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However, Ike Mooney’s been in my thoughts since we met. Though I’ve longed for another chance, I haven’t truly believed I’d get one since he looked at me on the street and showed no recognition.
Right now, though, Ike’s watching me as if I’m everything. I witness peace and promise in his gaze.
Yet, I’m suddenly very aware of his size in a way I wasn’t in the woods. He fills up the booth with his muscular build. His blue T-shirt is tugged tight across his wide chest and shoulders. His powerful legs fill up his dark blue jeans.
Riding the motorcycle felt like we were atop a living, breathing beast. Yet, he commanded it with ease.
Ike is a massive, muscled man with stars in his eyes. That should be good. I want Ike to want me. I need him to steal me away from Jarin Johnson.Yet, what happens next?I’ve quickly realized going wild has its own responsibilities and drawbacks.
“Your church seems hard,” Ike says and shrugs his big shoulders. “Stressful, I guess. There are rules on the homestead. Things to not say and do. Same with my club. But it’s not like your life. Did you enjoy any of it?”
“No,” I say immediately. “My first memory was receiving a whipping for playing in the rain.”
Ike’s handsome face turns demonic. “I don’t think I can be nice to your parents. I tend to hold grudges. Since your parents hurt you, I can’t like them. That’s all there is to it.”
“My parents will never offer you any grace. They think your family is trash. There’s no reason for you to be kind to them.”
“My family thinks your family is trash, too,” Ike says, chuckling. “We’re like Romeo and Juliet, except we won’t die at the end.”
Though I don’t know who those people are, I sense Ike’s saying something good.
“And you’re not a little kid, right?” he asks. “I think I remember you saying you’re eighteen.”
“Nineteen. I had a birthday since then.”
“Happy birthday,” he says and smiles so sweetly that I wish the tabletop between us would disappear so I could get closer.
“Women are supposed to marry at my age. Most have men lined up even before they turn eighteen. I was too willful, while my older sister is considered weird.”
“At the homestead, women marry whenever they find their dream guy. Nothing more complicated than that.”
For so long, I was curious about the homestead and its people. Now, I’m sitting across the best one.
The burger Ike orders me is a spicy barbecue and bacon monstrosity. I begin worrying over how much wildness I can handle for one day.
With Ike’s warm gaze on me, I don’t back down from this challenge. I bite into the burger and pause to enjoy the explosion of flavor in my mouth. The spicy sweetness makes me lightheaded.
“Our food is very bland,” I explain after I swallow the bite. “Well, salty. But nothing like this. My father said he had barbecue as a young man, which made him want to drink beer. The alcohol led to him suffering from impure thoughts. That’s why we were never allowed to eat barbecue.”
“When you say ‘impure thoughts,’ that’s code for fucking, right? Or is it a perverted thing?”
“No, just fucking,” I say, smirking over how I said the “F-word” in public.
“Well, you can eat whatever you want. And fucking is fun,” Ike explains before frowning and offering a shrug. “Not always, I guess. I’ve never thought about it too much. It’s just something I do because it feels good. But with you, I’ll focus on making it great.”
Picturing Ike touching my body, I feel my face flush bright red. When he notices how I’m blushing, he cocks an eyebrow.
“Should I be more subtle about how we’re going to fuck?” he asks, studying me as if he’s trying to say everything just right. “I can do that if you want. I’ll act all surprised when it happens. The women in my family taught me to gasp and act shocked by unsurprising things.”
“Why?”
“What part?”
“The gasping and acting shocked.”
“Drama is fun, apparently,” he says and chuckles as he thinks about his family. Ike takes a bite of his burger, watches me while chewing, and then remembers to talk. “I don’t like drama for me. I’d rather people leave me alone. It’s better if they focus on my mouthy sister or intimidating mom. I do like watching the chicks in my family freaking out. It’s like a TV show.”
I can’t imagine his family at all. The stuff he says about them being wild leaves a blank space in my head. The unknown parts of my future begin to frighten me.
