The Outlaw Stakes His Claim Read Free Page A

she looked in the mirror
until disgust filled her, had been all it had taken for her to realize it had
all been a lie. No amount of time was going to change the fact that Parker
hadn’t been helping her, but had been keeping her at this horrible crossroads
in her life.
    But he hadn’t cared that she was breaking it off. It
wasn’t until he found out she would be leaving that he had tried to rekindle a friendship
with her. At first she hadn’t understood why he even cared, but then as Parker
became needier for her time she knew that he must have some kind of jealousy
toward her. At least that was the only logical thing she had come up with. Seeing as he was part owner of his father’s mechanic shop, he was
obligated financially and morally to stay in Silver Springs. But she
hadn’t let him “charm” her back into his life, no matter how many times he had
said he loved her. She knew better than to believe anything Parker told her
anymore. Never again would she be another man’s doormat.
    Deleting Parker’s texts and shoving the phone back
in her coat pocket, she scanned the bar. No one really paid much any attention
to her. A few men were groping on some barely dressed women, other guys were
talking loudly at a table, and there, in one of the very farthest tables on the
other side of the room, partially hidden in shadows, was the guy she had seen
on the side of the road. He had a nearly empty bottle of whiskey in front of
him and a glass beside that. Even from the distance he looked three sheets to
the wind. His eyes looked glossy and red-rimmed, and his short blond hair was
messy around his head. She stared at him for a few seconds, and although she
knew it was rude she couldn’t bring herself to look away. He looked huge
sitting at that small table, and she didn’t miss how many of the people kept
their distance from him.
    The waitress came back with her food and set it in
front of her. “You need anything else?”
    Hope pulled her attention from the biker, and knew
the answer to her question before she even asked it. “Who is that guy over
there?”
    The waitress turned and looked. “That’s Dallas, one
of the members of The Grizzly MC.” She faced Hope again. “Over the past month
or so he has been coming in, but before that I only saw him in town on his
bike. Not sure why he hangs out here though when the club has their own hangout
spot.” She shrugged. “Not my concern, I guess. He pays for his liquor, and no
one messes with him, not unless they want him to shift on their ass.”
    “Shift?” Hope asked.
    The waitress nodded. “Yeah, The Grizzly MC is made
up of some very big and scary bear shifters. Hence the whole ‘Grizzly’ patch .” The waitress chuckled, but Hope could tell she
wasn’t trying t be a bitch about it. “Not sure what goes through his head when
he sits there, but it’s kind of sad, even if I know he could wipe out this
whole bar even so drunk he could hardly stand.” Mara shook her head slowly. “I
see a lot of sad people come in here, mainly to drown their sorrows or mask
their anger. That one though,” she kept staring at the biker, “he has something
really dark inside of him.” The waitress didn’t say anything more, and left
Hope when another customer called for her attention.
    She shouldn’t have looked over at Dallas again, but
all she kept hearing in her head was that was the waitress telling her that he
had something dark inside of him. He lifted his glass and finished off the
amber colored alcohol inside of it. But as soon as that glass hit the table he
was slowly lifting his eyes and staring right at her. There was this spark
inside of her, this curiosity and fear, and something else that moved within
her. Hope didn’t like how it felt, didn’t like that it had her heart racing and
her palms sweating. She didn’t even have to be beside him to know he was
dangerous, but not just in a violent way.
    He leaned back in the chair, keeping his eyes
trained on