3. Lyla

The clubhouse reeks of pot, leather, and sweat. From anywhere inside you can usually hear someone at a distance fucking. It's disgusting, dirty, and no place for anyone with a moral compass.

But to me, it's home.

Kane might not like it when I spend time in the clubhouse with the guys, but as long as it's daytime and they aren't throwing a party, he stopped getting on my case about it. The guys know to act right, and I keep my distance from the few that make me nervous.

We've learned to coexist in this environment full of debauchery.

I live in the neighborhood, but it's empty there—especially after Ellie moved to San Francisco the moment we turned eighteen. It's only a matter of time before Reed's next. She has her college acceptance letter, and by the fall, she'll disappear as well. Everyone's growing up and moving on, while I'm stuck in place. Still not sure what I'm doing with my future.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. The first time Mom brought me and Ellie here, it was so she could get a better job. She was going to make enough money to finally get us out of LA, and as far away from Kane and the club as possible.

But one business trip turned into another until she stopped coming back. At first, we got phone calls, then letters. But then they all tapered off. I think it was easier for her to forget we existed than to feel the guilt of leaving us with Kane.

I wasn't surprised as Mom slowly became a ghost. I'd seen it coming in every conversation she had with Kane in front of us. Every threat he'd make about taking her daughters away.

She took the path of least resistance, and it didn't hurt my feelings. But Ellie took it hard. She's the heart-on-her-sleeve twin while I'm the skeptical one. So to fix her broken heart, she replaced Mom's presence with a boyfriend. And then another. And another.

Now she's gone too.

And here I am, stuck in this place because I can't seem to make a decision.

The door to the clubhouse opens, and I know whose footsteps they are before anyone turns the corner. Quick, determined. Always moving with purpose.

I pretend not to notice as Sage walks into the room with heavy steps, but I'm probably failing as I fidget with my tarot deck. Tucking my feet beneath me in the chair, I shuffle the cards around, fanning them into an arc to try to seem busy.

Sage pauses when he's halfway to the kitchen. Frozen in place as he weighs his decision. He's so used to bossing me around and kicking me out of the clubhouse that it's almost like he doesn't know what to do with me now. Let me be or walk over here.

He chooses the latter.

Magnetism is funny like that. Even if he tries to resist it, he can't.

Sage stops in front of the table, crossing his arms over his chest. "So you're at it with the cards again?"

"Yeah." I sweep my fingers over the backs of the cards, and their energy practically vibrates beneath my fingertips. "Want to go next?"

"No fucking way." He narrows his gaze. "And if you're not careful, you're going to live up to that witchy nickname the guys have given you."

I roll my eyes because the guys are always giving me crap for my cards and my fortunes. But they also always secretly come to me when they want to know something.

"They can say what they want." I shrug, flipping over a card. "I'm not scared of the future, and if they are, that's on them. Besides, if my cards bother anyone, they can walk away and not watch."

"You're the one who insists on hanging out in the clubhouse." Sage narrows his eyes as I flip over another card. "Can't you do this shit in the neighborhood?"

The neighborhood.

Some name for a place that's more like a ghost town lately.

It was originally built so the council could keep their families close and safe. But in reality, it's just another form of control. Proven by the fact that all the guys still have rooms at the clubhouse, including my father.

Anything interesting at the Twisted Kings compound doesn't happen in the neighborhood. It happens here.

Something Sage knows as well, which is why he's never there. He'd rather crash in the city at that place above the tattoo parlor or at the clubhouse than in his dad's empty house that sits next to mine.

"I'm fine here," I tell him. "It's too quiet in the neighborhood. I can't stand it."

"Fine." Sage pulls out the chair across the table from me. He spins it around and straddles it. "What kind of spells are you casting today?"

"They're tarot cards. Not spells." I roll my eyes. "And you can judge me all you want; you aren't going to scare me away. Just because you're too afraid to know your fate doesn't mean everyone feels the same. Just ask Nick and Bullet. They were over here a few minutes ago happy to hear their fortunes."

Sage glances over his shoulder at the guys milling around the clubhouse.

"You're Kane's daughter," Sage says through gritted teeth. "They shouldn't be talking to you."

"Why not? It's just conversation. It's not like they were trying to get in my pants."

His glare cuts back to me so fast. "Because they're twice your age and fucking dead if they try."

Something edging on possession brims in his tone, and I bask in it.

Leaning forward, I run my teeth over my bottom lip just to see if he'll take the bait, and when his stare dips for the briefest second, I accept the win.

"You're talking to me," I point out, returning to my cards.

"That's different."

"Is it?" I challenge him. "At least they're nice, unlike you."

"They shouldn't be nice; they should kick fucking rocks."

"Because of their bad intentions?" I mock him. "Like you're so innocent. Or is that what this is about, Sage? You're actually trying to remind yourself to stay away from me?"

