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He just might be. His interest in her scared the fuck out of him. If she was too young that just might help squash it. Or he hoped to fuck it would. “Just curious, is all.”
“Why?”
“Don’t fuckin’ know. The more you avoid the question, the more I wanna know the answer.”
“Why?”
He lifted one shoulder, pursed his lips and stared at the coffee cup in his hand for a second. When he lifted his head again, he asked, “Want the truth?”
She nodded, her eyes holding his. It made his heart thump heavily because everything about this, everything about his pull toward her, spooked him. Worse, it was like she could see right through him.
No, not through him. She could see his center. His very core. She could see everything about him.
Where he came from, what he’d been through, maybe even where he was going. Exactly what he wanted to learn about her.
Witchcraft.
Pure fucking witchcraft.
He should lie. Of fucking course, he didn’t. Because he was a dumbass. “Cause I’m interested.”
“Do you want the truth?” she shot back at him.
He was going to regret this… “Yeah.”
“I’m not.” She pushed off the wall but didn’t move away. “If you’re only helping us to get down my pants like that old man said, you’re not going to be successful.”
She sounded way too confident about that. He normally didn’t waste time on challenges like her. But his reaction to her caught him off guard. It was so opposite than it would normally be with someone like her or with one of his typical catch-and-releases. “First, don’t let Dutch hear you call him that. Second, you ain’t into men?”
“First, I heard you call him that. And here you are, standing in front of me, still breathing. Second, I might be down on my luck, but I don’t go down in an attempt to change that fact.”
He considered her for a moment. He wasn’t insulted that she said that to him. In fact, he respected that answer. “Ain’t askin’ for that.”
“Then why are you helping us?”
“Two reasons… One, in the past, I’ve been where you’re at.”
Something flashed behind her eyes. If he was lucky, he’d earned a little bit of her respect. “And two?”
One corner of his mouth lifted slightly. “‘Cause I can.”
“From what I’ve seen, you don’t have much, either.”
Since they were both lobbing truth bombs… “Got a lot more than you, you just can’t see everything I have.”
Her dark brown eyes narrowed on him. “What do you mean?”
“Material shit don’t mean squat without the rest of it.”
“Without the rest of what?”
He jerked his head in the direction where the bus was parked, even though they couldn’t see it. “Those three guys out there… What are they to you?”
Her brow pulled low. “What do you mean? They’re part of my band.”
He shook his head. “No. They’re more than that.”
Anger colored her cheeks and her words. “I’m not fucking any of them.”
That was good to hear. Not that it mattered… Because it didn’t matter. Fuck no. “Ain’t talkin’ about sex. What do they mean to you? What are they to you? Their musical skills don’t even come close to yours. Tell me why you keep them around.”
“I already told you why.”
“Go deeper.”
“What, are you a goddamn therapist?”
She was getting pissed over something she shouldn’t be. He needed to break down that defensive wall she threw up constantly.
To keep people out.
Dumbasses like him.
Or to keep her own baggage hidden.
“Fuck no.” Dodge snorted. “Not even close. Let me tell you somethin’… ’Til I landed in this town, in this club, in my brotherhood, something was missin’. Didn’t know what. Didn’t know why. I was on a path to nowhere. My life also felt... incomplete. Took me a while to realize why that was since I never took the time to figure it out. I was always on the move, tryin’ to outrun whatever was chasin’ me instead. Whether it was the pigs or my past. Or a pissed off woman.” He swallowed another mouthful of coffee, letting his words sink in before continuing.
“Okay?” she prodded.
Her attitude should be a fucking turn-off. But it only made him more determined to continue instead of simply telling her to fuck off and walking away like he normally would. He normally wouldn’t waste time or a second thought on someone like her.
But, for fuck’s sake, his normal reactions were flipped upside down when it came to the woman standing before him.
He plowed forward before he did decide she wasn’t worth it. “During my last bid in prison, my cellmate Rook—the guy out there with the noisy Chihuahua—invited me here to join the Fury. Things snowballed from there. No longer had a reason to keep runnin’, ‘cause I found what was missin’.”
“A brotherhood?”
“A family.” He tipped his head toward open door of the break room and the garage bays. “All those guys out there are my family now. Reilly, the blonde in the office? She’s Rev’s ol’ lady.”
