She reached for the clips and let what little hair she had fall out. There was no straightness to it. The hair had been hacked off.
Abriana went to her, and she stared at the other woman, tensing as she wrapped her arms around her, holding her.
Ava stayed perfectly still.
She wasn’t used to such physical contact. The sweetness that was Abriana brought tears to her eyes.
“I’m here for you, Ava,” Abriana said.
“I think I want to go and get my hair done.”
Between the hospital visit and the bakery, she’d put so much of her life on hold.
“Do you want me to call Ugly Beast to come and take us?”
Ava shook her head. “No. I want to call a cab.” She wasn’t going to drive just yet. Anytime she put any pressure on her hand, the pain was too much.
Abriana nodded. “I will have to tell Ugly Beast what we’re doing.”
“You do that. You don’t have to come with me. I can go to the salon myself.”
“No.” Abriana took her hand. “We’ll do this together. I want to be there for you.”
“Okay.”
She called for a cab as she made her way upstairs to change her shirt. She kept the sweatpants on but she couldn’t go to a salon with holes in her shirt. She had some standards. At least, she hoped so.
With a fresh shirt in place, she made her way downstairs, stopping when she heard Abriana.
“They cut her hair! No, Ugly, this isn’t funny. I had no idea. Have you seen what they did to her? Raven was lying to me. I don’t want her near me for a long time. I’m so mad at her. I don’t care what you have to say to defend yourselves. It’s wrong. Ava had never given any of you any cause to doubt her.”
She shook her head and watched as she hung up.
“You don’t have to do that for me,” Ava said, startling her.
Abriana whirled around. “You weren’t supposed to hear that.”
“Kind of hard not to when you’re yelling.”
The sound of a car tooting its horn caught Ava’s attention. “That was fast.”
“Smokey’s made it so.”
Ava paused. “What?”
“He’s, er, he’s made sure everyone in town knows that you’re a priority. He wants everyone to be on their best behavior. What you want, they have to get.”
“I didn’t ask for that.”
“I think it’s one of the many ways he wants to attempt to make amends.” Abriana shrugged. “I’m sorry. I don’t know much. I tend to stay out of the whole club thing.”
Ava nodded. “You can be friends with her. It doesn’t bother me. I’m not going to be part of it. I’m not even thinking of sticking around for much longer.” She opened the door as Abriana caught her arm.
“What do you mean?”
She looked at the hand on her arm and waited for Abriana to let her go, which she did within a matter of seconds. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean—”
“I get it. I’m thinking of selling this place and the bakery. I haven’t replaced the furniture inside, and I have no fresh products waiting to be used. It’s an empty carcass.”
“But you love this town.”
“I thought I did, but feelings can be easily changed.”
“This is about Smokey again.”
Ava smiled at Abriana and pulled away slightly. “Please, don’t worry about it. I’ve got an appointment with a realtor in a week. It’s where I intend to talk to them. I’m looking for another place to live.”
“You’ll wait to make that decision.”
“There’s nothing keeping me here, Abriana. If I decide to make the move, I will. I’ve just got to find someplace where I can set down real roots.” She was checking towns extensively. She’d already made the decision not to live in the city. What she wanted to make sure of was that there were no towns with an MC club.
Fort Clover was the last town she ever wanted to be in. As she climbed into the back of the cab, Abriana joined her, and Ugly Beast tailed them as they made their way into town.
“Will you tell Smokey?” Abriana asked.
“No. I have no reason to tell Smokey anything. He’s not my boss, and I’m not indebted to him. I’m a free woman.” She rubbed at her chest, praying for the pain in her chest to go away.
Thinking of Smokey always made her hurt. She loved him. No doubt about it.
A part of her always would, but she wouldn’t fall for him, not again.
****
It had been a long time since Smokey had experienced a beatdown. His fists were bloody, his nose broken, again. One of his eyes was sealed shut, and his lip was cut. A tooth was missing, and he’d bitten a section of his tongue as well. Aching ribs and a hell of a lot of bruises, but he’d taken on Creed.
Of course, his boys had been alerted that he was in Twisted Bastards territory and the fight hadn’t lasted as long as he’d wanted.
He hadn’t gotten to kill Creed.
Instead, his aching ass was dragged right back home, to where he sat now, in the clubhouse, getting stitched up by the doc.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” Hunter asked.
“That’s your first mistake,” he said, laughing.
“Does it look like I’m laughing?”
“Does it look like I give a fuck?” Smokey asked. “I did what I had to do.”
“You go into their turf, you can guarantee retaliation.”
“We’ll be ready for them.”
Hunter growled and looked ready to punch him. Smokey was more than ready for another throwdown. Any of these bastards wanted to take a turn, he’d be right on them. As soon as the doc had stitched him up, he’d pop them right on open.
“Someone try to reason with him. I’m done trying. He’s not fucking listening to reason.” Hunter shook his head.
“I think it took balls,” Kinky said, who was nursing a bruised jaw.
“Thanks.”
“This because of what he made you do to your woman?” Doc asked.
“Be careful,” Smokey said. Ava wasn’t his woman and knowing that hurt.
He was struggling with not being able to hold her. He’d give anything to wake up with her in his arms. As it was, he just had to relive the memories of all the times he’d taken for granted.
He’d give anything to have Ava back in his arms. Anything.
Doc nodded and went back to finish stitching him up. The doc was leaving as Abriana and Ugly Beast came into the clubhouse.
Ugly Beast held his daughter against his chest, and it looked like little Bella had puked down the leather of his cut.
“Gross,” Smokey said.
Abriana stormed right up to him and glared. “You butchered her hair!”
Smokey looked past Abriana’s shoulder to Ugly Beast, who shrugged. “You asked for Abriana to go and see her. You were right. Out of all of us, she got into the door.”
“And we went to the salon. She hadn’t dealt with her hair, and it looked like a mess. My God, how could you do that to her?” Abriana looked toward the bar. “And you, I don’t like you at all right now.” Her words were directed at Raven.
“Join the club,” Raven said. “You can hate me all you want to, Abriana. It’s not going to change the fact that I already hate myself.”