So many damn secrets. Unfortunately, all of them necessary.
“Well,” she started, “I want to say it was a fun trip, but... uh…” She grimaced.
“Yeah,” was all he needed to say. His resigned tone pretty much covered how they both felt about the whole thing.
She tugged lightly on his shirt. He hadn’t worn his cut at all during the trip and still wasn’t wearing it since he was driving his truck instead of riding his sled. Soon enough he’d slip it back on in the same way he’d slip back into his life here in Manning Grove with his job and family. His real family. The ones who loved and respected him and also had his back.
She was happy he had that because he had gone too long in his life without it.
She was happy she had that, too.
They just couldn’t have it together unless the rule hanging over her head changed.
But… Did she want that with him? Something more serious than the awesome sex they had in the motel for the past few days?
While she was property of the club, she would need to be ready to become “property of Rev” if they revealed what already happened in Coatesville and what they’d want to continue. All without him getting clubbed upside the head or getting his colors stripped first. That was key.
Was she ready for that? Was he? What did he really want with her, if anything?
Since they both had avoided that discussion, she could only assume neither of them was ready for anything further.
She stepped back, creating space between them. Right now, he had the freedom to do what he wanted, when he wanted and with who he wanted.
If they approached Deacon and Reese, she had a feeling they’d insist Rev claim her at the table and force her to wear his cut. It would be no better than a shot-gun wedding. And nobody wanted that kind of pressure. Nobody wanted to be forced into something they weren’t ready for.
Any forced relationship would turn into a complete disaster.
They were in their twenties, for shit’s sake! Neither should be ready to settle down. Even if they were, she wasn’t sure it would be with each other.
Would it?
Gah. No.
He hadn’t meant what he said. It had just been his emotions talking, that was all.
Because if he meant it…
Stop it, Reilly.
An unfamiliar sting started in her eyes. What the hell? She wasn’t a crier and she certainly had no reason to shed tears in this instance.
She was tired, that was all. From the emotional roller coaster of that trip, from the long drive home and from the physical exertion of bringing the boxes up to her second-floor apartment.
The exhaustion was getting to her. She simply needed a nap.
A perfect and easy solution.
She blinked back the welling tears and managed to say through a thick throat, “Can you take me to the Inn now?”
His brow dropped low as he stared at her. She quickly turned away to hide whatever he saw. Or thought he saw.
“Reilly…”
“Rev, I’m worried someone will see your truck and get the wrong idea.”
“Yeah, but it wouldn’t be the wrong fuckin’ idea, now would it?”
“Right,” she agreed, quickly wiped the sting from her eyes and turned to face him. “And we need to avoid that. Not for me, but for you. And for Saylor.”
She needed to remember that. Whatever happened to him would affect his sister, too.
“Got it.” With a stiff nod and his lips pinned tight, he pulled his keys out of his front pocket. “Let’s go.”
She was already feeling the loss of him as he pulled into The Grove Inn’s parking lot and drove around back to where her car was hidden behind the building.
He parked next to it, shoved his shifter into neutral and sat there saying nothing. Only the rumble of his Bronco’s V8 filled the gap of silence between them.
Maybe he was waiting for her to get out.
She sighed, pushed open the passenger door and grabbed the handle above it so she wouldn’t just tumble out of the high-sitting truck and onto her ass like the klutz she could be.
Before she could escape, he grabbed her arm and prevented her from climbing out. When she turned her head to address him, she noticed something else besides his pained expression. And when she grimaced, his head turned, too.
Lizzy, in only a tiny, neon pink bikini, showing off almost every inch of her rocking bod, was now sitting up in a lounge chair where, apparently, she’d been catching rays to turn her skin a rich golden tan.
“Shit,” Reilly whispered.
The blonde stood and walked over to the deck railing, showing off even more of that rocking hot bod. Double shit. Her smile was large and genuine as she took in Rev and gave him a small wave.
The sweet butt’s normally joyous greeting of “Hey!” ended up being drawn out to a, “He…….eeeeeeeey,” once she realized why Rev was there.
To drop Reilly off at her car.
The older blonde’s face twisted into a worried expression as she shot a quick glance toward the double sliding glass doors that led from the second-floor manager’s apartment to that very deck.
“Shit, can she see me?” Reilly asked under her breath.
“Yeah, babe, you ain’t invisible. Neither was your damn cage sittin’ here for the last fuckin’ week.”
“Well, it wouldn’t have been sitting here if I hadn’t had to hitch a ride with Ozzy because you were too damn stubborn to let me go along,” she almost shouted but managed to keep it to an annoyed hiss.
“Always gotta get what you want.”
“Oh, you’re blaming me for this?
Lizzy’s gaze ping-ponged back and forth between Rev and Reilly. Unfortunately, that meant she could not only see them both, she could hear them, too, especially since Rev had both windows rolled down.
The sweet butt’s perfectly sculpted eyebrows rose but she quickly schooled her surprise and concern as Reilly sighed and climbed out of the Bronco.
Lizzy was the coolest of the sweet butts and Ozzy tended not to give a shit about much, so hopefully they could keep their traps shut. And if Ozzy hadn’t run his mouth already about dropping off Reilly at the farm before the crack of dawn five days ago, then he most likely could keep this secret, too.
Or so she hoped.
Two seconds later, the Original himself sauntered out of one of the open sliders, only wearing raggedy cotton shorts and scratching his crotch. He had a hand-rolled—whether it was tobacco or pot, Reilly couldn’t tell—tucked between the fingers of the scratching hand and he palmed a full beer bottle with the other.
His eyes were glued to Lizzy in that teeny weenie bikini with her breasts practically falling out as she leaned into the railing. He went from scratching to adjusting what might now be an erection from what Reilly could tell. “Bend over that railin’ and—” His grey eyes flashed their way and he froze for a second when he noticed the Bronco and its occupants. He grinned and raised his beer to them in greeting. “You guys wanna watch?”
Lizzy laughed, turned and whacked his arm, her mouth moving but her voice low enough that neither Reilly nor Rev could hear whatever she said to Ozzy.
Ozzy shrugged and went to the railing to stand next to Lizzy, looking down onto the parking lot. “‘Bout time you two are back. Didn’t think you were gonna be gone so long, woman.”