“He doesn’t get it,” she said. “I told him I’m not interested. He said he’s changed, and I said good for him, but it wouldn’t change anything.”
“Why did you say no to him?”
I knew it was the most direct question I’d ever asked Tara. That was the point.
“I…”
“Let’s grab drinks and talk about it,” I said.
“Right now?”
Honestly? That wasn’t what I had planned.
But when life gave you a limited-time offer…
“Let’s go,” I said. “Buckhead Saloon in Santa Maria. The Bandits will all be in jail or away from the madness tonight. I’ll drive. You can ride on my bike.”
“No, I’ll drive myself,” she said. “But…yeah, let’s go.”
I suppose I’d gotten a little ahead of myself. She’d never ridden on a bike with Steele, so I had no reason to think she would with me.
But suddenly, things that had once been suppressed by both of us were coming to a roaring head.
Tara
Did Brock just ask me out?
On the one hand, it sure seemed like it. Why else would he have invited me for drinks?
Because he wants to talk about what happened tonight. Because he’s a good friend and this is what he’s always done. Because…
What do you really think, Tara?
If I forced myself to choose an answer, I knew what I was thinking.
Brock was taking me away from the rest of his friends so he could make a move on me.
After all these years, after two years of dating the wrong guy, two years of having a guy I was really more attracted to there the whole time…
I gulped. This would likely be one of the most thrilling things I’d ever done, and quite possibly one of the worst decisions I’d ever made.
“I’ll see you there,” he said, a hint of a smile—only a hint—crossing his face. “Take your time.”
With that, he turned around and walked right past Kathryn and my sister without apparently saying much of anything else. Elizabeth looked at me with wide eyes, but I told myself to stay firm in my decision.
“I’m gonna go have a drink with him, make sure all is good.”
“Tara, you’re—”
“I’ll catch up with you both later, OK?”
Elizabeth shut her mouth. Kathryn failed to hide her smile. I got out of there a few seconds later, letting my mind wander and my thoughts question how stupid I was.
“Don’t put out so easily tonight!” Kathryn shouted. “Make him earn it! Maybe he’ll tell you his story!”
His story…
I had no intentions of sleeping with Brock tonight. But Kathryn raised a good point. If I wanted to do anything with him, if I wanted to be with him, we couldn’t be in a lopsided relationship like I had with Steele.
