“Start at the beginning. I want to know everything, and you better not leave a detail out.”
And so, I do. I tell her everything. I explain how Wylder confided in me, letting his guard drop long enough to share how he feels about being a single father. I tell her how he left, came back in, and grabbed me before I had a chance to react.
“But was it a good kiss?”
I nod slowly as I think back over how it all happened. “Too good.”
“Goodbye, birthday promise,” she says and laughs. “It was stupid anyway. Don’t make rules that could stop you from having a good time. You only live once, and life’s too short to deprive yourself of something or someone you crave.”
“Technically, he breaks one of the rules but not all of them. I don’t plan on sleeping with him, but he is a biker.”
“Is he a biker, or does he ride a bike?”
I shrug. “Honestly, I don’t know. We didn’t talk about any of that. Only his girls, his struggles as a single dad, and what my family went through with losing my mom.”
“You shared that with him?”
“Yeah.”
Alyssa sets down her wineglass on the coffee table in front of us before grabbing my hand. “You don’t share that with many strangers, Tate. I’d say that’s a big deal.”
“Maybe.”
Is it a big deal? I didn’t think it was.
Most people in my life know about my mom dying, and it’s not something you bring up in casual conversation with a stranger. No one wants to hear the sad girl talk about her dead mom. It’s a good-time killer.
“It’s interesting that he didn’t talk about his bike. That’s pretty telling.”
I stretch out my legs, propping my feet on the coffee table next to her wine before placing my hands behind my head. “What’s it say?”
“It says he has a bike but isn’t a biker. It says it’s not his only personality unlike Rowdy.”
I let my head loll toward her. “You think?”
“Tell me a time Rowdy didn’t talk about the brotherhood.”
“It’s all he wanted to talk about when he wasn’t balls deep inside me.”
“The man had two obsessions—pussy and his club.”
“That’s no lie,” I say before giggling. “What the hell did I see in him?”
“Orgasms,” she says flatly. “Thanks to a magical tongue, from what you’ve said.”
“Fingers and cock too.” I shake my head, remembering the man used to make me scream. “But I still don’t know if it was worth all the hassle in the end.”
“Yeah, death would be a pretty hefty price to pay when you could give yourself the same experience with a vibrator.”
“It’s so not the same.”
“Can I tell you something?” she asks me, grabbing her wine again like she needs the liquid courage for whatever she’s about to divulge.
“Anything. I thought we didn’t have any secrets, babe.”
She frowns and stares down at her glass while she traces the rim with her free hand. “It’s embarrassing.”
“I know you shit your pants in fifth grade while we were in gym class. Can it be worse than that?”
