Page 40 of Wild Side (Vicious Reapers MC #3)

LIGHTNING

My phone rings. Reaching into my pocket, I look down, recognizing the number, but I’m still surprised to see it flash across my screen. Not that I don’t know her. Not that I’ve never talked to her before, but for her to actually reach out to me, and by calling me, it must be big.

Sliding my thumb across my screen, I clear my throat before I say hello. I know that I probably sound confused, and that’s because I am. I have no clue why she would be calling me… now or ever. That’s not who or what we are.

“Light?” she says, her words barely above a whisper. It’s a question, but I’m not sure what that question is.

My lips twitch when she calls me Light. I like it, probably more than I should, but here we are. I don’t think I’ll ever not like it. Especially when I’m inside her and she whispers it. That’s my favorite.

“Yeah?” I ask.

“Are you back home yet?”

I’ve been out on a run. Protection for a truckload of whatever the fuck is being hauled. I don’t ask questions. I ride in front of them, get them to their destination, and then guide them home.

None of that requires questions or answers.

I don’t ask questions often, which is what makes me a good enforcer and soldier. I follow orders when and how they need to be followed.

“Just pulled in, what’s up?” I ask.

There is a moment of silence, a pregnant pause that I don’t quite understand.

Pressing my lips together, I roll them a few times, waiting for her to tell me why the fuck she’s calling me.

We aren’t serious. I don’t even know if she’s fucking anyone else.

I know I am, but we’ve made no promises to each other.

“I’m leaving,” she whispers.

“Leaving what, babe?” I ask.

“Thunder Rock. I just wanted to say goodbye.”

“When do you leave?” I demand.

“In an hour.”

brIANA

Ending the call with Lightning, I look around my little apartment. My suitcase is packed, my apartment empty-ish. All of my big items are staying for the next person who rents this place. I figure they may need a secondhand dining room table for four more than me.

I’ve hugged Dakota and baby Nathan. I’ll miss Lainey’s bakery, Posey, and her baby girl. I’ll miss Zadie, her brand-new twins, and I’ll even miss all of the rough and tumble guys. All of them.

But especially Lightning.

I’ll miss every little thing that makes him, him. I fell in love with the asshole. And he is one too. He knows it and so do I, but I never cared. Just thinking about him causes my lips to curve up into a smile. He is one reason I need to leave. The other reason is for myself.

When I left Willamette Haven, I became fiercely independent.

I created a whole life that I could call my own.

That has slowly chipped away and fallen to the wayside.

I’ve become dependent on Dakota and this club for support.

Not financially, of course, but in every other way, and it’s time for me to move on.

To move forward.

I am stagnant. I haven’t dated anyone because this situationship with Lightning is so damn good that I don’t want to be with anyone else. I don’t want to jeopardize my nights with him, and that is so not healthy.

A knock on my front door causes my spine to straighten. Nobody should be here. Walking over to the door, I look through the peephole. My breath hitches at the sight in front of me. I didn’t expect him to come here.

“I can hear you breathing. And your car is still outside, loaded down with shit. I know you’re there, babe.”

I am here.

Reaching for the handle of the door, I tug it open.

Lighting moves past me and into my apartment for the first time.

Closing the door behind me, I spin around to see him standing there, in my little living room.

He’s so big that he takes up the whole space around him, and I have to remind myself to breathe.

“You think you can just call me and tell me you’re leaving in an hour and I won’t want one more taste?” he asks, his smooth voice filling the air around me.

God.

I want that.

Before I can say a word, he closes the distance between us, and his mouth is on mine. He does exactly what he says, but he doesn’t just taste me, he takes me too. It’s perfection. I don’t want it to end, which means it needs to do just that. I need to leave, or I’ll stay forever.