Ash (Dragon Riders MC #3) - Savannah Rylan Page 0,13

step at a time, Ash.”

I shrugged him off. “Hannah, what’s his name?”

She shook her head. “The main reason why I took the gig was for the money. I need it to pay off my school debt and the rest of my credit card. But just like I told Slash inside a few minutes ago, I was going to use the rest of the money and the free space on my credit card to move. Preferably, across the country.”

Sly furrowed his brow. “You’re being stalked.”

She nodded. “Yeah, and it hasn’t been fun. No matter what I do, he won’t stop. I see him outside of my apartment, just sitting in his car. He leaves me notes in the morning, every morning, in my mailbox. I even found him following me in his car a few times whenever I leave to get groceries. My entire life operates out of a studio apartment right now because of that asshole, and the police won’t do a damn thing about it.”

Link clicked his tongue. “Why not?”

She shrugged. “Because he’s a police officer, and they think I’m full of it.”

I growled. “You’ll be safe with me if you come. We’re eight hours away, at the very least. All the way down in upstate New York. You can have your own place, or you can live in the basement apartment of my place, and I’ll help you get set up in whatever town you choose to live.”

Link whispered. “Ash, are you sure about this?”

I shot him a piercing look before I turned my attention back to her.

“If that’s what you want, Hannah, I can make that happen. All you have to do is come with me.”

She shrugged. “I mean, I can’t do that now. I don’t have the money to—”

“You leave that to me.”

“Uh, Ash?” Sly asked.

I snarled at him. “All of you, shut the fuck up.”

Hannah giggled. “Let me get this straight: you’re willing to put me up somewhere, pay off my debts, and help me get a job so I can get established in a city somewhere?”

I shrugged. “You were going to do it alone, anyway. Might as well do it with someone who wants to help you out.”

Her eyes danced between mine before she nodded.

“All right,” she said.

I blinked. “All right, you’ll think about it?”

She shook her head. “All right, as in—let me go tell Slash that I’m heading out with you guys tonight.”

Knuckles interjected. “You don’t need to go pack things up or anything like that?”

Hannah shook her head. “I don’t own much. I’ve moved twice to try and get away from my ex, and he finds me every time. I carry around two bags with me, and those two bags hold my entire life. They’re in the back of the bar. I’ll grab them after I’m done talking to my cousin.”

Then, she disappeared into the bar.

And I wondered just how much of this conversation about her ex she had truncated for the moment.

6

Hannah

“Hannah.”

I ignored my cousin as I charged my way into the back of the bar.

“Hannah!”

I shook my head as I reached for both handles of my bags and heaved them to my side.

“Hannah, don’t ignore me when I’m calling for you!”

I sighed. “What, Slash?”

I turned around and saw my big-bosomed cousin staring at the door with “the look” on her face.

“Oh, don’t give me that shit,” I said.

“And where the hell do you think you’re going?”

“I’m taking my chances and getting the hell away from here, that’s what I’m doing.”

“Oh, I know what you’re doing. I asked where you’re going.”

I shook my head. “None of your business.”

She pointed to the ground. “You put those bags back down right now and you talk to me.”

I swallowed hard. “He found me again, Slash.”

She blinked. “What?”

I sighed. “He found me.”

“When?”

“A few days ago, when we were still planning this whole thing and about to execute it. He saw me at the thrift shop rummaging around for an outfit and he followed me back to my place.”

She took a step toward me. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this?”

I scoffed. “Why the fuck do you think I packed my shit up and came to sleep in the back of the bar all this time?”

“I don’t know. I thought you were moving again and needed a place to crash. Or maybe something at your place was getting fixed and you needed to get out for a few days.”

“Well, none of those things are the case. And I’m taking the chance I’ve got now and