“You don’t know any better, but I’m going to fix that,” I said before explaining to her everything that Brock had told me. “It will make a difference. It will help us defeat the Bandits.”
That, I know for certain.
“Sorry,” Elizabeth said. “It just seemed so…childish at first.”
“It’s anything but,” I said as we crossed the street to Reapers.
Elizabeth groaned, but she added a laugh right after.
“It’s a Thursday night. I don’t think you’ll get jumped in here. And the Bandits know not—”
“It’s not just that,” she said. “Tara moved into an apartment complex like two doors down from here. There.”
She pointed to a high-rise…the same high-rise that we had met Cole at all those weeks back. I didn’t think much of it, other than the fact that Brock would be over here a lot more.
I wouldn’t say it was normal yet to think that Brock and Tara were saying “I love you” to each other—if it had been that fast, there had to have been some shit going on under my nose—but by this point, I genuinely had moved on as much as one could. I didn’t need to fight Brock, I didn’t have a reason to be close to Tara, and having another Rogers…
Well, surely a therapist would say something about how this was trying to hold on to the past or something. And surely, I wouldn’t give a shit.
We walked inside to a mostly empty bar. There were three patrons at the bar with a girl working the bar. All the booths were empty.
Except for one in the very back corner, which had Cole Carter in it. He was on the phone.
“Would you excuse me for a second?” I said. “I just need to say hello to that guy.”
“OK—” Elizabeth said, sounding worried.
“I’ll be right back.”
She probably doesn’t want to be alone here. But it’s Cole. You don’t ignore the founder of the Black Reapers MC when you see him.
I walked over to him, my hands in my pockets. I picked up the last bit of conversation from his phone call.
“Yeah, of course. Of course. I’ll make sure they get them. Yeah, I can train them on all of that. Yeah, man. I got it. Yep, thanks, Patriot.”
He hung up, looked at me, and gave a short nod.
“Who was that?” I asked.
“An old friend,” he said. “What are you doing with me? Are you with that lady?”
“Oh, yeah,” I said, feeling a little embarrassed. “I was just coming to say hello—”
“And you’ve said hello,” Cole said with a polite but firm smile. “You’re out with the lady; treat her with some respect. We can catch up later.”
Damn, he really is a sincere guy.
I nodded, smiled back at him, and turned around. I wouldn’t say I felt like I’d gotten my ass kicked, but I did feel like I’d gotten a lecture of sorts from Cole.Keep my priorities where they should be. And protect the women.
I walked back to Elizabeth, who was texting on her phone. She looked up with a broadening smile as I entered her personal space again.
“Who was that?”
“Club founder,” I said.
“What did he say?”
I chuckled.
