“Well, just saying ‘a second date’ would imply that there was a first date worth following up on.”
Well, put that way, he does make sense.
“Valid point,” I said, stroking my chin, playing professor to the student arguing before me. “So, what are some good truths that you’d like to discuss?”
A wicked grin came across Phoenix’s face, the kind that left me happily nervous about what he was about to say.
“How about that I like you and that I’m quite grateful to have this second chance?”
“Aww.”
And then I laughed.
“That was a truth you just now discovered?”
Phoenix gently shoved me as I kept laughing. I had no idea where this side of Phoenix had come from; it was just a week ago that he’d been so surly I had literally driven off on the date. I had seen him crack the occasional joke at Brewskis, but bikers in general weren’t the most jovial group.
Well, some were. It just depended on the individual. But most of the good regulars I had at Brewskis, like Lane and Patriot, or Lucius and Parker, simply came up, got their drinks, and then retreated to their own worlds. It was only at a distance, like a visitor at a zoo, that I could see how they interacted.
I supposed some questions weren’t worth asking, at least not this early. I still wanted to keep seeing Phoenix’s good side; there’d be plenty of time to see his full side, the good, the bad, and the ugly.Will there be, though? If you intend to keep on moving?
“It’s a truth I’ve known from the moment I laid eyes on you.”
“Aw, how romantic,” I said with an exaggerated eye roll, though I was grateful for the switch in topic. “Is that line how you get all the girls?”
“All the girls?” Phoenix said with a smile. “I actually don’t have that many serious relationships.”
“Why?” I said, still teasing him. “Because the life of a biker gives you too many girls throwing themselves at you?”
“Not really.”
I gave him a doubting look.
“OK, maybe yes. But I think part of it is because...”
He struggled to get the words out, though, he at least seemed like he wanted to get the words out—a far cry from how he had been before.
“I think my father,” he said, though even as the words emerged, they did so with great difficulty. “Well, my father was a great guy. Really looked after me, really cared for me. Especially when... anyway.”
Wonder what he was going to say.
“My father took care of me, but I wonder if he took too good care of me,” he said. “Dad always took me to the Black Reapers clubhouse whenever he could, and it was pretty apparent by the time I was thirteen or so that I was going to join the club. My father never even attempted to remarry, and while he didn’t throw me into the party life, he also didn’t hide it if I came across it.”
He shrugged.
“Can’t exactly say he was overbearing or like a helicopter dad, just... well, when your path is so carved out for you, and only a very select few members of society will understand your path, it’s hard to find people to date, you know?”
“I do,” I said, and I actually did more than I think Phoenix gave me credit for.
My father hadn’t been as positively involved as Phoenix’s had, but it was clear given my history with my father, it would take a specific type of person to accept and embrace that.
“How so?” Phoenix said.
I could readily admit that I was not ready for him to turn the tables.
“The... the outcome of my experiences with my father was similar to yours.”
Mercifully, just as the topic changed from one father to the next, I could see the peak of the trail come into view, and with it, “downtown” Ashton. I hurried up to a light jog, to which Phoenix grumbled about how he only lifted weights, he didn’t jog. Nevertheless, he jogged just behind me to the edge of the trail. He put his hands on his hips and looked between me and the view.
