Page 6 of Cole

He hadn’t glanced around, so I felt safe to study him. He moved through the bar like he was on a mission. He nodded to a few people but didn’t speak to anyone. Every man stepped out of his way, and every woman tracked his movement through the place. It felt like the entire bar was holding its breath.

The man made his way over to the two guys at the end of the bar, leaning in and talking to them in a voice so low that the murmur of the crowd drowned out his words. The two men leaned in, tension lining their shoulders as they listened. He had to be telling them something important. Was it club business? Illegal business?

“Don’t tell me you’re another woman here to try her luck with the boss?” Ronnie murmured, giving me the side-eye. Her expression made it clear that she was reassessing her decision to be nice to me.

“The boss? You mean… Cole Bailey? He owns this bar, doesn’t he?”

Ronnie smirked as if she saw right through my faux nonchalance.

“Sure does, and the shop around back… as well as about ten other properties in town. He’s quite the renaissance man, not that you’d know it by looking at him.”

“Hmm,” I agreed, studying the man in question. I’d seen him before, of course; he was impossible to miss. We’d even spoken briefly, though I doubted he’d remember me. Tall, tattooed, and absolutely lethal looking. He was hard in a way that made others avert their eyes. It should make me look away too. At this point, I was staring. He looked a little like his brother, Marcus, and also not. Marcus had an ease about him, a confident charm that made others gravitate to him, despite being a hard-as-nails hockey player.

But his brother? He had none of that softness. And he was magnetic.

“I feel that it is my duty to tell you that many stubborn bitches have made a play for Cole, but he doesn’t go for it. I’ve never seen him with a woman,” Ronnie admitted.

“Meaning?” I wondered.

“Meaning he’s either really discreet, or he goes to another town to fuck around.”

“Oh, right. I thought you were insinuating that he was gay,” I murmured, and Ronnie burst out laughing. The sound carried across the bar during a lull in the music.

One of the guys Cole was talking to looked over, then said something to the boss himself.

Cole turned toward us just as a voice spoke from beside me.

“Hey,” a younger man said, stepping between me and Cole’s probing gaze. “Did you just call Cole gay?”

I focused on the newcomer, grateful for the cover, but his question sent my beer down the wrong way.

I coughed for a long moment, then dragged some air into my lungs as the newcomer looked at me with concern. “Not really, just making conversation, but it would be a great twist, wouldn’t it? I mean, no one would see it coming.” I finally recovered enough to attempt a smile at the guy standing over me.

He smirked and ran his eyes over me in a way that made me tense.

“So, are you lost, or just a little too curious?”

“Just looking for a drink is all,” I murmured and took another long sip of beer, hoping not to repeat my awkward choking.

“Hmm, a drink at the Harbor Hounds clubhouse isn’t something people just do,” the guy said, and stuck out a hand. “I’m Travis, by the way.”

“The Harbor Hounds?” I asked innocently, shaking his hand. “I’m–Belle, by the way.” I only barely stumbled over the unfamiliar nickname.

“Yeah, the Hounds, don’t tell me you haven’t heard of us?” He tapped the patch on his jacket.

“Ah, yes, the motorcycle club, right?” I wrinkled my nose. “I’m not really into riding motorcycles, so…”

“Oh, that’s not all we do,” Travis laughed, and just like I’d hoped he would, leaned in to elaborate. “We get into all kinds of shit around these parts.”

“Really?” I raised an eyebrow at him in a way I hoped looked flirty but probably just looked uncomfortable. “Like what?”

Travis wrapped an arm around the back of my stool, and I scooted forward to avoid his touch.

“Like… dangerous shit,” Travis caught himself before he said more. Damn it. He grinned ruefully, and then someone called his name across the bar.

He excused himself and made in that direction, and I took the opportunity to look across the bar at Cole Bailey.

My eyes collided with a hard, blue stare.