Page 33 of Ash (Dragon Riders MC 3)
Maybe I’m not strong enough to be on my own after all.13AshWork sucked. The meetings sucked. The paperwork sucked, the customers sucked, and restocking the bar fucking sucked balls. Ever since Hannah stormed out of here, everything seemed gray and gloomy. When she left, a trail of her anger filled the expanse of the bar, seemingly affecting everyone in it. Sly kept snapping at people. Link didn’t want to speak until it was urgent. Bowser came in with a frown on his face and kept spewing vile wherever I turned around, and even Knuckles raised his voice at someone. Knuckles! The man who barely talked some days!
And I couldn't get my mind off Hannah.
“Damn it,” I murmured.
A knock came at my door. “You got a second?”
I turned at the sound of Link’s voice. “What’s up?”
He slipped into my office and closed the door. “I want to speak with you about Hannah.”
I sighed. “I’m about to leave right now and patch things up with—”
He held up his hand. “Not what I’m talking about.”
I spun around in my chair. “Oh, boy.”
“What?”
“This can’t be good. The tone of your voice isn’t.”
“Bah, you read into things too much.”
“Am I wrong, though?”
He blinked. “Is something going on between you two?”
“What do you mean?”
He grinned. “How long has it been going on?”
“I’m not following.”
He chuckled. “So, it’s pretty recent, then.”
“How the ever-blessed fuck do you do that?”
He smiled. “Comes with the territory. I know my men well. We’re family, and that’s what happens when people become family. Congratulations, by the way.”
I snickered. “Not sure if you should say that just yet. I pissed her off before she left out of here this morning.”
“And you can’t stop thinking about it, right?”
I blinked. “Right.”
“Then, what the hell are you still doing here, Ash?”
“Got work, Link.”
“No, what you’ve got is a reason to stay away from your place when you really need to go and patch things up with your girl.”
“She’s not my girl, Link.”
“Well, she’s definitely not just your job.”
I sighed. “What the fuck am I supposed to do, huh? Women make us weak. It’s what happens. They become targets in our lifestyle.”
“Yes. They do.”
I spun back around. “Don’t you think Hannah’s been through enough?”
He shrugged. “Sounds like something you should ask her.”
Sometimes, the answer was simple. And that’s all it took for me to leap out of my chair. Link stepped off to the side as I rushed out of my office, not bothering to lock it up. I knew Link would, anyway, after he double-checked my things. He always double-checked things when he could, despite how much it pissed some of us off. It didn’t stop me from racing back to my place, though. It didn’t stop me from skidding to a halt right in front of my porch step and bounding right into my home.
“Hannah!” I roared.
Nothing but silence greeted me, though.
“Hannah! Where are you? We need to talk!”
I charged through the house, heading straight into the basement. But when I got down there, she was nowhere to be found. Hell, I couldn't even smell her, and that wasn’t good. That meant the basement had been vacant long enough to clear out any residual effects of her.
“Hannah!” I bellowed.
I raced back up the stairs and tore through the front door. And when I wrapped around the side of the house, my heart fell to my knees. The car wasn’t there. And that was my only other mode of transportation around here.
Did Hannah not come home?
“Hannah!” I roared.
Panic filled my gut. My hands shook. I rushed back into the house and checked the basement one more time, making sure to leave no stone unturned. She wasn’t in the bathroom or in her bed. She wasn’t in the closet, hiding from me just to spite me. She wasn’t tucked away in the breakfast nook by the window and she wasn’t in my room. She wasn’t anywhere to be found on my fucking property.
“I have to call Link.”
I ripped my phone out of my pocket and started to dial before a familiar number raced through. I grumbled as I swallowed my pride and answered the call, hoping this woman would at least have some answers for me. Maybe that was what happened. Maybe Hannah got so pissed off with me that she decided to go home.
“Slash, tell me you have Hannah,” I said as I answered the phone.
She scoffed. “I knew this would happen. I told you she needed to stay with me if she was going to stay safe!”
I bounded back toward the front door. “If you don’t have Hannah, tell me you at least have an explanation for why she’s not at my place right now.”
“I don’t know where she is. I’ve been looking for her myself. I’ve been looking for her ever since this morning when my sources informed me that David figured out you two were together. Which I’ll kill you for later.”
