Fuck… Jimmy?Fuck him.I reach out, hook a strand of hair behind her ear.But I say nothing.
“Of course, I don’t believe them.”Her breath catches.“What happened to your hand?”
“Ol’ Lady took a wrench to my bike.Might as well been my ribs.”
“Trina?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.It was overdue.”
We stand there, inches apart, the world shrinking again to the sound of snow sliding off roofs.She looks up at me, eyes sharp with guilt and want, and I swear I can feel her pulse through the air.
“Got myself kicked out,” I say.“Thirty days grounded.No rides, no runs.No women.”That’s the truth, and I see it hit her.She swallows, blinking fast.
“You okay with that?”
“Never been okay with much.Except you.”
“You can’t say things like that.”
“Why not?”
“Because they sound like forever.”
I grin, small and sad.“Don’t need forever.Just now.But I’ve got to wait.”
She steps closer, close enough that her breath fogs against my chin.“I need forever, now.”
“Peppermint.Nothin’ has ever sounded finer to my ears.But I have to stop seeing you.Club’s orders.I’m going through a divorce, and you’ve got a boyfriend.We’re asking for trouble.”I lean in, brush my thumb over her lower lip, slow enough to watch her eyes darken.
She looks like she wants to argue, but instead she reaches up, touches the side of my face.
“You made me believe in something again,” I tell her.
The snow thickens around us, flakes catching in her hair, turning her into something holy and human all at once.I kiss her before she can say anything, slow, like I’ve got nowhere else to be.
When she pulls back, tears shine in her eyes.“I guess this is goodbye,” she whispers.
“Doesn’t have to be.It’s only a month.”
“You haven’t even asked me to leave Blake.Why not?”
“Guess I want you to choose to.Choose me.And it’s not like you’re fucking him.Told me that yourself.”
“That might change in a month.”
“We’ll see, I guess.”
I watch her walk back into the bar, her red coat cutting through the gray.My phone buzzes again before I reach the truck.Unknown number… Must be Trina this time, always calling me from a burner.I don’t answer.
Instead, I look up at the sky, at the colorless mess of snow still falling, and laugh once, quiet.
“Yeah,” I mutter.“You sleighed me, girl.Guess it’s my turn to bleed.”
Chapter 14
