Page 17 of Mac

Kate

The loud banging—and not the bright, late morning sun—woke me up, just as it had every day this week. It seemed the couple renting out the room next to mine had a habit of kicking each other out on a regular basis. This resulted in one of them banging on the door repeatedly until the other finally let them back in, or the cops came by to break it up.

The first time it happened, I called the clerk at the front desk, who laughed off my complaint and never did anything about it. Between them and the other residents who apparently stayed awake all night, I hadn’t gotten a decent night’s sleep since I got here. I needed to find a new place to live since I planned on staying in Vegas for the foreseeable future. I was starting to get more steady hours at the diner, but it was going to be a while before I had enough saved up to move out of here.

Knowing I wouldn’t be able to fall back asleep, I decided to shower and get ready for the day. I was going to meet my coworker, Evelyn, for an early lunch; otherwise, I didn’t have any other plans for my day off. I slipped on the pair of flip-flops I kept next to the bed since I refused to walk on the carpet barefoot. I grabbed a pair of yoga pants and a tank top out of the rickety old dresser and headed to the bathroom. The lighting in here filled the room with a harsh yellow glow, the water pressure in the shower barely produced more than a trickle, and the towels were the roughest pieces of fabric I ever felt. But this was all my budget would allow.

After I quickly washed up, brushed my hair, and put on a touch of makeup, I heard the unmistakable sound of motorcycle engines outside.

I peeked out at the parking lot from behind the heavy drapes, and immediately recognized Wolf and Mac. Mac was climbing off his bike, but Wolf’s bike was still running. They were talking, but I couldn’t hear anything from here.

No one knew I was here, not even Viking, despite the fact he’d asked a few times. Were they here to conduct some sort of illegal transaction? It wouldn’t be the first time I saw a drug deal go down in the parking lot.

The text alert going off on my phone shook me out of my reverie, and I let the blinds close in front of me. Picking my phone up from the bedside table, I made a face when I saw it was Jonathan...again.

Jonathan:Please talk to me. I miss you.

I’d tried to talk to him once since I left but he made a bunch of excuses for his behavior, and he didn’t take any responsibility for the hurtful things he’d said. I explained to him that I thought it was best if we took a break from contacting each other for a while, but he was relentless. I thought about blocking him, but I didn’t want to completely cut him off yet. Our friendship was hanging on by a thread, but I wanted to give him the chance to fix things...eventually. I just wasn’t ready to fix things now.

I threw the phone on the bed and grabbed my shoes so I could finish getting dressed. I had just finished tying them when I heard a knock at the door. I immediately tensed, not saying anything, hoping the person would go away.

“Kate, open up. We saw you looking out the window.”

I recognized Mac’s voice right away. I hadn’t seen him or the other members since breakfast at the diner with Viking. Fear washed over me, and I wondered if something happened to Viking. I’d just met the man but the thought of something happening to him before I even got to know him made me feel like I was losing something special all over again.

“Is everything okay?” I asked before I opened the door all the way.

When I looked out, Mac’s eyes slammed into mine. He had a way about him that was a little too intense for me, like now, and I wasn’t sure if it was a turn-on or a turn-off. Right now, a little bit of both.

“Everything’s fine,” he said softly. I blushed when his eyes roved over me from head to toe. I didn’t dress like the girls at their club, but he seemed to approve of my jeans and long-sleeved top.

“Where’s Wolf?” I asked, for lack of words.

His eyes narrowed. “Why do you care?”

I stared back at him. “I saw you both outside; just being polite in asking,” I shot back, feeling bold. I was done with men treating me like crap, but I knew it was dangerous to finally find my nerve with a badass biker like Mac. “What are you two even doing here? No one knows I’m here.”

“There’s not a lot we don’t know when it comes to what’s happening in our city, sweetheart.”

Ugh, I thought,not that word again. When Mac grinned, I realized I must have said it aloud. I blushed. “No, seriously, why are you here?” I asked, going for civility.

He shrugged, his focus never leaving my face, like he was trying to capture every feature and commit it to memory. “You’re new to Vegas, and we protect what’s ours.”

I shivered because instinctively I knew Mac meant every syllable that came from his mouth. “I don’t belong to anyone, Mac.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Kate.” He stepped in, and I stepped back. “You’ll realize that, and you’ll even appreciate it when you’re finally one of us.”

I should have been scared at the idea of being “part of a biker gang,” but the idea of being part of something, of knowing that someone had my back—and I knew both Mac and Viking meant it as both a promise and a creed—made my chest go tight at how absolute it felt. It was confusing but uplifting as well.

Wordlessly, my whole body shaking, I turned around to grab my purse but spun back when I heard the door close. Mac was moving around my room, like he had the right to do so. All he did was make the space seem even smaller. Mac was around six foot, and in normal circumstances he was intimidating, but right now, I felt like the room was closing in on me. My pulse sped up, and I didn’t know if my body was warning me to flee or if I was reacting to being stuck in a room with an incredibly good-looking man. I could feel my palms starting to sweat and my breathing quicken.

“Relax, babe, I’m not going to hurt you.” Mac’s soothing tone was almost convincing, but his burning gaze ramped up my nerves again. I realized the tension wasn’t one of violence, but rather somewhat sexual. I wondered if he looked at every woman like that.

I cleared my throat, checking the contents of my purse to give my hands something to do and to distract my mind from unnerving thoughts of Mac. “Well, you saw me, you can report back to Viking that I’m alive and breathing.”

Mac smiled, a nice one that was disarming as hell. “Are you working today?” he asked as I grabbed my keys from my nightstand.

“Nope, got the day off. But I’m meeting a friend for lunch, and I’m going to be late if I don’t leave soon.”