Journey (Soulless Kings MC: Marble Falls, TX #2)

3. Journey

CHAPTER 3

JOURNEY

I’ve gotta find a way to get this chick out of my head.

“Earth to Journey.”

Crow waves his hand in front of my face, and I shake my head to clear it. Ever since I left Wren’s apartment in the wee hours of the morning, I haven’t been able to get her outta my thoughts.

“Huh?”

Crow frowns. “What the fuck is going on with you?”

“Nothing.”

“Bull,” he snaps. “You’ve been zoned out since we left the clubhouse.”

“Yeah, Journey,” Jackyl taunts as he comes up behind me and slaps my back. “What’s on your mind?”

Crow looks from me to Jackyl and back again. “What does he know that I don’t?” he demands.

“C’mon, J,” Jackyl prods. “Tell us all about it.”

I heave a sigh. “Nothing’s wrong. I just…”

“Aw, fuck,” Crow mutters.

“What?”

“You’ve fallen, and you can’t get up.”

Jackyl howls with laughter. “Good one, Pres.”

Either I’m an idiot, or it wasn’t that good. “What the hell’s that supposed to mean?”

Crow smirks. “All I’m sayin’ is I’ve seen that look before. And man are things about to get interesting.”

Without another word, he turns to walk away. I spin around, but Jackyl’s sauntering toward the hotel elevator, and there are too many people around for me to yell at him.

“Fuckers,” I mutter, picking up my bag and hoisting it over my shoulder.

We’re stuck in this hotel for the rest of the week, but the conference doesn’t start until tomorrow, so I head to my room on the fourth floor to shower off the grime from the road.

Crow and Addi are going out for dinner tonight, which means the rest of us on this trip have time to play. Normally, I’d be all about hitting the local bars, but I’d be shit company right now, and I know it.

Damn woman messing up my head.

As soon as the door closes behind me, I breathe a sigh of relief. At least I can lose my mind in peace.

My phone vibrates in my pocket, and for a split-second, my mood lifts thinking it’s Wren, but then I remember that we didn’t exchange numbers. Hell, I didn’t even get her last name. I waited until she was sound asleep to slip out because I wanted to avoid any awkwardness. I don’t do morning afters, but something tells me I should’ve made an exception.

I pull out my cell and glance at the screen, groaning when I see our road captain’s name.

“What’s up, Screamer?” I say.

“This is the biggest code blue I’ve ever seen,” he grumbles. “Crow’s gonna owe us big for forcing us around this many cops.”

I stifle my laugh as I slip the key card in the slot when I reach my room. I agree with him, but as VP, I have to back our president. “Crow won’t owe us shit. We protect our own, and Addi is one of us now.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Did you need something, or did you just call to bitch?”

“Both. Figured I’d get the bitchin’ outta the way, though.”

Chuckling, I flop down on the bed. “Thanks for that, I guess. Now, what?—”

“I had to make some changes to our route home and wanted to run them by you.”

“What’s wrong with the original plan?”

“Don’t tell me you missed all those construction signs warning about upcoming work,” he says. “I don’t know about you, but I’d like to avoid that mess if possible.”

“Makes sense. Shoot me a screenshot of the new route you found, and I’ll let you know if it’s greenlit.”

“Thanks, brother. I know I could’ve called Crow, but he and Addi just left, and I figure they want to be left alone.”

“You figure right,” I say with a laugh. “Anything else?”

“Nah. I’ll get that over to you as soon as we disconnect.”

After ending the call, I get to my feet and carry my bag into the bathroom. I’m just stepping into the shower when my cell pings with a text notification. I know Screamer can be a bit impatient, so I quickly wash my hair and body.

When I step out of the shower, I wrap a towel around my waist before picking up my phone to look over the new route. Everything appears in order, and I tap out a quick text.

Me: Route is greenlit

Screamer: Thx bro

Once I’m dressed in a pair of sweats, I pull up the room service menu on my cell. Deciding on steak and a loaded baked potato, I place my order and turn on the TV to find something to watch. Settling on a Dateline marathon, I kick back on the bed and tap on the Facebook icon on my phone.

I type ‘Wren’ into the search bar, and numerous results appear. Scrolling through them, my stomach tightens with anticipation, but when I don’t see any picture I recognize, frustration settles in its place.

I’ve gotta find a way to get this chick out of my head before the conference starts tomorrow, or I’m gonna be useless to my club.