I found myself moving closer and closer to Katie as we walked. I wasn’t anywhere near touching her, nor was I anywhere near close to holding her hand or doing anything romantic, but it almost felt magnetic, like I couldn’t help but pull toward her. I suppose if this led to a good fuck, it was worth it.
But you know full well it’s more than just a good fuck.
“Let’s head back to Reapers,” I said. “I’m good now. And the night would be a fucking waste if I only had one Guinness.”
“I could not agree more,” Katie said.
I also felt like the longer I was on this walk, the more confused and fucked in the head I was getting. I needed to be in my space, not facing my thoughts. And being in Reapers bar, if nothing else, would give me a chance to randomly bump into Cole. That was always a welcome moment.
When we got back, even though the scene was very similar to what we had left, it was more crowded. Our seats were now taken, and though I felt a temptation to go over and demand they give them up, I knew it would bother Katie. We instead found a booth on the wall, one where I had a full view of everything in the bar, and took our seat. Katie said she’d get the beers, and I let her go to the bar while I looked around.
Cole had certainly done well to get rid of the shit stain that was the Fallen Saints graffiti. In fact, it almost seemed like he had taken a shitty moment and made it into something good. The bar now looked much more like a biker bar. If anything, I was wondering if he could get us to come to the bar more to work security.
Of course, he’d probably reject that. He probably wanted his distance for the sake of his wife and his son.
Actually, that very thought made me think of something. If anyone knew what it was like to overcome some darkness to have a family…
“Seems like this Guinness is more filled up than the last one.”
“Guess you’re going to have a hell of a time getting back home to your twins, huh?”
“Funny man,” she said. “But no, I’ll be good. I’m going to keep it together.”
So she’s not going to just give it up so easily.
For someone who seemed so into me, so eager to do it…I guess there’s more to her than meets the eye.
My opinion of Katie had changed dramatically, so much so that it almost seemed scarcely possible to believe that this was the same woman that I had wanted to spend time with.
But I still did not have interest in admitting as much. Bad enough that Katie had gotten me to ask stupid questions. What would happen if I did something like admitted interest?
That was how you opened yourself up to getting a knife in your chest. People said they’d rather get stabbed in the front than the back, but rarely would a knife to the back kill you. A knife to the chest?
I knew from literal experience that could kill. I didn’t need some metaphorical explanation to realize that was true.
“Well, keep it together for this round and then we can bounce,” I said.
“So soon?”
It sounded half like a taunt, half like surprise.
“I’ve got club business to attend to,” I said, which wasn’t quite true—but I did want to make club business to attend to.
“You guys always have club business to attend to,” Katie said.
“Yeah, and?” I said. Katie arched an eyebrow. “I’m not going to apologize for having club business, Katie. Nor am I going to tell you what it is.”
“Secrets, huh,” Katie said. Her deadpan humor made it virtually impossible to actually know if she was angry, annoyed, toying with me, or just stating the obvious. “Well, that’s fine. Just remember: mystery is overrated.”
I shrugged.
“The mysteries will drop with time.”
“I’m counting on it.”
I looked at her, but her eyes lay straight ahead on her drink. I kept my gaze on her, hoping that eye contact would get her to crack and say what she wanted me to reveal, but maybe this was one thing that didn’t need to have some deeper meaning. Maybe Katie just wanted the mysteries to drop, full stop.
We both finished our beers. Katie asked me if I would walk her to her car. At first, I almost said no—the “club business” I wanted to attend to was one apartment building over, not one bike ride away.
