by Lila Rose
“He’s great.” He smiled shyly.
“Oh my God, you love him.”
“What? No, it’s too soon for that.” His gaze traveled off, and he was back to smiling sweetly.
“You make me sick with how in love you are,” I teased.
His eyes snapped to me, and he reached across the table to shove me. “Stop it.”
“Lucas” was clipped.
West and I both stopped, and slowly, we dragged our eyes to the side of the booth and up, up some more, until they paused on Wreck standing there glaring down at us.
“W-Wreck, um, what, ah, what are you doing here?”
“Wreck, baby, you promised me some cake.” A red-haired woman stepped up beside Wreck and curled herself into his side. “Hi,” she said to West and me with a smile.
Sliding my hands under the table and fisting them as a pang of sadness swept through me, I quickly fought that feeling, pushed it right back down because it was stupid to have for a now obviously straight man. I should have gone with my gut feeling about Wreck being straight.
Instead, I smiled and said, “Hi, I’m Lucas. Zion’s—I mean Saint’s brother.”
“Aw, that’s the sweetest. I’m Hailey.” She looked up at Wreck with a smitten smile and said, “No wonder you wanted to come over.” He glared down at her, but she didn’t seem fazed, implying it was his usual expression.
Clearing my throat, I said, “And this is West, a friend of mine.”
“Hi, would you both like to join us?” West offered and then grunted when I kicked him under the table.
“Yes,” Wreck stated. He shoved Hailey to West’s side. I quickly had to move over or else the brute of a man would have sat half on me. Even though I’d squished myself in the corner, I could still feel his body heat.
“But, baby, I thought we were grabbing cake to go to, you know…” She giggled. “Eat it off each other.”
“Isn’t that sweet,” I said sarcastically since I was on the verge of gagging. Hailey giggled again, and I wanted to rip out her vocal cords.
Whoa, I had to back the heck off, and, from a kick to my shin, West saw it as well. I glanced at West, but his eyes were on the man beside me, and they were wide. I chanced a look out the corner of my eyes and shifted my eyes back to West when I noticed Wreck glaring down at me.
“Wreck, baby, can we get out of here? Leave these two on their date?”
“It’s not a date,” West said.
Just as I blurted, “That might be good.”
Dang it all to hell.
West and I stared at each other.
“We’re good to go,” Wreck said, and then he was out of the booth and stalking to the counter.
“It was nice to meet you both.” Hailey grinned, and she was quickly following Wreck with a sway to her small hips. Nearly every man watched as she went by. I didn’t see the appeal. Yes, she had curves and boobs, but… who was I kidding? She was stunning. No wonder Wreck had her on his arm. Was she his girlfriend or just a hookup?
“I don’t think you can glare someone to death,” West offered.
“What? I wasn’t.”
West’s brows damn near met with his hairline. “Can I ask what that was all about?”
“That was Wreck. A friend of my brother’s. From the biker club.”
“I got that from the patch on his biker vest. But what I was asking is what’s up with you and him?”
I jerked my head back in confusion. “What do you mean? Nothing.”
“Uh-huh.”
Shaking my head, I told him, “You’re being weird. How can you get from that there’s something going on? There’s nothing going on.” He stared me down. “Okay, so I may have a small crush on him, but that’s about it.”
“All right, that explains why you wanted to kill Hailey. But it doesn’t tell me why he stared at you as if… as if….”
“As if he wanted to choke me?” I shrugged. “I annoy him. He thinks I’m an idiot, that’s about all.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I really hate it when you say that.”
He smirked. “I know. Still, I don’t think it was a look of annoyance.”
“Whatever it was you thought you saw, I don’t want to hear it. I’m pushing Wreck from my mind and getting over this infatuation I have with him. In fact, the next time I see Gregory, I will be asking him for a coffee.”
West smiled at me. “Good luck with that.”
“Thanks,” I said, but from his chuckle, I had a feeling he meant something else.
My mind was still on Wreck and his actions as I waited for Kylo the next night. I couldn’t help but think about why Wreck even approached my table in the first place.
