“Your Coke,sir. Now tell me what’s up with Connor.”
“Was.” He quietly takes a sip.
I close my eyes. “Kyler, I’m about to kill you single-handedly if you don’t tell me what’s going on like right the fuck now.”
“You won’t, sweetheart, but I’ll tell you. Did you see who they were?” From under his long, dark lashes, he looks up at me.
Shaking my head, I put my weight on my other leg. I take a deep breath and briefly close my eyes. When I open them again, I say: “They banged on the door.” I grabbed Rebel and hid in the closet.
“So you only heard it?”
For fuck’s sake, do we have to discuss this? I swallow the lump in my throat with difficulty. I’d rather erase the whole day from my memory. Sometimes I think it might’ve been better if Ihadbeen at the supermarket.
I exhale deeply and ask, “Where you’re going with this, Kyler?” I walk closer to the couch.
With his left hand, he rubs his face. “Did you just hear?”
I don’t know why he repeats his question, but this time I nod. “Yes, I didn’t see a thing.”
“Good.” He takes a sip and stares at the wall above my television.
Cautiously, I sit down next to him. “It would be nice if you shared your thoughts with me.”
“I don’t know if that would be wise.” His gaze passes over me inquisitively.
For a few moments, there’s only silence. All he does is tuck a strand of hair behind my ear and my breathing stops. I flinch backward a little. This is so typical of Kyler. Constantly sharing half-truths, incomplete stories, and sometimes nothing at all.
“Why? It’s about my husband.”
“Yourdeadhusband and the info could make you a target.” He shrugs.
The word "dead" gives me chills. What else does Kyler know? The police say Connor’s missing, since they can’t find anything. Those bastards carefully erased every trace. There wasn’t even a drop of blood to be found. It was exactly what I’d feared when I’d found a perfectly neat room after emerging from that closet.
“Target? For who? Like I’m a threat to anyone.” I huff and pull my arms closer to my body.
“We found a connection to another motorcycle club.” Immediately, he clenches his jaws together, his lips forming a thin line. The little muscle in his jaw twitches. As fast as he can, he gets up and strides toward the door.
“Kyler, wait. What are you talking about? What club?” I don’t understand and want to know more. Know everything. He can’t leave me like this. What if wedobecome a target?
“You’re better off not knowing, Lay,” he says, his hand tightening on the doorknob. Without thinking, I place my hand over his.
I ignore the tingling as I ask, “What’s going on? Ky, you can’t just drop this on me, stop giving me more info, and then vanish. This is exactly why I hate you.”
I whisper the last sentence. It’s a lie. Everyone knows that. I don’t hate him, but the half-truths make me feel unimportant. It’s the reason I never felt completely safe with him, and I ended up choosing the safest option. I chose Connor.
How ironic.
“It’s for your own safety, and for Rebel’s. If they think you know who killed Connor, you won’t be safe anymore, Layne.” Without waiting for my reply, he presses a kiss to my forehead, gives me a little push, and opens the door. “You look good, by the way.”
Then he disappears into the dark and a few moments later I hear the familiar roar of a motorcycle engine. He leaves me shocked and wistful.
Four
Fuck,fuck,fuck.
I almost ran my mouth. Layne always ensures such things happen. Under no circumstances should she know who’s involved. Not from me anyway, because then the chances of her becoming a target are immense. God knows what she’ll do with that info. Things will only get worse. I open the throttle up and the bike surges ahead. The wind howls past the tails of my cut. The roar of the engine sends shivers down my spine. At far too high a speed, I ride back, taking a detour.
It looks deserted when I arrive. The faint glow of the outdoor light on the grounds allows me to see enough to conclude that there are few motorcycles in the lot. Which works out perfectly. I’m in no mood to answer questions. So I bypass any interactionby going straight up the outside stairs to my apartment. I put my key in the lock and when I open the door, I hit the light switch.
