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“Why?” He lowered his voice. “Does it bother you?”
I rolled my bottom lip between my teeth. “I’m not sure.”
His eyes flicked back and forth between mine. “You ever have an opinion that isn’t your mom’s?”
“Hmm…” I ran my hands over my skirt and thought about that. I was never really asked my opinion, but I wondered when I stopped having one of my own. “I’m not sure about that anymore, either.”
Tank dropped his eyes to my lips, which made my stomach tighten before they lazily shifted to meet my gaze again. “Sounds like you have even more to think about.”
I huffed. “Yeah, it kind of does.”
I was quiet for a moment and just stared at my hands, thinking about everything Tank said when I noticed my dress was literally dropping sparkles all over him. “You have sparkles all over your jeans.”
Tank looked down and grunted when the man who was driving laughed. “Yep.” He studied me for another minute before asking something I hadn’t anticipated. “How long you date that douchebag?”
“Three years,” I replied, but the mere mention of David caused sadness to overwhelm me. I’d hoped I had left that sadness back at the country club with him, but I guess I hadn’t. “I turn thirty tomorrow, and all I can think about is how much time I wasted on him.”
“Christ,” he replied. “They got married the day before your birthday.”
I didn’t reply. There was no need to. He already knew the answer, and I was tired of talking about it. Nothing good could come from discussing David or Emily, for that matter, and I was tired of thinking about them. Tired of being sad. Tired of being overlooked.
When I saw the sign for New Hope, I smiled softly. At least I could trust they’d been honest about where they were taking me. I didn’t have a lot of experience with people being honest with me.
I shifted my attention back to Tank when I heard his voice. “You got two choices. Hotel or our clubhouse?”
My eyebrows rose. “Clubhouse?”
He jerked up his chin, which I found incredibly sexy for no apparent reason. “We’re in a motorcycle club and have a clubhouse with rooms. You’re welcome to stay in one.”
I leaned in closer to Tank. “Aren’t motorcycle clubs dangerous?”
His eyes flicked over my shoulder at Race, and he chuckled before facing me again. “You’re safe with us.”
“Still,” I answered, knowing I hadn’t made a lot of good decisions today, but I was about to start. “I choose the hotel.”
He tilted his head. “You sure?”
That was a good question.
I wasn’t sure about anything anymore.
Including where the hell I was supposed to go from here.
1
JANE
Relaxingmy back against the wall, I watched the gathering, as my mother referred to it, go on around me. It was another event she’d expected me to attend, but I had no idea what it was even for. The same people socialized while I watched from a distance, and sadly, this was what I considered normal.
My eyes skimmed over my mother as she spoke to another woman who I could only assume also came from money. Mother looked as beautiful and regal as ever, which came from years of breeding and old money. She was raised in this world, as was her mother, and was expected to maintain her beauty and dignity no matter what life threw at her.
I searched out my father and found him standing in a group with six other men, smiling when appropriate, but his eyes were locked on a woman younger than me across the room. She was likely his latest cause of infidelity, which my mother would ignore regardless of how obvious he made it.
This was my future.
I was expected to marry a wealthy man and become the doting wife, ignoring his arrogance and disrespect, always pasting on a fake smile so the world assumed we were the perfect couple. A couple to be admired and envied. Except I wasn’t my mother. And I wasn’t my sister.
My grandfather used to say I shined in a way no one in my family had because I was different, but his words only solidified that I didn’t fit in. He was the only person who ever saw and accepted the real me, but he died when I was seventeen. I’d been trying to force myself to fit in ever since. I no longer had someone who accepted me as I was, and I wasn’t confident enough to accept myself and move forward.
