The Outlaw Stakes His Claim Read Free

appearing she was at least ten years older than that, and clothes so
tight and revealing that they left nothing to the imagination. The girl would
have been so much more beautiful without all of the crap on her face, that was evident.
    “Are you here to eat or drink?” the woman asked
again.
    “Eat, please.”
    The girl nodded and smiled broadly. Her bright red
painted lips stretched across her white teeth. She led Hope toward one of the
very back tables, set a menu that looked like it hadn’t been washed in a few
years, and left. But before Hope even had her jacket off or the menu open the waitress was back with a glass of water set in
front of her and her little notepad out.
    “You figure out what you want?”
    “Mara, why don’t you come on over here and show Pappa some attention,” a man over by the pool table yelled
out.
    The waitress turned around and lifted her hand to
give him the finger. There was a round of laughter, and then Mara was turning
back and giving her attention to Hope. “Sorry, ‘bout that. This is the type of
men that hang out at the edge of town.” She grinned widely. “They come here
from the few towns over, mainly good guys, but horny as all get-out.”
    Hope slowly nodded, because she really didn’t know
what to say.
    “You new in Steel Corner or
passing through?”
    “New.” The sound of a bottle shattering came from
the other side of the room. Hope half expected to see a brawl break out, but
all she saw was men slapping each other on the back and throwing their heads
back to laugh.
    “Well, this is a good town to live in, quiet most of
the time, but the MC pretty much keeps things in order and people in line.”
    “The MC?” Hope had read enough books and seen enough movies that she knew what the hell
happened with a motorcycle club—for the most part—but there was an actual club
in this town that controlled things? It seemed ridiculous and
… frightening. The waitress must have seen her uncertainty in her face.
    She started chuckling. “Don’t look so scared.
Believe me, if they weren’t here I think a lot of
really scary shit would go down.” She shook her head and turned toward the bar.
“Rocky, put a burger on the grill and fry up a fresh basket of fries.” She
turned back to Hope and smiled again. “Trust me, you
might not want to eat anything else here.” She winked, took the menu, and
sauntered off.
    Hope was speechless. She grabbed her water and took
a drink. Okay, so her new home would be filled with bikers, ones that were the
unofficial police of town. She could handle that. It wasn’t like she would be
dealing with them anyway. Her moving expenses would be taken care of, but she
wouldn’t get the keys for the place she would be renting until Monday. It was
Saturday, and although she could have easily waited until then to drive up, she
figured she could get acquainted with Steel Corner and learn the lay of the land.
    While she waited for her food she grabbed her phone
out of her pocket and stared at the screen. She had called her parents as soon
as she had gotten to the motel, but had ignored the few texts that Parker had
sent her. She had broken up with him a year ago, and up until he found out she
was leaving he had kept his distance. She had thought he would be the man she
married one day, because as sad as it sounded, he had been the only guy that
had showed her attention. But when facing low self-esteem, suffering from an
eating disorder, and using a lot of energy to hide it, Hope had dealt with a
lot of inner hatred. She tried to make herself see that she was special and not
this fat and ugly girl. Parker had been that boy that had looked at her as
something more. But in reality he had never seen her as special or loved her. Turns
out her “Prince Charming” had liked to sleep around and enjoyed belittling her behind
her back because it made him feel better about himself. Overhearing him say the
things he had, things that she had told herself when