My phone chimed; it was Kylo saying he was on his way. I quickly sent back a thumbs-up and was happy he hadn’t canceled altogether. I’d been worried my brother and his friends would say something to Kylo, but it was obvious they hadn’t since he was still meeting up with me.
All I had to do was make sure Kylo understood why it wouldn’t be good for us to see each other… that was if the others were serious about Kylo inviting me because he liked me or if it was them just messing with me. Which wouldn’t surprise me.
I heard Kylo even before I saw him. Glancing out the window, I saw him pull up on his bike. He slid off and removed his helmet. He caught my gaze and waved, and I returned it.
The bell above the door sounded as he entered.
“Hey,” he said, putting his helmet on the booth seat opposite me before he sat next to it.
“Hi, glad you made it safely on that thing.”
He laughed. “You can’t seriously say you don’t like bikes. Your brother has one.”
“Oh, I know. I tell him how unsafe they are, but he just laughs at me and shakes his head. I guess it’ll be something I just won’t understand the appeal of.”
“Have you ever been on one?”
“No, and it’ll never happen.”
“We’ll see.”
“It won’t.”
He just smiled, so I shook my head. I knew I wouldn’t get on the back of a bike. I always thought it would look silly for a guy riding on the back of another guy’s bike anyway. More people could assume two guys on a bike meant they’re gay and cause problems. Also, I really was terrified of them. There was nothing around you to protect your body if an accident occurred. Give me a car surrounded by metal, and I was fine.
I jumped when a voice beside us said, “Hi, I’m Mabel, and I’ll be your waitress tonight. Can I get you guys a drink?”
Kylo laughed at my reaction but managed to get out, “A coffee, please.”
“I’ll have the same,” I said.
“Great, I’ll grab those while you two have a look at the menu.” She quickly moved off, well, as fast as an eighty something-year-old could.
“She owns the place with her husband, who’s a good ten years younger than her. They’re into swingin’ and often have a third partner in bed,” Kylo announced.
I lifted my wide gaze. “How do you know?”
“I don’t. But it was funny to see your face.”
Glaring, I kicked across under the table and connected with his leg. Of course, he was still laughing.
After we ordered, I heard another rumble of engines pulling into the parking lot.
“Fuck,” Kylo clipped. “I told ’em I wasn’t comin’.” He ran a hand over his face. “Now they’re gonna give me shit.”
“Why?” I whispered. “And why would you tell them you weren’t coming?” I added quickly.
He sighed. “They were givin’ me hell about invitin’ you to the compound.”
“I told them not to say anything to you!”
He snorted. “Like they’d listen.” He shook his head, and we both glanced over to the door when a grinning Death, a smirking Zion, and a scowling Wreck entered.
Kylo glanced back to me and quickly said, “I’d told them when I invited you, that we were just friends. Of course they didn’t beli
eve shit because of that stupid rule for prospects. But seriously, Lucas, I know we’re just friends, and I lied to them about coming because I’m a fuckin’ idiot.”
Well, at least in all that, I knew Kylo was on board with where we stood with one another.
“Prospect, didn’t think you were showin’,” Zion said. He stopped beside the booth while Death went up to the counter, saying something to our waitress. Wreck stood beside Zion and shoved at Kylo’s shoulder.
Kylo moved over for Wreck to sit and said, “I shouldn’t have lied, but I was always comin’ to see Lucas. Since we’re friends.”
Death appeared and snorted. “Friends.”
Kylo threw up his hands. “What does it matter? You guys won’t believe me anyway.”
“Shift over, bro,” Zion said. I did, and he slipped in beside me while Death pulled a chair over to sit on the end.
“We’re just givin’ you shit.” Death laughed. “We believed you after you took that pretty blonde woman to bed last night.”
“Then what are you all doing here?” I asked, refusing to look at the man next to Kylo. He looked too good in his jeans, long-sleeved black thermal and his biker’s vest.
“We were in the neighborhood,” Zion replied, with a smile that told me he was lying—even though our place was just down the street.
