She rolled her eyes and looked up at Trey.
“I’ll get us another round, babe,” he said, heading towards the bar.
I had to admit, I was surprised by Trey. He seemed a polar opposite of Kim. He was certainly out of his element among us bikers, but it was kind of endearing that an office guy like him had come out to the Blue Dog Saloon for Kim.
“Hi, I’m Claire,” Claire said.
Kim smiled and introduced herself.
“So you’re a biker too, right?” Claire asked.
“Hell yeah,” Kim said. “Or I will once I pledge.”
“That’s awesome,” Claire said.
“Yeah, well, it may drive me insane,” Kim said. “Especially if this one keeps calling me Kimmy.”
She rolled her eyes at Moves, resulting in a heated back and forth between them.
Claire turned back to me. “How long have you been a biker?”
“Since I was sixteen,” I said. “Joined when I was eighteen, so almost ten years.”
I wasn’t really focusing on my words. Instead, I was watching Claire’s face to see if she got distracted again. Just when I thought I was being paranoid, her eyes flashed past me again. Right to Trey as he returned to the table with a drink for Kim.
So it was Trey she was watching. An ex possibly? Although surely one of them would have said something?
I shrugged and took a swig from my drink. It was stupid to obsess over this. I didn’t want to pursue Claire, and she probably wasn’t that interested in me anyway.
I paused to listen as Trey leaned closer to Kim to talk into her ear.
“Babe, I’m so sorry, but I gotta go,” he said. “There’s been a work emergency and I need to put something together for a client tonight.”
Kim frowned, but she wasn’t the type to whine. She didn’t need her guy to have a good time on a Friday. “I understand. I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Of course,” Trey said.
He said his goodbyes to the rest of us quickly and then headed out.
“Looks like we scared him off,” Moves joked.
“As if,” Kim said.
Moves finally succumbed to Kim’s withering glare and headed out to flirt with some girls he’d spotted across the bar. Carlos and Hawk wandered off as well so it was just me, Claire, and Kim.
To my surprise, Claire seemed more interested in getting to know Kim. She wasn’t rude or anything, but as the conversation went on, she made an effort to ask Kim about her biking and how long she had been in La Playa. I was clearly not getting lucky tonight, but that was for the best. Claire was too enigmatic for my tastes.
She drummed her fingers on the table and leaned forward towards Kim.
“So how long have you been with –?” Claire waved her hand as if she couldn’t recall the name. It was all almost too casual.
“Trey?” Kim said. “Just a few weeks.”
“He seems nice,” Claire said. She leaned forward as if she was ready to settle in for some serious girl talk. I guess I could comfort myself with the fact that I got to witness the start of a friendship.
“I’ll be honest, he’s not my usual type,” Kim said. “But I like that he’s actually an adult. I’ve dated too many Man-Children the last few years.”
“Tell me about it,” Claire said. “What does he do?”
