The conversation with Jax tipped my world onto a different axis. How could I fight him when he’d taken a different direction?
It was like the enemy brought a gun to sword fight. Then, with that gun he said, “Wait, you thought we were going to duel here? Silly girl, we’ll be fighting in quicksand where you’ll never gain your footing.”
There weren’t any rules or outlines, I found myself stumbling over what to do, how to act, who to tell, and who to trust.
I acted like structure wasn’t something I needed, but I found myself feeling more than a little ashamed that I wanted rules, outlines, and structure for this.
“Baby girl?” Rome’s voice broke through my thoughts.
He sat across from me at his Heathen’s Bar where we shared lunch while he took a break.
“Sorry. My mind’s on something else.”
“Yeah, and I’m telling you to talk with me about it.”
I hesitated, eating another French fry from our almost cleared plate of food.
“You slept with me for a reason.”
I squinted across the table at him with question. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You know I won’t judge you.”
“That’s what you got from me sleeping with you?”
“Well, a whole lot of good ass too,” he said loud enough that the waitress who had served us heard and glared my way.
“Loud enough?”
He shrugged. “I’m not trying to hide it.”
“Well, what about me?” I whisper-yelled at him. “ And your waitress …”
“Let’s not worry about my waitress.” He steered me back. “Now, you slept with me.”
I started to cut him off.
“More than once, I might add. I didn’t judge you then, won’t judge you now.”
I gulped. He was right. I’d been lost, and he’d let me be lost with him in a maze of crazy pleasure and pain. We got off on knowing neither one of us was falling. Instead, we were spiraling in misery, and it felt so good not to be spiraling alone.
I closed my eyes for a second and rolled my lips between my teeth. Then, I whispered, “Do you think he could be worth it all or that maybe there’s some justifiable reason he’s doing all this?”
“Worth hurting your pretty face? No, baby girl.” His dark eyes held mine so fiercely, I knew there was no argument. “Justifiable? Not in my book.”
I sighed and slumped a little in my booth.
“It’s not my book you should be worried about though. You need to take a hard look to see if you have enough forgiveness in your book for him.”
I twirled a French fry between my fingers. “Maybe if I knew what I was forgiving.” Because not one other person knew what happened within those prison walls except for Frank and Jax.
“I’ve said it to you before, and I’ll say it again. As a businessman, I have always kept my enemies close enough to know their game. That’s all I got for advice, baby girl.”
“Ugh, I know!” I’d mulled over a million different reasons why he would visit my father in my head. So many times. So many different ways. Rome had been subject to said mullings for years.
He’d lay next to me, listening to constant rambling until he’d found other ways to shut me up. I’d be forever thankful that he lent an ear when I needed someone to listen and for other things when I’d needed someone to stop listening. “Change the topic, please,” I blurted because my mind was going in the wrong direction, a direction that was easier and much more comfortable.
“Yes, please change the topic,” Katie announced from behind me.
I smiled as I got up to hug her. “You don’t even know what we’re discussing.”
“I know you two never discuss anything worth shit.”
She motioned me back into the booth and slid in as Rome nodded at her. “Kate-Bait.”
She rolled her eyes. “Asshole,” she responded in the same tone. Then she eyed our empty plate and whined, “You two already ate?”
“I invited Brey for lunch, not you.”
“Brey invited me when I texted her and she expressed extreme boredom at being alone here with you.”
“Not true,” I chimed in. They just continued death staring each other. I sighed. “Rome can’t you just put in another order?”
“No. It’s fine. I’m going to eat later …”
“Mindy! Put in another order for Kate-Bait. She’ll do the avocado burger. Medium rare. Extra fries.” Mindy glared more laser beams full of hate at Katie while I eyed her for a whole different reason. Normally, Rome wouldn’t have ordered her exactly what she wanted.
She hid her look of surprise by snapping at him, of course. “I just said I’m eating later.”
“And you’ll eat now too,” Rome retorted.
“Thanks for the food, Rome. We both appreciate it.” Used to their rudeness toward one another, I opted for placating them rather than asking questions. “You finish your errands?”
“Enough of them. Still need groceries and to drop by a friend’s.”
Rome scoffed, but I didn’t ask. Katie had a lot of friends. Most of them we’d never met and most we probably didn’t want to. She was socially accepted in circles I didn’t understand and did things socially I could never do.
Her life was hers. No one judged her. She didn’t allow it.
But Rome tried.
Her gaze snapped to his when he scoffed. “Speaking of, can I use your truck today?” Her tone was just a little saccharine. “Brey and I will be going to see the kids in a day or two anyway. I’ll just keep it till then …”
“Not happening.”
Just then, Mindy not so gently placed Katie’s food in front of her and beelined back to the bar without saying a word.
“What’s up her ass?” Katie mumbled, already digging into her food.
Then she glanced up at Rome who looked like he’d been caught red-handed. Katie’s smirk didn’t reach her eyes. “Say no more, Casanova.”
My jaw dropped. “Really, Rome? Your waitress?” I whispered. “You could get in trouble.”
“Vick and my lawyers made sure I never would when I opened this place. My contracts and handbooks make it very clear …”
“You used Vick’s law education so you could come to work, be the boss, and dip your di—”
“Katie,” I practically whined. “I am pulling the middle-ground card. Don’t finish that sentence.”
She took another bite and squinted at me. With her mouth full, she said, “I hate your manners sometimes, best friend.” Then she turned to Rome, “Let me use your truck.”
“Just said that’s not happening.”
“Why?”
“I don’t want you driving it. You’re a maniac.”
“It was returned fine last time, wasn’t it?”
I eyeballed her.
“Yeah. Brey drove it last …” He shifted his body to fully face me with a glare. “You let her drive, didn’t you?”
“She’s weirdly persuasive,” I shrugged and grinned.
He looked her up and down. He took his time with her, raked his gaze over every inch of her and if I hadn’t known them better, I’d have thought there was more to their story. The sexual tension was so thick, I wondered if I’d missed something. “Yes, she is very weirdly persuasive.”
As she took another bite and glared at him, he slid his hand in his coat jacket and retracted it with a set of keys. “I want it back by Sunday—in one piece, Kate-Bait—and my seat better not smell like it was doused in your lotion this time.”
Katie coughed on her burger as he got up from his side of the booth.
“Gotta get back to work, baby girl. Stay out of trouble.”
“I find it kind of weird that he knows exactly how your lotion smells.” Katie knew my tone. The accusation hovered in the air.
“I find it weird too,” she said without meeting my eyes.
I let it go because I couldn’t begin to imagine what type of relationship my best friends might have under the surface of their mutual hatred toward one another.