His jaw ticks. "Don't need to."

"You sure about that?" I push the cards into a single stack and fold my hands over the top of them, facing off with him.

With all the boredom that comes from being stuck at the Twisted Kings compound, at least pushing Sage's buttons provides some entertainment.

So, if he's going to follow me around acting like I'm a damsel in need of a knight in shining armor, I'm going to push them. Especially since I'm not blind to the way he looks at me every time I walk in the room lately.

When I first moved to the compound, I was a little kid, and he was Reed's annoying older brother always bossing us around. But now, we're both grown up. No longer the same aimless children who made it our life mission to drive each other insane. Things have been changing slowly over time. We might be around each other less now that he's officially a prospect and is balancing that with working at the shop, but when we are around each other, the tension is brimming.

It might not change the fact that I'll never settle down with a biker and he'd never cross my father, but the undeniable attraction is there. No point trying to escape it, so instead, I use it to get under his skin.

"I don't need to remind myself to stay away from you, Lyla. Unlike the other guys around here, I'm clear on what a fucking nuisance you've always been."

He's trying to be an asshole to push me away.

"Whatever you say." I smile because I know he's lying to himself.

And the fact that his teeth clench when I do is proof that he doesn't appreciate my amusement.

"Done?" he asks when I slide my deck back into the box and slip them into my bag.

"I was done before you walked in." I sling my bag over my shoulder, chewing on the inside of my cheek as I watch him.

"What?" he fires back when I don't stand or break our staring contest.

"I saw the future, you know."

"Seriously?" He leans back, lacing his fingers together and wrapping them around the back of his head.

"Yes, seriously."

His eyes narrow. "What did you see?"

I pause for a moment, debating between keeping it to myself or handing him the ammunition. But Sage already thinks I'm odd, so it's not like it can get worse.

"I saw that you're my destiny."

"Come on." He stands up, spinning the chair around again like it can create some distance. "You can't say shit like that, Lyla."

"What? The truth?"

"Fortunes aren't truth. They're daydreams, or wishes, or whatever other false hope you're feeding on. But they aren't reality."

I knew when I said it, he'd go on the defense like he does every time he's faced with the fact that things between us are changing. But he doesn't have to be such an ass about it.

"Never mind." I shove my chair out and stand up. "Tell Kane I'm headed home if you see him."

"Lyla, wait." Sage grabs my arm before I make it to the front door, spinning me around to face him.

The force presses my back to the hard wooden surface, and I don't know if he means to stand this close, but he doesn't back up.

"What, Sage?" I'm frustrated and out of breath.

I know I'm young. I know I'm na?ve. I know we've got nothing in common, when all he wants is to be a biker, and I want nothing more than to escape this place. But I hate that my heart races with his body this close.

And I can't escape that feeling he gives me.

"It's just—" He cuts himself off, brushing his hand over his face.

"You don't need to explain yourself to me. You asked, and I was answering. It doesn't matter anyway, right? You're not a believer."

He drops his hands to his sides, defeated. "Right."

But he doesn't back up, and I can barely breathe with him this close. It was easier when we were younger. When I could think of him as Reed's overprotective brother, and he could look at me like his biggest headache.

Now, I'm not sure what this is. His leather cut is proof that even if we try to figure it out, I'll never stay with him. And my father is enough of a reason that Sage won't cross the line.

"This used to be simpler," I mumble.

"What did?"

"Everything." I gnaw the inside of my cheek. "Wrong age, wrong time, wrong place, wrong guy. Screw the cards, right?"

He stares down at me, his jaw ticking with each reminder of how we'll never be right for each other. It was age before and now it's him being a prospect for my father's club. A rift slowly ripping a canyon between us.

"Wishes or not, it was a nice thought anyway." I dig my hands into my pockets. "Besides, I'm leaving in a few months. Ellie's boyfriend is getting a new place in San Francisco, and she said I can come crash with her."

"You're leaving LA?"

I nod when the lump in my throat makes it impossible to form words.

"Good." He nods, but I don't think he means it.

"Yeah. It's better than the alternative." I look around the clubhouse. "Nothing good follows my dad, and I'm not getting caught in the middle of it again. Besides, it's not like there's anything worth staying for."

I want him to tell me I'm wrong.

I want him to give me a reason.

I want him to admit I'm not imagining what's happening between us.

And I want him to tell me I'm worth him not officially patching in.

But he won't. Sage was born and raised a Twisted King. And I'm just a girl who doesn't stack up to the parade of women always prancing through here.

"That's what I thought." Turning, I reach for the door handle and pull it open, stepping outside and wishing it would bring the air back to my lungs.

"I thought you said we were destiny?" Sage says after me as I make my way down the steps.

But I don't look back, no matter how much I want to. "And I thought you didn't believe in fate."