my mom and stepdad can come drink at during the rare occurrence they’re in town, where there are no reminders of the club girls who couldn’t keep their hands off my dad, who equally couldn’t keep his dick in his pants.

I walk towards the stage. It’s empty tonight, but I have a band booked for tomorrow and it will be heaving in here. I make a note that one of the lights above the fire exit is flickering; I’ll need to change it soon so I’m not in any code violation.

“Hey, Ember,” shouts Quinn, who runs the bakery down the street, and I stop by her table.

We sit on the same small-business committee for the town. It’s filled with old white men wheezing about shit that doesn’t matter. Quinn and I have our own version of bullshit bingo with words like agenda , minute keeper , order , and Mr. Chairman .

Quinn and I are pushing for rent stabilization for Main Street stores, better parking options for the south end of town, and major campaigns for Christmas tourism and trade.

Last week, Quinn was told she was too woke. I’ve often been told I’m an instigator. We are equally proud of our titles.

“Where have you been, stranger?” I ask in jest. She hasn’t been in for four days.

Quinn grins. “Avoiding men.”

I drop onto the chair opposite her. “There’s a Norwegian saying that basically translates to something like ‘I feel this on my skin.’”

Dawn laughs. She’s a member of Quinn’s very small and private book club and teaches at the high school we all attended. We were all in the same school at the same time. Just different classes and years. I remember when Quinn’s older sister went missing. Eighteen years old, and there were signs of a struggle. Made everyone look at each other in this small town and wonder if they’d done it. I remember my dad, who was sergeant at arms back then, organizing a massive search through the town. Because her parents were terrified the same would happen to her, Quinn was out of school for so long, she had to redo a year. It always makes me feel a little sick inside that they never found her sister. “I feel like Raven got the last of the good ones.”

I smile when I think of Wraith and Raven. “Never seen two people love each other as much as they do.”

I got to stay with them for a while when Raven got out of the hospital after her and Wraith were injured escaping enemies of the club, to help her care for herself and her son, Fen. It’s been amazing seeing Wraith start living his life again.

As if on autopilot, I seek out Atom by the bar and wonder if he is capable of the same metamorphosis into husband and father. But as I see him bend his head so the girl hooked around him can talk to him, I see the slightly bored look in his eyes.

Quinn takes a sip of her drink. “It’s almost nauseating, and I’d tell her that if she weren’t my friend.”

“Well, there are slim pickings in the bar tonight, but if you happen to find a half-decent one with basic hygiene who listens when you talk, then I commend you. You girls need anything? Kitchen closes in fifteen.”

Quinn shakes her head. “We’d just decided we’re gonna head out when we’re done with these drinks.”

“Okay. Take care walking home. Text me when you’re there.” I smile as I stand and scoop up the empty glasses from their table.

Grabbing more glasses as I go, I catch up with old school friends and local business owners. Personal connection is vital. They could go to any other bar, but they are choosing to come to mine. I make a profit after paying everyone fairly, so they don’t have to rely on tips, and I don’t want that to change.

When I get to the bar, I drop the glassware into the trays laid out to go straight to the dishwasher. When I lift it, I see Atom and Catfish leaving the bar with the two girls.

My heart squeezes a little to see him go.

Though I realize how pathetic I am to even care about a man who obviously doesn’t care for me.