“What’s so funny?” he growled, but his eyes held amusement.
“That chocolate bar is going to melt.”
“Oh, hell,” he pulled it out of his pocket, pulling the wrapper back once again, and I saw that it was a Snickers. “You want a bite?”
I wrinkled my nose, “No, thanks. I’m not a big fan of nuts.”
“How unfortunate,” he said, taking a big bite and wiggling his eyebrows. I slapped his arm playfully. “So… this is how you spend your Saturday mornings,” he looked around thoughtfully. “Nice enough spot to sit, I suppose.”
“Please,” I rolled my eyes. “I’d much rather be at home, wearing pajamas and eating cereal in front of the TV.”
“It’s almost ten o’clock.”
“Yeah, and I like sleeping in,” I pinned him with a fierce glare. “Don’t you judge me.”
“I had no idea you were so defensive,” Trainer grinned.
“You’re supposed to be intimidated.”
“Oh. My bad.” He rolled his eyes and took a seat on the bench beside me. “So, what dragged you out of bed against your will?”
“Dominic. He’s nuts about reading, always has been, and he somehow found out that this library has a youth reading program every other Saturday.”
“Reading, huh? How old is he?”
“Seven.”
“Damn. At that age, I was obsessed with video games. I had an original Nintendo, which was outdated even then, but I took really good care of it. I was on that thing all the time.”
I loved the image that his words conjured in my mind. A little boy with dark hair sitting on the floor in front of the TV with a controller in his hand, working his way through the classic games.
“Dominic likes video games too. I mean, what kid doesn’t? It’s funny that you mention the old game system since he’s been using a Gameboy that I’ve had since I was little. Once I get a few more paychecks, I think I’ll get him a system he can play at home on the TV.”
“Sounds like he’s lucky to have you.”
Warmth filled my chest. How many times had Jeff told me that I was a horrible mother? Too many to count. It was hard not to believe his words sometimes.
I had to stop doing that. Thinking about Jeff and the shit he put me through wasn’t helping me move on, and it mentally took me away from the intriguing man in front of me. My focus should be on him alone.
“Thanks,” I said. My eye caught on something on the front of his jacket. Looking closer, I saw that it was another patch that had been sewn on. It was diamond-shaped and inside was “1%”.
Trainer followed my gaze, “Wondering about the one percent patch?” I nodded. “It’s part of being an outlaw motorcycle club. Basically, we aren’t a part of the ninety-nine percent of clubs that belong to the AMA.”
“Outlaw?” I wasn’t too sure I liked the sound of that.
“It’s meant to refer to the fact that we aren’t an AMA sanctioned group, but…”
“But you guys do illegal stuff?”
“There’s not a good way to answer that,” he admitted.
I wasn’t sure that I actually wanted him to, but wasn’t it reckless of me to keep this thing going with him if I didn’t ask?
“Let me put it this way,” he continued, “we’ve broken the law. The club has a history of doing some bad things. But we’ve turned it around… for the most part. These days we try to do better for the community.”
“That’s good.”
I noticed that he didn’t say that they were no longer lawbreakers. I wanted to press him for details, but I didn’t think I would get them. I was no expert on motorcycle clubs, but I figured they were probably pretty secretive. So, I had to decide if I could accept that the Outlaw Souls - and by extension, Trainer - were probably involved in some questionable activities.
