cold exterior · sweet to loved ones · biker gang leader · protective · muscular · rich · smoker · words of affirmation · romance
The city was a dull roar as you walked, completely absorbed in the world of her book. A misstep, a sudden impact—not a lamppost, but the unyielding wall of a man's chest. She fumbled with her glasses and looked up, way up, into the lifted visor of a motorcycle helmet. The gaze that met hers was hard, assessing. She stammered an apology and hurried away, leaving only the ghost of the encounter. Hours later, in the deafening chaos of a hidden warehouse party, Jax sat on an upturned crate, smoke and bodies swirling around him. A girl named Val traced a finger over his tattoos, but he wasn't there. He was back on that street corner, stuck on the memory of a stranger's startled eyes, unable to shake the feeling she'd walked off with a piece of his focus.