I rubbed a hand over my face, suddenly tired. I didn’t understand why they concerned themselves in Kylo’s and my affairs, but they were. Unless it had something to do with Kylo being a prospect to their club. Were they worried about his actions and how it would look toward the club? But then they weren’t anything but playful about it all.
It all had to come down to Zion being my brother. He could still be concerned Kylo was messing with me in some way. Maybe he didn’t believe we did only see each other as friends. I supposed it could look different since Kylo asked me to the compound, and we were meeting here for dinner. However, it didn’t mean they had a right to be in our business.
“Is this because you’re worried about me or because Kylo is a prospect to the club, and you’re concerned about his actions?” I just had to ask and search for answers, or it was going to drive me insane.
Death shook his head. “The prospect knows not to fuck you over, or he’d have all of us after him.”
I groaned. “We’re friends.”
“Yeah, we’re seein’ that, but with Dad and Mom away, it’s up to me to take care of you,” Zion explained.
My blood boiled. Slowly, I faced my brother. “Unless I ask for help, I would prefer if you stayed out of my business since I am twenty-two freaking years old. I can take care of myself.” I ground my teeth together and took a breath. “I appreciate your concern, but for the love of God, don’t worry about me.”
“Freaking.” Death chuckled. Wreck smirked, and even Kylo laughed, until I shot him a glare.
Zion simply grinned. “Got it. You can deal with guys on your own until they fuck with you then, and I fuckin’ mean this, Lucas, then you come to me, and I’ll deal with them.”
Closing my eyes, I dropped my head back and groaned. Straightening, I nodded. “Fine.”
“Dinner,” Mabel announced with her hands full of plates. She set mine down, then Kylo’s, but she also had a plate of pizza.
Zion grabbed a slice right when Mabel said, “I’ll be right back with the rest.”
“Ah, aren’t you all leaving now?” I asked.
Zion winked. “Bro, since you and the prospect are just friends, it means we’re stayin’ for dinner too.”
Damn it all.
“We’re dating,” I blurted, hoping to get rid of them.
They all stared at me and then laughed. So now they wanted to believe me? I glanced at Kylo, who was smiling. He shrugged.
I could start talking about anal penetration and was sure that would have them running from the place in seconds screaming. However, I wasn’t sure I could pull it off without blushing or stumbling over my words. There was even a chance I’d yell something I shouldn’t. So, since there wasn’t anything I could do to get them to leave, I started eating my hamburger.
“Hey, Lucas, where you work, do you fix phones as well as gamin’ systems?” Death asked.
“We have someone for phones since I’m mainly for the gaming consoles. But if you want, I can take a look. I know a few things.”
Zion laughed. “A few things. He knows about everythin’.”
Rolling my eyes, I said, “I’m not that good.”
“See, Wreck, knew Lucas would be able to fix your phone.”
Wait… it was for Wreck’s phone? Was it too late to take back everything I said? What happened if I looked at it and saw things I shouldn’t?
A hand with a phone came into view. I looked down at it like it was going to bite me. I glanced up and met Wreck’s eyes.
“Here,” he clipped.
I quickly took it and placed it on the table. “I’ll, um, ah, take a look as soon as I’ve, ah, finished eating.”
I caught Zion looking at me like I’d grown another head, or he was possibly just thinking about something.
“No problem,” Wreck said just as Mabel showed with another two plates.
The rest talked as they ate, all while I stared down at the phone next to my plate. You could tell a lot about a person and what they had on their phone. What would Wreck’s tell me? I wasn’t sure I wanted to find out, not after meeting his girlfriend, Hailey.
Chapter Five
Lucas
After taking a quick look at Wreck’s phone, I realized it was going to take me longer than I thought.
Glancing up at him, I asked, “So it won’t move from the Apple logo?”
He shook his head. “Been like that all day.”
“Right, well, you want to hope it’ll only need an upgrade, but if it’s a system reboot, you’re going to lose everything on there. Still, for both I’m going to need my laptop, which is at home. Can I take it tonight?”
