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“Lookin’ fly, pretty mama,” Layla tacked on as she pulled out a chair for Jenna who looked relieved when she sat.
And then Talon was at her side with a glass of water in one hand and the other rubbing up and down her back.
“Could be us,” Gate’s voice rumbled in my ear. “Hell, thatwasus.”
You always hear about the straw that breaks the camel’s back, but until you’re in that moment, you never really know which straw that will be or when that particular straw will fall.
For me, that straw fell on a clear winter’s day, after winning a court case, when I’d stopped by my ex-husband’s motorcycle club on an errand that could have been handled with a phone call.
The breath lodged in my throat, and I looked up at Gate, his emerald green eyes sparkling like the grass in sunshine, and sniffed.
“I can’t, Gate.”
“You can’t what, Anna?” Gate asked, not giving an inch. “What they’ve got is what you gave up, and in all these years, I’ve never asked why.”
“Gate….” I started.
He stepped even closer, close enough that I could see each individual eyelash. “And I think I deserve to know. Why’d you leave me?”
I felt the first tear well at the corner of my eye, and I knew that if I didn’t stop it from falling, then I never would, and I’d lose it in front of God and everybody in the middle of the compound’s common room.
“Hey, girlfriend,” Layla called from behind me. “You wanna come help me see if we can’t find some tequila in this joint?”
I glanced back, just a blink, but long enough to see half the brothers stalled out at the pool tables and the other half of the club propped up against the bar, not even trying to hide the fact that they were watching my glass house shatter like it was an Emmy winning soap opera.
And aside from the girl posse with Jenna, who looked like they were about to ride to my rescue, every woman in the place was grinning like the proverbial cat that got the cream.
I turned back to Gate. “Not here. Not now.Please,” I said, my voice catching on the last word. “Not in front ofthem.”
He looked up, eyeing our audience over the top of my head, and clenched his jaw. The rumble that came from his chest was nearly a growl, and I watched his eyes narrow as he seemed to come to some kind of decision.
I just didn’t know what.
Chapter Twenty
Into the Sunset
Gate
Gate looked up from Anna’s blue eyes and swept his glance across the common room.
Ink and Hatchet ran a game of pool, trying to keep their eyes on the table and failing miserably.
Tex and Tank had turned their Lazy Boys away from the big screen airing Sports Center so they had a bird’s eye view of the stairs, not even trying to hide their attention.
Stash, Rooster, Deuce, Nine, and Lucky propped against the bar, watching the show with unabashed interest.
And Talon, wearing a smirk that told Gate he knew exactly how the brother felt, stood behind Jenna at a table full of women who looked torn between cheering Gate on and wrestling Anna from his clutches.
Stella and Cassie clasped hands, their eyes brimming with hope.
Then there were the groupies.
Gate never paid them much attention beyond company for a few hours, and since the party when Talon and Jenna had gotten engaged, he’d paid them even less.
But they were here.
And they were watching.
