Page 45 of Mac

Kate

The guys had left two days ago, and I was already missing Mac like crazy. It seemed impossible that I could have developed such strong feelings for him in such a short amount of time, but I knew what I was feeling was the real deal. And now that I had my dad’s approval, everything felt right.

“Happy looks good on you.”

I spun around and saw Evelyn standing in the doorway of the diner’s kitchen.

“What are you talking about?” I asked, but couldn’t wipe the smile off my face.

“Oh, stop it. You’ve had the same look every day since we went out for your birthday. It wouldn’t have anything to do with a certain biker, would it?”

I couldn’t help it; I blurted out everything that had happened since that night. It was nice having a friend I could share things with.

“Oh, hun, I’m so happy for you. I could tell by the way Mac looked at you that he was crazy about you.”

“I’m crazy about him too,” I admitted.

“Well, why are you still here? Go see your man.”

“Actually, he’s out of town. I’m going to hang out with my brothers tonight instead,” I said as I took off my apron.

“That’s awesome. Sounds like things are working out for you here in Vegas.”

They really were, and I couldn’t have been happier.

I said goodbye to Evelyn and Pam and made my way to my car. As I opened my door, I heard my text alert go off. Hoping it was Mac, I quickly grabbed my phone and checked my messages.

My excitement turned to annoyance when I saw it was another text from Jonathan.

Jonathan:I need to see you. Stop ignoring me.

I’d blocked his number, but he must have gotten another one. I was going to have to block him again, but first I wanted to make it clear we had nothing to talk about. The more time I spent with the club, the more I saw the difference between a relationship where the person truly cared for you and what I had with Jonathan.

Me:There isn’t anything to discuss anymore. You need to stop contacting me.

Jonathan:This isn’t over! You can’t get rid of me that easily.

A shiver ran down my spine at his words. Why couldn’t he leave me alone? He was starting to scare me. Maybe it was time for me to change my number.

That was something I could figure out later. For now, I blocked his new number on my phone and hoped he would go away.

I checked the time and saw that it was hitting six already. I needed to get over to Meredith’s to pick up Finn and Gunnar. I was excited to get a whole night with my brothers. Sure, they could be super annoying, just like any other teenagers, but I loved spending time with them. After twenty years as an only child, I welcomed every moment of hanging out with my brothers.

“Thank you so much for taking them tonight,” Meredith said as the four of us walked out of her house. “I hope you guys have a great time.”

“I’m sure we will. You enjoy your night out. You deserve it.”

I knew the time Viking spent out on the road was hard on her and the boys. In addition to that, she was responsible for keeping the shop running, taking care of her sons, and dealing with various events for the families of the club. She needed a chance to unwind.

We started to drive toward my house, the boys arguing about which movie we would watch first. I was wrapped up in the playful banter, I hadn’t noticed the truck behind me that was following entirely too close. We weren’t too far from my place, so I didn’t think too much about it until I felt the hard hit on the back driver’s side.

I could feel my car hit the gravel on the side of the road, and I tried to straighten back out, but I must have overcorrected because I started spinning. Before I knew it, we were headed straight toward a ditch. My car went headfirst into it, and I must have hit my head on impact because suddenly everything went black.