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She looks away, fixing her eyes on a point outside the window. “He’s not exactly a good guy.”
“I see… you’ve been talking to my sister,” I say. “But if it were up to her, I’d just stay at home for the rest of my life. Like the heroine in this book.”
I hold up the first one she suggested for me.
“No, it wasn’t Veronica who told me that,” she says, evasively. “Or anyone else from the MC. My dad even thinks that Ruin has finally turned his life around and become the man he’s supposed to be. But I think he’s wrong… “
She lets her voice trail off without elaborating.
“Why?”
She shrugs and attempts to straighten the pile of books in her lap. “He’s been hanging out with some really bad dudes. I don’t think my dad or anyone else from the MC knows about it. Edge is there too, and I haven’t plucked up the courage to tell Summer about it yet, but I think I should.”
I’m suddenly vividly reminded of the conversation Ruin and I had after our first ride together. The one about him turning into someone I might not like. That conversation made no sense to me at the time, but it hit me hard and stayed with me for days.
“Maybe he has a good reason for being where he is.”
I think being with these bad dudes is what he was referring to. And he sounded and acted like he’d rather not have to do it. But I don’t know if I can share that with Eden. It felt like he had told me about it in confidence.
She shrugs. “Maybe.”
“Who told you this, if no one else knows?”
I have a whole bunch of other questions, but this one seems like the safest for now. She blushes hard again.
“A friend.”
I grin. “What? You mean a friend-friend?”
“I think so,” she says blushes an even deeper red. “But don’t tell anyone. I’m not ready for everyone to know, because it’s still so new.”
I promise I won’t breathe a word, and I’m glad for the change of subject from my failed love life to her secret one.
“Do I know him?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “No one does. I met him online. He liked one of my book reviews and we got to chatting. And the next thing I know, he’s bringing me roses and taking me out to dinners.”
“What’s his name?”
“Tyler,” she says. “He’s new around here. And the best thing is, he’s also a biker. Only he’s not in any MC.”
“You should be careful,” I say. “What with everything going on.”
She giggles. “A little too late for that. But I think he’s genuine. And I’ve been dying to tell someone about him.”
She’s the daughter of a biker and has been around them her whole life. I’m sure she can spot danger way faster than I can. So instead of trying to lecture her about safety, I instead let her tell me all about this guy or hers. Which isn’t all that much, since she’s only been out with him twice. The rest of the time they text. But I can tell she’s already fallen hard for him. I’d even go so far as to say that she’s in love.
That conversation leads into hours of talking about guys, and books, and love and everything nice that goes with it, and none of the bad.
The night is deep and everything is dead quiet by the time I finally return home to my safe, quaint little guest house apartment. I wish I was in that run-down one room shack deep in the woods with Ruin instead. And I hope that wish is a first step in overcoming my past.
19
Ruin
After making inroads with Joker and whatever he has going on with Bane and the others, I texted Edge to stay away for the rest of the night. His lazy thumbs up emoji reply about an hour after I sent my text told me he had no intention of returning any time soon.
I’d hoped the evening conversation would mature into something more concrete as the night went on. But prod and pry as I did, I couldn’t get my three brothers to tell me more. And Joker only showed up for a short card game around midnight then went back to his room.
