Chapter 2
Storm
I know she’s watching me, and I’m not sure why.
She’s been out here for a fucking hour just acting like she isn’t watching my every move.
It’s almost annoying if she wasn’t so fucking cute.
But the club Princess is off limits to me, and I know it.
Knew it before I ever got sent to the pen, and that was a long time ago.
I throw a few more punches and kicks before I grab my bottle of water and unscrew the cap, taking a long pull while keeping my eyes on her.
She looks at the book in her hands and acts as if she’s ignoring me.
When I’m finished, I crumble the bottle in my hand, toss it in the trash and grab my towel, walking toward her.
“Why are you watchin’ me?”
“Ha! Don’t think so highly of yourself,” she snaps back at me.
“You’ve been out here the whole time.”
“And? I always read out here.”
“What are you readin’?”
“Torn by Carian Cole.”
“What the hell is that? Some fairy tale?”
“If you want to call it that. They do get their happy ending,” she tells me.
“Life doesn’t have happy endings, darlin’.”
“No shit. Why do you think I read? You think I don’t know that nothing ends like this,” she says, holding her book up in front of her. I shrug.
“I don’t know. Some women seem to think they can make their lives turn out like that shit,” I say, nodding toward the book once more.
“First of all, this isn’t shit. She’s an amazing author. Secondly, I’m not one of those girls that stupidly believes that this stuff comes true. I’ve seen firsthand what this world is like.”
“Is that why you’re so jaded?” She snorts a laugh, closes her book and hops off the table she was sitting on.
“You know fuck all about me. Let’s keep it that way.” She turns to walk off, and I say something else I probably shouldn’t.
“You can’t go through life like that. You’ll never get anywhere,” I tell her. She stops walking and turns to face me once more.
“What makes you think I want more than this?” she asks, throwing her arms out to the side.
“That look in your eye. The anger that you carry around with you. The fuckin’ weight of it all on your shoulders.” Her mouth snaps shut as if I’d hit the nail on the head. She watches me for a second before walking back toward me.
“What makes you think you can see all that?” I shrug once more.
“Maybe I see a little of myself in you.”
“That’s laughable.”
“Is it? I know what it feels like, Princess. And it fuckin’ hurts.
That pain? It fuckin’ burrows down inside of you, eatin’ away at any good you feel.
It sucks you so fuckin’ dry that you feel like you’re gonna just wither up and turn to ash.
” I can see that her breathing has kicked up a little, and it makes me wonder just how much she does hold onto.
Kenzee smiles at me, but that smile doesn’t reach her eyes.
“You think you know how I feel? You think you understand that ache inside of me? You weren’t there.
You don’t know and you never will. You think that because you went to prison, you know everything, right?
Well prison isn’t the real fucking world, Storm.
I lived it. I felt it, and I fucking dream of it.
So the next time you think you know anything about me, keep it to yourself.
” With that, she turns and walks away from me as her uncle, Jenson, strolls toward me.
He says something to her that I can’t hear but all she does is flip him off and keep walking. He chuckles as he gets closer to me.
“That one’s gonna be the death of me.”
“No shit.”
“What are you doin’ out here?” he asks.
“Just workin’ out. Gettin’ a little mai thai in.”
“You should teach her. Get her fuckin’ mind on somethin’.”
“I doubt she wants to learn. She seems pretty set in her ways,” I tell him.
“That she is. The girl is somethin’ else.”
“Seems like it.”
“Don’t take what she says to heart. She’s damaged, Storm. I’m pretty sure what she went through pretty well ruined that girl.”
“You think so? Doesn’t she have a boyfriend or somethin’?”
“No. She can’t keep a man around. Even if she tied his ass to the bed.”
“Why is that?” he runs his hand over his face and sighs.
“I’m not really sure. I think that girl's heart is probably as broken as they come.”
“I know what happened, but did she never move on?”
“No,” he says, shaking his head. “Some things you can’t move on from, yeah?” I nod my head. Maybe he’s right. Maybe something you can’t move on from.
Jenson turns and heads back toward the clubhouse, and I follow behind him.
We make it back inside, and I see her sitting in the chair in the back of the room, her eyes someplace else.
It’s like she’s not even here at the moment, and it makes me wonder even more about her. Not that I should care, I don’t.
“How you feelin’?” Tide asks as I drop onto the stool next to him.
“I’m good, brother. Good to be home.”
“Good enough to take a ride next week?”
“Fuck yeah. It’s been too long since I’ve been on my bike and too long since I’ve had somethin’ useful to do,” I tell him with a grin.
“Heard that. We’re gonna take a little time off too and head out to the beach,” he tells me.
“No shit? Been a while since I’ve been out there. Miss the damn water.”
“Yeah, me too. I think it’ll do us all a little good to get the fuck out of here and take a break. It’s been a long time comin’.”
“It’s fucked up we live so fuckin’ close to the ocean, and no one ever goes over there.” Tide laughs as he grabs his beer and takes it down.
“No shit. I guess we just get caught up in life and club business, and it just doesn’t occur to us to go.”
“I heard that. It’ll be good to get outside for me. After spendin’ eleven years in that hell, the ocean is a welcome reprieve for me.”
“I know that’s right, brother. I’m glad you’re back.”
“Me too. How’s your old lady?”
“She’s good, man. Kid's growin’ up too damn fast. It’s nothin’ like the first one, ya know? This time is different.”
“How so?”
“I actually give a shit about my old lady this time,” he chuckles, slapping a hand on my shoulder.
“Guess that would help.”
“Sure as fuck does. When you find the one, you’ll see,” he tells me. I shake my head.
“I’m good. I spent too much time in the pen to even think about havin’ an old lady. Who the fuck knows when I’ll be back in there, yeah?”
“Don’t say that. They got you out this time on a fuckin’ murder charge, Storm. They’ll get you out again.”
“I have no fuckin’ idea how they even did that to begin with, and I know I owe that lawyer a thank you.”
“She’s hot, right? You can definitely thank her properly.” I laugh along with him when I hear Kenzee mocking us. We both turn and look at her as she walks past, rolling her eyes.
“That one’s somethin’ else isn’t she?” I ask.
“Yeah. Losin’ her dad the way she did really fucked her up. It’s almost sad. She can’t form a fuckin’ relationship to save her damn life.”
“Is she really that messed up?” He glances over at her before looking back at me and nodding his head.
“You’ve seen her.”