Read Online Wild Child (Rock Royalty #6) by Christie Ridgway - Free Book Online Page B

place for you, Ash.”
    Anger shot up her spine. “I’m the one who determines the place for me.” Finally, she was doing that—as opposed to what others expected of her. She slammed her arms over her chest. “I have a right to be at the roadhouse.”
    His brows lifted. “I meant manning the front door. You’re not exactly bouncer material.”
    Oh. Still, she lifted her chin. “I got them to leave, didn’t I?” Then she narrowed her eyes. “What will it take for you to do the same?”
    So much for playing Happy Host, but she didn’t want him around on her lucky night. With other men, she’d had no trouble keeping them far from her inner self. But in the space of a few dark hours during their one-night stand, Brody Maddox had exposed emotions she locked behind high walls, emotions that were too big to manage and too painful to address. Caution advised putting distance between them now because in his arms she became too vulnerable.
    “Hostile,” he remarked, his tone mild.
    Just then Jim returned to his post and Ashlynn decided the fastest way to get rid of the unwelcome Brody Maddox was to pretend he didn’t exist.
    “Excuse me,” she murmured, gathering her dignity as she turned away. “I have responsibilities at the bar.”
    Where there wasn’t an empty seat, she was gratified to discover, meaning she wouldn’t have to serve her former one-night-stand. Sure, she could ask Jim to encourage Brody to exit Satan’s altogether, but that was taking things too far, she decided, sneaking a peek in his direction. He’d found his way to one of the open stools alongside the drink-wide ledge lining the side wall.
    There was no sense in not taking his money. She was a businesswoman, after all.
    One who poured herself a shot of vodka from which she took tiny sips as she worked. It wasn’t a habit, despite what Brody likely thought. When they’d met it had been her third night at the roadhouse after returning to Topanga. She’d gotten drunk, and then egged on by the customers and inspired by the stories about the way Brae ran the place, she’d jumped up on the bar and danced, laughing and smiling each time a man tucked a bill in her boot.
    All the while her gaze had been drawn to the dark-haired hunk watching her out of those amazing blue eyes.
    Full of false courage and determined to keep ghosts at bay, at the evening’s end she’d propositioned him, expecting all the surface excitement that his male beauty and meaningless sex promised.
    Fuck him and forget him , her sister had whispered in Ashlynn’s head, and she’d done the first very, very well.
    Too bad the second continued to elude her.
    Even as this lucky Saturday night came to a close, and she realized that unforgettable Brody Maddox had left Satan’s without saying goodbye.
    Ridiculous, how that rankled, she thought, shaking her head. Ashlynn being her own worst enemy again.
    The cleaners arrived, and she collected her things, waved to the husband-and-wife team, then slipped out the front door. It was the most direct route to the trailer where she’d been staying. The security lights in the parking lot weren’t much help against the darkness, but they revealed the silvery bullets of the drenching rain she could hear pattering on the blacktop. She slung her purse over her chest and shoved her arms in the sleeves of a slicker, cinching the hood around her head.
    As she stepped off the porch, a body materialized beside her.
    Her shriek lodged in her throat when she realized it was Brody.
    “Wha?” she managed to choke out, her pulse still racing.
    “I’ll walk you home,” he said.
    This time she managed to be more articulate. “Why?”
    He better not think she was interested in sleeping with him again. Though you are , Brae’s voice was whispering in her head again.
    “Maybe it’s just your night, honey.”
    The rain pelted the shoulders of her jacket, the cold penetrating if not the wet. Had he said “Maybe it’s just your night?” It