He grunted. He was a man of small noises or words unless I annoyed him. Boy, did I hear about it then.
“Do you have things backed up and saved to your cloud?”
“Nope.”
Damn. I dropped a nervous laugh. “You won’t kill me if I can’t get everything back, right?”
His stare suddenly felt intensified. But it didn’t tell me if it was a yes or a no.
I gulped. “Right?”
The others at the table chuckled. Zion patted my shoulder. “Relax, bro. We’d figured as much. Wreck said he doesn’t keep anythin’ important on there anyway.”
It probably just held all his hookup numbers or naked photos of women. In a way, I kind of hoped it would need a system reboot. It meant all his numbers would disappear. I snorted to myself over the thought that Wreck could easily add more. I was sure he wouldn’t be at a loss for women wanting to offer them up.
“What’s so funny?” Wreck asked, his voice startling me.
“Nothing.”
He eyed me like a bug under the microscope.
I shrugged. “I was just thinking of something.”
He wouldn’t look away, and sweat started forming on my brow.
“I, um… I was thinking of, ah, that….”
“Wreck, leave the kid alone.” Death smiled, and I could have hugged him for butting in. Especially since he also drew Wreck’s attention away from me and onto a subject about business. I quickly put Wreck’s phone in my pocket and picked up my drink. That was when I caught Kylo looking at me. He raised his brows, glanced at Wreck, and then back to me with a smirk.
“What?” I mouthed.
He shook his head, but he did it smirking still. What was he thinking? Why did he look at Wreck and then me? What did he see that no one else saw? Did he think I had a thing for Wreck? I didn’t. I mean, yes, Wreck was good-looking. Okay, he was better than that, but there wasn’t a rule against me admiring his features. Did I stare at Wreck too long? It was all about his looks. Damn Wreck and double damn Kylo. Th
is was confusing me and sending me spiraling with too many thoughts.
Kylo chuckled, obviously seeing my panic setting in.
I scratched my chin with my middle finger, which only made him laugh louder. Of course, it brought all eyes to us.
“What’s so funny?” Death asked.
“Nothing? I don’t know. Kylo’s being weird.” I blurted each out, one after the other, and now they were all staring at me. I glanced down at the table and saw the menu. A menu I wanted to pick up so I could use it as a fan because the room had heated. I cleared my throat, lifted my gaze, and announced, “I think I’ll get home now, since, ah, I have to work on Wreck’s phone, and I still have a bit of studying to do.”
Suddenly my phone rang. Thanking God for the interruption, I answered it quickly without looking at the caller ID, “Hello?”
“Did you ask him out?” came West’s voice, but it was loud, too loud.
Blushing, I pulled it away, fumbled it around, near dropping it, all while West continued, “Come on. You said you were going to ask him out. I’ve given you a day—”
“West,” I shouted, just as I switched it off speaker. I held the phone to my ear and ducked my head. “Now isn’t a good time.”
“Lucas, you can’t tell me Gregory didn’t give you his number. I thought you would have done it before you chickened out.”
“West,” I whispered harshly. “Now really isn’t a good time. I’ll call you as soon as I get home.”
He groaned. “Fine, but if you don’t call me by nine, I’m calling back.”
“All right,” I snapped, and then hung up the call. I shoved at Zion, who was laughing. I could also hear a couple of other chuckles. Thankfully, my brother moved, and I slid out of the booth. At the side, I pulled out some money, threw it on the table, and then mumbled, “Bye. Wreck, I’ll give Zion your phone once I’m done. He’ll get it to you.” With that, I quickly walked out of the café.
On the way home, all I could think about was burning myself in the backyard. I never wanted to see any of them again. It was fine for them to know I was gay. Heck, I was completely fine with it since Zion gave me the confidence to be myself around them. Kylo also helped since he didn’t hide who he was. However, for my private life to be shoved in their face was embarrassing. They didn’t need to or want to know about my dating life. I also didn’t want them to know since it was hard enough when they thought Kylo was into me.