CHAPTER 7 — THE GIRL THEY NOTICED
969 Words
(Gina’s POV)
By Saturday morning, I was exhausted.
Not physically.
Emotionally.
The clubhouse party had left my nerves raw, and Reaper’s voice still echoed in my head in ways I hated.
You’re in my world now. Stop expecting it to make sense.
I should have been angry.
I was angry.
But underneath it, something worse lingered.
Confusion.
Because every time he looked at me, it felt like I mattered.
And every time he spoke, he made sure I understood I didn’t.
That contradiction was becoming impossible to ignore.
Tessa was already in the kitchen when I came downstairs, coffee mug in one hand, laptop open on the table.
Her blonde hair was piled into a messy bun, and the look she gave me was way too knowing.
“You look like you fought a war.”
I dropped into the chair across from her.
“Feels like I did.”
She smirked.
“With Reaper?”
I glared.
“With your biker world.”
That made her laugh.
“It’s not my biker world. It’s Chains’ world. I just survive in it.”
I stared at the laptop.
“What are you working on?”
Her whole face lit up.
“The boutique idea.”
That immediately caught my attention.
Before my mom got sick, opening a women’s boutique had been our dream.
Something elegant. Comfortable. A place for women rebuilding themselves.
A place that felt safe.
Grief tightened in my chest, but this time it came with something else.
Purpose.
I pulled the laptop closer.
“You were serious?”
Tessa leaned forward excitedly.
“Completely. Raven Hollow doesn’t have anything like it. Between the biker old ladies, club girls, and regular women in town, we’d make a killing.”
For the first time since moving here, I felt something close to excitement.
Real excitement.
Not survival. Not distraction.
A future.
We spent the next two hours planning everything.
The storefront location downtown. Inventory ideas. Social media. The vibe we wanted—soft luxury mixed with bold confidence.
It felt good.
More than good.
It felt like breathing after weeks underwater.
By noon, Tessa snapped the laptop shut.
“Come on. Let’s go see the space.”
The building sat three blocks from Main Street.
Brick exterior. Tall front windows. Enough floor space to create exactly what we wanted.
The moment I stepped inside, I could already imagine it.
Cream walls. Gold racks. Soft lighting. A fitting room corner with velvet curtains.
My chest tightened for an entirely different reason now.
This was hope.
Tessa smiled at me.
“You’re doing that face.”
“What face?”
“The one where you’re already decorating.”
I laughed softly.
For the first time in days, it felt natural.
As we stepped back outside, sunlight warming the sidewalk, I finally felt like maybe Raven Hollow could become something more than grief and dangerous men.
That feeling lasted exactly ten seconds.
A black SUV slowed across the street.
The tinted window rolled halfway down.
A man I had never seen before sat behind the wheel.
Dark beard. Scar across his cheek. Eyes too cold to belong to a stranger.
He looked directly at me.
Not Tessa.
Me.
Slowly, deliberately, his gaze dragged over my face like he was memorizing it.
A chill ran through me.
Tessa’s smile disappeared instantly.
She grabbed my arm.
“Get in the car.”
My pulse jumped. “Why?”
“Now, Gina.”
The sharpness in her voice made my stomach drop.
We rushed toward her Jeep parked near the curb.
When I glanced back, the SUV was still there.
Still watching.
The man’s expression never changed.
By the time we pulled into traffic, my hands were shaking.
“Who was that?” I asked.
Tessa gripped the steering wheel tighter.
“I don’t know.”
That was a lie.
I could hear it.
“Tessa.”
She exhaled sharply.
“Could be one of the Iron Jackals.”
The name meant nothing to me.
Until she explained.
“Rival club. They’ve been circling Black Vipers territory for months.”
Ice slid through my veins.
“Why would they watch me?”
She hesitated.
Because she knew.
Because we both knew.
Reaper.
I looked out the window, heart pounding harder now.
Because if rival bikers had noticed me…
Then last night’s warning suddenly made terrifying sense.
By evening, the anxiety hadn’t faded.
I was in the living room pretending to focus on boutique notes when Chains came through the front door.
One look at Tessa’s face and his entire posture changed.
“What happened?”
Tessa told him everything.
The storefront. The SUV. The scarred man.
By the time she finished, Chains was already pulling out his phone.
His expression had gone hard.
Enforcer hard.
“Stay inside tonight,” he ordered.
I frowned. “Is this really that serious?”
Chains looked directly at me.
“In our world? The moment enemies notice a woman tied to the president, it gets serious.”
The president.
Reaper.
The words landed harder than they should have.
Because I wasn’t tied to him.
Not really.
And yet somehow everyone else already seemed to think otherwise.
Chains finished his call and looked at us grimly.
“Prez is on his way.”
My pulse skipped.
Part dread. Part something far more dangerous.
Because if Reaper was coming here…
Then this wasn’t just jealousy and mixed signals anymore.
This was protection.
And maybe war.
Thirty minutes later a motorcycle engine roared outside the house.
Deep. Powerful. Unmistakable.
Then Chains looked at me and said—
“Don’t argue with him tonight. Reaper doesn’t like when his property is threatened.”
Property.
The word hit like fire.
Because I had a feeling Reaper was about to use it too.
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD